Molting in the spring?

[Cindy in PA]

I had read that chickens molt after 1 year + of laying. A poor layer molts after 1 year, a better layer after 14 or more months of laying. I never heard chickens only molt in the fall until coming to BYC, so who knows? These sex links probably have been laying since 20 weeks old & that combined with a change in venue could very well make them molt. If it is rooster damage, usually the feathers are broken off & won't come in again until they molt.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My 3 year old Brahma has begun molting this week. She had a very hard molt this fall so I am really surprised. No parasites so no obvious reason. Any ideas?

Stress or nutrition, maybe feather pecking by a flock mate?

The standard question is what are you feeding including treats and supplements? Any recent sudden changes in lighting, feed, weather, predator activity?

Guess I'm talking about things I know effect laying more than molting... but it's all relative to me.

And how do you know there aren't any parasites? Have you done a fecal float for worms at the vet? How are you checking for lice and mites? Did you know that red mites live on the roost or in wood cracks and only come out to feed on the bird at night, while feather mites are not visible to the naked eye?

If you do find any of these, it doesn't mean you are a bad keeper... it means you live in the real world!

 

[MarySue]

I had a horrible spring/summer last year with parasites. No obvious signs meaning I have seen no nits or lice, to this point I have never seen red Mites and I am in the coop at night every evening. I sit and snuggle with my girls after collecting. I have a couple clutches right now and I sit on the floor with a gunny sack (poop protection) to pet and handle the babies. I have a preventative dose of Corid in the water and no sign of worms in the poo. I have a rooster so I have been feeding All Flock with a vitamin supplement and free choice oyster shell. But have recently added one feeder of layer food. I have 2 big tub feeders with the pvc elbows. One with 3in holes has the layer feed the one with 4 in elbows which is more comfortable for the roo has the All Flock. Treats are meal worms kitchen scraps and sometimes bread. They are allowed to free range while I am home. And she is the only one. It's definitely molting not picking. You can watch the feathers drop off. I wondered if maybe having chicks around may have thrown her off. First time I have not hand raised them, let hens hatch and raise them.

 

[aart]

@MarySue is your molter one of your broodies?
Molting after brooding is not uncommon.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

@MarySue is your molter one of your broodies?
Molting after brooding is not uncommon.

Interesting... I have seen several of my broody's molt out their beards. Never thought about it having relevance to brooding. But I guess that kinda makes sense since they are nutritionally (likely) deficient after sitting for so long and some industry practices include diminishing nutrients to induce molt.

@MarySue So cool that you provide for your rooster as well!

I would just make sure you girl is accessing maybe the flock raiser as much as possible or substitute her with a little protein since feathers are made of 90% protein (or the amino acids therein).

A couple quick facts.. feather mites will NOT be seen with the naked eye. There are more than 1 type of lice on birds and you won't see head lice on the body (they are usually little specks around the eye).

Also, there are very few worms that are visible in poo, so I wouldn't assume not to have them just because you don't see them.

And despite hanging out with lap girls for hours on end... I never saw anything until we were processing cockerels. The easiest way to see things is use your flashlight after dark, place bird on back, legs bent towards chest and part the feathers on the abdomen and the vent to see if anything is running away.

What did you use to get rid of you parasites last year? Some areas have much harder times especially during certain seasons. Permethrin spray is an effective product that is easy to use, affordable, effective, and no withdrawal time for eggs if used as directed. There are organic versions if that's important, but they are way more expensive.

Chicks raised with broody's do not *usually* need Corid. But you know your situation better than I do. Corid by the way is a thiamine blocker that slows the growth of coccidia (does not kill them) which are in every single chicken poo and ONLY become a problem if there is an overgrowth of them which is accentuated in warm humid conditions like that of a brooder. Maybe your old girl can't handle the reduction? But also, are you putting the vitamin supplement in the water or roosters' feed? If in the water then you *may* be defeating the purpose of the Corid and vice versa, the corid defeating the purpose of the vitamins. IF you aren't having issues with cocci, I might discontinue the Corid use. And also note that unless your roo has issues, the flock raiser should be formulated to meet all of his need without the vitamin supplement. Although you can overdose on minerals that is not an issue with vitamins. However, if your body doesn't need them, it's just making for expensive pee.

Hope your girl feels better!

 

[azygous]

I have a two-year old Cream Legbar that has never molted. Her attire is in dreadful shape as one would expect. She may be beginning molt at this minute. I hope so, anyway. She seems to be dropping some of those damaged feathers in a conspicuous way.

 

[MarySue]

Interesting... I have seen several of my broody's molt out their beards. Never thought about it having relevance to brooding. But I guess that kinda makes sense since they are nutritionally (likely) deficient after sitting for so long and some industry practices include diminishing nutrients to induce molt.

@MarySue So cool that you provide for your rooster as well!

I would just make sure you girl is accessing maybe the flock raiser as much as possible or substitute her with a little protein since feathers are made of 90% protein (or the amino acids therein).

A couple quick facts.. feather mites will NOT be seen with the naked eye. There are more than 1 type of lice on birds and you won't see head lice on the body (they are usually little specks around the eye).

Also, there are very few worms that are visible in poo, so I wouldn't assume not to have them just because you don't see them.

And despite hanging out with lap girls for hours on end... I never saw anything until we were processing cockerels. The easiest way to see things is use your flashlight after dark, place bird on back, legs bent towards chest and part the feathers on the abdomen and the vent to see if anything is running away.

What did you use to get rid of you parasites last year? Some areas have much harder times especially during certain seasons. Permethrin spray is an effective product that is easy to use, affordable, effective, and no withdrawal time for eggs if used as directed. There are organic versions if that's important, but they are way more expensive.

Chicks raised with broody's do not *usually* need Corid. But you know your situation better than I do. Corid by the way is a thiamine blocker that slows the growth of coccidia (does not kill them) which are in every single chicken poo and ONLY become a problem if there is an overgrowth of them which is accentuated in warm humid conditions like that of a brooder. Maybe your old girl can't handle the reduction? But also, are you putting the vitamin supplement in the water or roosters' feed? If in the water then you *may* be defeating the purpose of the Corid and vice versa, the corid defeating the purpose of the vitamins. IF you aren't having issues with cocci, I might discontinue the Corid use. And also note that unless your roo has issues, the flock raiser should be formulated to meet all of his need without the vitamin supplement. Although you can overdose on minerals that is not an issue with vitamins. However, if your body doesn't need them, it's just making for expensive pee.

Hope your girl feels better!

Last year started with seeing those little white bugs run across my girl's face and balding under her chin. Which led to the realization that we had a pretty bad infestation of leg mites. My two Bramahs came with them but I was too ignorant of chicken anything when I got them to know that. I had been looking for mites and lice when I saw some bald tummies and chests but had yet to see them and then one day I turned my pullet over, spread her feathers and there was a lice scramble that nearly made me cry.
As I began to treat them I started seeing the nits I hadn't realized were nit clusters and not dirt. To try and shorten my story.... I Peremitherine sprayed the coop, the dog house they use as a dry hang out, and any wood roost material once a week for 3 months. I scraped up all loose feathers from the run and removed them and the debris from their dust bath area to which I added charcoal and DE. I sprinkled DE in the nesting boxes after the Permitherine dried and changed their litter in the coop to sand. I bathed every single one with first a flea dip that had neem oil in it and then I changed it to a Permitherine solution. I did that every 10 days for 3 months. I was working with a vet and we decide with the leg mites and what appeared to be feather mites to do an oral Ivermectin round to try and get them over and done with. It took twice. Poops were looking nasty by this point so I had a fecal float done and the test came back off the chart. And so we treated with Corid. Finally it looked like we had everything taken care of and them my Leghorn poops in front of me and what do I see but round worms. Sigh!!!! Treat for worms and things are good for a while. But we start seeing nasty poop again and more fecal floats and I realize I'd only given the preventative dose not the necessary dose to kill it. So we treat again. It came back a third time so I suspect the soil here may have something to do with the frequent outbreaks and yes I have plenty of space they are not over crowded. That is why the preventative in the water. The chicks have nothing in their water.
I also sprayed Permitherine under their wings and on their necks once a week after I quit dipping them.
I check them regularly but not saying it can't be there just that it's nothing that I have seen yet and I feel like I have seen a lot!
Duchess is not the broody. In fact she has never been broody since I have owned her.
Vitamins are mixed into the All Flock. They are the top dressing kind not the liquid. I wanted to make sure that they were getting enough since they were not getting layer feed to start with.
All of that said I again, I am not saying that there is nothing there, just don't know what. She is the only one molting (25) but my egg production is down and again haven't been able to nail it down. We switched to the new feeders so I had thought maybe that but it hasn't gone back up after getting used to them so....

 

[MarySue]

I guess I will give everyone a squirt of Permitherine tonight and worm them. Neither will hurt for sure.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I guess I will give everyone a squirt of Permitherine tonight and worm them. Neither will hurt for sure.

Wow, you really did struggle and HAVE seen a lot! That's enough work to turn most average people off the hobby... you must be special!

I wonder if your worms have developed resistance to the treatment? Was it fairly soon after using the Ivermectin to treat the mites that you still saw worms in the leghorn poo? Ivermectin *should* have treated them, I would have thought since it is a wormer.

I don't know for sure.. but I read that you can use lime on your pasture to rid coccidia. Would be at least worth looking into.

Just for argument sake... sometimes production can be impacted by the presence of a lurking predator. Anybody possibly visiting outside the coop at night like a raccoon, coyote, or the like?

I'm also here to learn... so when you discovered the leg mites, did anybody actually have raised scales from it?

 

[MarySue]

Wow, you really did struggle and HAVE seen a lot! That's enough work to turn most average people off the hobby... you must be special!

I wonder if your worms have developed resistance to the treatment? Was it fairly soon after using the Ivermectin to treat the mites that you still saw worms in the leghorn poo? Ivermectin *should* have treated them, I would have thought since it is a wormer.

I don't know for sure.. but I read that you can use lime on your pasture to rid coccidia. Would be at least worth looking into.

Just for argument sake... sometimes production can be impacted by the presence of a lurking predator. Anybody possibly visiting outside the coop at night like a raccoon, coyote, or the like?

I'm also here to learn... so when you discovered the leg mites, did anybody actually have raised scales from it?

Yeah it's a good thing I love them! I will have to check into the lime although we do have plans to move them to a different area on the property. My hubby brought home "compost" from a dairy 5 or 6 years ago which was basically bark, cow crap, and junk and spread it in the yard to fill some low areas. I didn't like it then and I think it's responsible now but I'd have thought the freeze we had here this winter would have de- bugged it.
I did a thorough search last night with flashlight and no creepy crawlies, no red mites; I even checked cracks and walls but I did see a handful of girls with some pretty beat up feathers and some raised scales. I know a couple girls didn't molt like they should have and still have some nasties left over but I suspect feather mites may be at work here. While it doesn't appear it's the intire flock yet it will be if I don't get on it. So this morning I sprayed down the coop, dog house, nesting boxes and roosts with Permitherine. Tonight everyone got Ivermectin. So I will wait and see if there are changes be for I try anything else.
About predators... there are possums here I have trapped a few but unfortunately that isn't something they are not use to. They have enough feed in the neighborhood they don't bother the chickens just go after the food. But I have noticed in the last 3 days a giant increase in rat activity. I have never seen or heard them before, just knew that we have them. We keep poison out where the birds can't get it. But now I have both seen and heard them. Trapped one in a live trap last night and broke an old fashioned one as it snapped 3 different times while I was out with them. I reset it each time. Ick ick ick!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went and got a bait box and some electric traps. We shall see if I can get the nasty things back under control.
About leg mites... Lady and Duchess, the Bramahs, both had horrible raised scales; some to the point of disfigurement. My others were only yearlings and many of them had raised scales plus you can see the mite poop under them. More ick! I started with the Petroleum jelly treatments but with so many birds and then finding the other kinds of mites I just went with the Ivermectin. At the time I was given the two hens my very first batch of chicks were just at point of lay so I had only been keeping chickens for 7 months or so. I had no idea what to look for or even that I should look for anything. My daughter's boyfriend said take my chickens, they eat more than they lay and I said ok thanks.
As for the Ivermectin my vet said it was only good on mites for chickens, I don't know if it's different on other animals but no it did nothing for anything else. The worms in the poo were moving which is how I saw it. MORE ICK! I guess it was pretty close to the treatments. I remember thinking that they couldn't get anything else because we had it ALL! Also thought I was a bad chicken mom because my babies had all these buggies. I considered quitting but only because I felt I was failing them. Thank God for Backyard Chickens and nice people like you!