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

[outdoorsii]

My bluefoot molting, her neck's all bald & she has 1 lil tail feather left - she's actually 3-4 years old, but she's teh best layer of the RIR's so she should molt fast

 

[galanie]

Should be more clear, if so I'll change it:

This really is the same hen. I'm not lying. LOL:

Do you know, after I took this picture it got worse even. She ended up with I think 2 flight feathers on each wing and looked ready for the oven. But I didn't have the heart to take another picture of the poor girl LOL.

 

[targa72e]

Fluff gets very sensitive when she molts, and doesn't like to be touched during that time. Otherwise she is quite tame
None of our other girls molt anywhere near this dramatically!

 

[sahagi]

I stand corrected. Lala seems to be an Easter Egger according to info from this forum and the all-knowing Wikipedia. She has modest ear tufts and a beard and lays pastel green eggs. However, she does have a rump, if the meaning of rump is classic chicken tail feathers. Though she's at the bottom of the pecking order, she is the model chicken of our flock, grooming herself the most, keeping an alert eye out for predators, and tirelessly running from the other hens when she's found a particularly yummy treat. She caught a mouse once, but it was too big for her to eat and the others stole it away.

 

[aaronisloan]

My chickens are the worst for molting they loose so much and it goes everywhere LOL

 

[Minniechickmama]

My chickens are the worst for molting they loose so much and it goes everywhere LOL

If you hate feathers everywhere, don't get ducks!

 

[zazouse]

Or geese, it looks like someone had a pillow fight at my place untill it rains and washes them into the ground.

 

[Wisher1000]

When mine started i thought an animal was getting in the coop at night and roughing them up. It seems like they went into the molt just after a possum attack that killed 2 of my chicks and a roo. Ive had chickens for many years but have never seen all of my chicks go into molt at one time, and how long does it usually take, should i be giving them anything special to eat or drink? other than regular water and layer mash. I almost have enough feathers all around to make a pillow.

I know this thread is a couple of weeks old, but I couldn't resist. My DH went to the coop one evening and yelled for me to come quick! I ran fast (quite an accomplishment) to see what was the problem. He said, "Something's gotten hold of one of your chickens and nearly plucked it!" I looked at the one of my hens he was pointing to and laughed. She had a couple of cookie-sized bald patches. If she had looked like Henny, he would have had a heart attack! LOL!

 

[ChcknGrl]

Here is her bad molting.

 

[WillowChick]

I used to have a conure who loved it, so when we got chickens, I did it all the time! Some like it more than others, but if you gently "pop" the casings that are dry between your thumb and forefinger, then roll them a little between your fingers, they just flake right off. My OEGB LOVES it!

Willow