Molting - one at a time, a group activity?

[MIChickandGuinea]

Do chickens molt as a flock, or one at a time, each in her own time? I thought it was like a group activity, seasonally driven. But I have been seeing a fair few EE feathers in the coop and run, but not other varieties. And ONE of the EE ladies is looking a little scruffy. She’s acting fine. Eating and scratching around, roosting with the others as usual. Just not laying any eggs (none of the EEs or Marans are laying right now), and looking kind of threadbare. Is that how molting goes? Or should I be checking her for health issues? (She’s not skinny and nobody is leaving abnormal droppings in the coop... she’s active and eating ... what else would I even check?)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Everyone does their own thing when it comes to molting. Light and season is the main trigger for molting, but stress can trigger a molt, as well as hen being broody, so it can be a complicated subject sometimes.

There are juvenile molts, full adult molts, stress molts, and partial neck molts.

 

[Lauren Kim]

It's usually different. My chickens were all born from the same mom and they were born hours apart, and they molt all at the same time, but it all depends.

 

[BoboFarm]

My lavender and buff orpingtons all molted at different times. They all eventually got around to it and would be in different stages of disaster. My lavenders all seemed to lose a lot more feathers at one time than my buffs. I remember them getting to a point of just having some sparse neck and body feathers and a couple of tail feathers.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

Poor little Constance is used to being the prettiest chicken in the coop, with her exotic markings and unusual rose-gold-russet color variations, and her fluffy-fluffy cheeks, and her amazing (and currently missing) collar of gold. She’s a stand-out for her appearance now, too ... but not in a good way.

 

[BoboFarm]

My lavenders were super fluffy, round and gorgeous when fully feathered but good heavens, fall/winter molt was never kind to them

I had an EE when I was in high school. Her name was Maria. She had silver feathers with an iridescent lace. She never molted badly. I do love EEs for their different feather colors and patterns

 

[aart]

It varies.
Had some birds start molting in August....
......a couple others just started molting in the last week or two.

 

[nomirawr1]

I have yet to see a chicken moult. All mine moulted 1 freakin feather at a time, and went completely unnoticed, until one of my hylines got ontop of the damn fence, and when I grabbed her to chuck her off, realised her wing feathers were *no longer* clipped.... so checked all of them, and sure enough - all 5 chickens had new flight feathers. LOL. Thats between a mix of breeds and ages.
None of em stopped laying either, so yeah, moult went completely unnoticed.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have yet to see a chicken moult. All mine moulted 1 freakin feather at a time, and went completely unnoticed, until one of my hylines got ontop of the damn fence, and when I grabbed her to chuck her off, realised her wing feathers were *no longer* clipped.... so checked all of them, and sure enough - all 5 chickens had new flight feathers. LOL. Thats between a mix of breeds and ages.
None of em stopped laying either, so yeah, moult went completely unnoticed.

One member here who lives closer to the equator said his birds don't go through any obvious molts, so I think where you are located in the world makes a huge difference on molting.