Ended Official BYC Contest: Worst Chicken Molt Pictures - Fall/Winter 2012

[Poultrybonkers]

Is your Silkie hen still in the middle of her molt? 

I would say so, both her wings are pins her tail has pins and her neck has pins. cant be easy to molt and take care of 4 kids.

 

[cluck-darth-peep]

Why does a chicken molt in fall ? It gets cold, you would think they need those feathers when its cold..

 

[targa72e]

This Fluff, our Aracauna. When she molts, she goes all out. November 27th, 2012

 

[Jeannine]

This Fluff, our Aracauna. When she molts, she goes all out. November 27th, 2012

Though featherless, she sure has a pretty face!

 

[DaphneNL]

She looks like an ostrich!
One of my hens "forgot" to molt when the rest molted, like 6 weeks ago.
So now it's freezing and we have 6cm of snow, and she looks like a plucked turkey.

 

[kitmarlowescot2]

This Fluff, our Aracauna. When she molts, she goes all out. November 27th, 2012

She must be quite itchy right know. Is she tamed enough and tolerant enough to to come up to you to get a scratch or help to remove those keratin sheaths off her new feathers ?

 

[DaphneNL]

Can you remove those sheets? Because my hen would be helped a lot if I could do that.

 

[kitmarlowescot2]

I think you can gently rub them off between two fingers, if she will let you. They can be sensitive so if she complains I would stop. I know parrot owner's do it all the time for their bird especially with pin feathers on their heads. It's a bond grooming for parrots, I don't see why it can't be done for chickens.

 

[DaphneNL]

I will give it a try tomorrow, thanks!

 

[ringzemall]

This is Tilly going through her first molt. My other two hens molted a couple of months ago. Tilly was the first to lay and the last to molt. Hopefully now the other two (an Americauna and a Welsummer) will start laying again while she is molting. It's funny to watch her run in the yard without her tail feathers and the others going every which direction!