Molting?

[kateseidel]

<<The order in which birds lose their feathers is fairly definite. The feathers are lost from the head first, followed in order by those on the neck, breast, body, wings, and tail.>>

Well for heavens' sake - it cannot possibly make good genetic sense to moult in December when it is 18 degrees outside!!! One of my Wyandottes lost a few feathers from her head, then her neck, now I can see her poor skin on the neck. If it keeps going on, I'm about ready to make her a hen parka!

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

My pullet didn't read about the order of feather molting. She's started at the opposite end. Why in the world would Mother Nature set off a molt in single digit weather.

 

[Morgan7782]

Same here laurel, my Brahma started under wings and tail area and now is shedding head/neck. But man, feathers are everywhere and boyyy is she cranky! lol. Poor girl! Luckily the weather here is not that severe.

 

[MaKettle]

It appears that my leghorn, Sally is currently molting. We were intially concerned that she was being pecked by our other hens. We noticed a ton of feathers in the run. She is mostly missing them around her neck but she has also lost a couple of long tail feathers. Her tail & neck look constantly ruffled. Luckily she doesn't appear to have any bare spots. Once we thought about it, we realized that she had not laid any eggs since the weather started to turn in early November.

The avian vet who posted earlier mentioned that you need to take your bird in if she is not laying during a molt. I thought this was a standard happening??

Any thoughts?

 

[furry]

I had read that chickens don't molt their first year, and that they tend to do it in the fall. I guess that's not strictly true. I have SLWs that are 9 and 1/2 months old, and one has been losing lots of feathers for the last 2 weeks. Last week, her neck was naked, but then the new feathers started coming in. Really bad timing, as we've been having sub-zero weather. Egg laying from the 4 of them had been tapering to 2 or 3, then 1 or 2, now no eggs for a few days. I hope that they start laying again when the days start getting longer. Do most people give them a protein supplement during molting? What do you use?

 

[kateseidel]

I don't use a supplement, but mine free range all day, and have unlimited access to 16% commercial crumbles. And of course, the endless parade of snacks I bring them....