Molting in Winter? PIX

[jwing7]

This is my first winter having chickens. We live in SW Mo. I think my RIReds are molting but not sure. The feathers have turned white and most of feathers almost gone. Also my Barred Rocks are not looking too grand either. They have a really nice condo but do I need to worry about then in the cold. My egg production as gone down to nothing. The last 3 days no eggs at all. What should I be doing??? Please help a novice.

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[Churkenduse]

IMP. I am not telling anyone what to do but i never heated a coop. I am of the opinion that chickens are basically wild animals, and if we heat them up and give them where it is not needed we are huirting them. They are not supposed to live in a heated coop. If you heat them up and then one day the lights go out and it is cold they would probably die of the cold. I have a hen that refuses to go in the coop at night, yes she was frightened but she loves the cold or she would go inside.
I have never lost a hen to the weather, all my friends that heat their coops lose some hens (plural) every year.
Just remember they are wild and should live wild or they can die. Just as long as you provide shelter from the snow and rain. In th wild they would find suitable shelter.

 

[jwing7]

Thanks, woulld really not want to have to heat as it could be a potential fire hazzard. Love all the info from this site. Still no eggs this month.

 

[greenSearcher]

I will be cleaning the coop later today, it is filled with feather, so is their run and their yard. Three of the five hens are moulting, Ma, the CM is rather raggedy looking. Only getting 2 eggs a day. I expect they will be done by Jan. When the others molted, they took about 2 months. Sorry pitiful things. They do hurt when picked up, the pin feathers are flexible so they get pulled or twisted in the skin, so I imagine it hurts. My 3 month NN are getting their adult plumage and they are full of pin feathers and don't care to be petted or held either. By the personality change I can guess it is hormonal, they act like they are tired and feel ugly. My birds whine, rooster and hens.

 

[Churkenduse]

Oh my. When I got up this morning and opened the coop door I almost fell over, they must molt while they are sleeping, I was going to offer free feathers to anyone who wanted. There a million of them. It is too breezy here tody to start sweeping them up, wha a mess.
I keep teling myself this is all worth it.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Chickens handle cold quite well, as long as your coop has good ventilation and is draft free, they will be fine.

Also, they do not usually lay when they molt. I have 16 hens of laying age, and I'm lucky to get 2 eggs a day. (mostly from my 2 pullets that just started laying) Add to that less light (they need 14 hours of light a day for good egg production). In winter, it is normal to get less eggs. Some people put lights in their coops on a timer to keep them laying, but it won't help with molting. I prefer to not give extra light and give my girls their natural break this time of year.

 

[mendolover]

I agree completely. Ask any old school farmer from up north how to keep your chickens warm in the winter, and be prepared to be laughed at! I'm here because we have a year old hen that just started dropping her feathers a few days ago, and is now noticably balder then her two coop mates. A few weeks ago we got some eggs that were covered with blood. That day one of the hens was acting very lethargically. I credited it to intestinal shedding. She seemed fine the next day. Our molter spent the whole day behind the feeder and she did make it up on the the roost tonight. It seems alot of this backyard chicken experience is just a waiting game! Happy New Year!

 

[LovinChicknFarmn]

Agree, agree, agree! She's molting all right. We had one last year molt in December. She looked like a Naked Neck. She looked terrible! But, she's fine. Your girl will be fine. And, she won't lay while she's molting and for a little while afterwards. They use too much energy to regrow feathers to also lay eggs. Once her feathers finish out and she seems to have them all back and looks normal again, watch her comb. It's probably pinkish right now. When it gets nice and red again she'll start laying within a few days.

We don't heat our coop. And, the heat/cold doesn't have anything to do with her feathers. They can do pretty well in the cold. When it gets super cold, below freezing, we close the little door to the hen house at night after the girls have gone in and then we open it up in the morning. It keeps the draft out. If you do close them up, just make sure there's proper ventilation. We have little window flaps that allow air to come in and out, but not where it would cause a huge draft.

 

[AwallRooster]

make sure you dont have a tail feather puller,i had the same problem thinking one of my girls were molting in the winter,but why wasnt her sisters molting too??so i put a camcorder in the coop one night with my girls an guy(6 ladys ,1roo)an watched it that morning, and seen what was going on,as they were on there roost,one of my girls were pulling the tail feathers out of the one that looked like she was molting,so i serperated her for 2 weeks an she stoped..so maybe you have a feather picker..

 

[MissAntonio]

Hi everyone. My girl started going thru a molt two weeks ago. It's only 12 degrees tonight and when I went to close up the coop I noticed she was the only one not on the roost. She jumped trying to get on it but couldn't make it up there. Help what do I do!