Molting Questions

[bantamboy93]

So here's the truth. I've never had a chicken molt.


No, i'm not joking.


Truth is, I probably don't keep chickens long enough for them to molt. I have a buy/sell attitude. I usually buy chicks in the spring, raise them till winter. Then sell them winter/spring. My Buff Cochin bantam hen is a little scraggly. Just some feathers out of place and she looks kinda rough. She was a spring chick. So i'm wondering if she's molting?

 

[AccentOnHakes]

She likely is.

 

[woodmort]

If she has been laying less than a year, probably not, just needs to. By the time they've been laying for a year or so they all get looking a little ragged--those at the bottom of the pecking order more so than the others.

 

[bantamboy93]

i'm not sure if she's even started laying. i got her this spring. as a chick... and there's something about my birds that i have trouble getting them to lay before the shorter days hit and they just never start. until next spring.

 

[cmom]

She could be going through a not so heavy molt. When the chicks are growing their first year they can molt several times.

 

[bantamboy93]

ok. well all my other birds are smooth and pretty... she's not losing feathers per se. or perhaps she is.... she just looks rough. I've had bantam cochins before and they were always rather fluffy-smooth