Ended Official BYC Contest - Post Your Best (Worst) Chicken Molt Pictures - 2022

[FoxySonia]

A post broody Cookie

What breed of chicken is she?

 

[FoxySonia]

Do all chickens molt once a year? None of my adult hens, they are a little over 2 years old, have molted until now, but only 2 out of the 15 hens I've kept are currently molting, the 2 bantam Easter Eggers. The rest don't seem to be losing feather except for 1 or 2 are missing some of their tail feathers (the Brabanter and a bantam Old English Game, both had lost their tail from being over bred by the 4 roosters I used to have). My yard is still covered with the feathers shed by 11 hens that went broody in early spring and from their growing chicks. The 12 pullets I kept are around 5 months old, some of them are already laying.

Here's photo of my 2 bantam Easter Eggers. The golden was missing her tail feathers, which are growing back, had lost some of her long wing feathers, has a couple left on each wing, and some body feathers had fallen out. But she's not having as bad a molt as her sister.

 

[FoxySonia]

The buff Easter Egger banty, named Happy, looked much worst than she currently does, the poor thing looked like a half plucked chicken, covered in short pin feathers, and felt miserable. When I noticed her shivering from cold and being bullied by the other chickens, I had to bring her into my apartment, she sleeps in a cat carrier. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos when she looked the worst, when she was missing feathers from all over her body, had lost all her tail feathers, and only had 1 or 2 wing feathers left on each wing. Even a day or 2 ago she appear to have more pin feathers and shorter tail feathers than today, so I'm hoping her hard molt ends and she has all her new feathers soon.

Today

 

[Isadora]

Pecker (my 6 yr old named her) is looking a bit like a ragamuffin these days.

 

[Caila]

I only have 1 molting right now, and she doesn’t even look that bad.
This is our 1st year with chickens. We live in Georgia, so it doesn’t get really cold here. Is that why the others aren’t molting?

 

[bruceha2000]

In the 10 years I've had chickens I've seen all sorts of molting patterns and times. Some seem to do more of a "lose one, grow one" thing and never look bad, others look like they narrowly escaped the feather plucker. Most are in between.

Some start early, some late, most in the middle. I had one that didn't have her first moult until she was 1.5 years old .... at the end of January, the coldest time of year here in Vermont. She didn't seem to suffer for it but after that she "decided" that fall was a better time.

 

[bruceha2000]

Penelope

 

[bruceha2000]

Ana

Ana, improving

 

[bruceha2000]

Sophia

 

[bruceha2000]

Arcadia started first, this was Sept 24th

She got worse but looks much better now