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

[zazouse]

All 22 of our laying hens from 3 to one year have been moulting since Sept.

Well... where is your photo??? we could use some molt overload . LOL

 

[Allison Lloyd]

My largest chicken, "Snowball", today. Feathers everywhere for entire week! Thought she was attacked by my neighbor's kitten who has been stalking the cage for several weeks. The kitten was playing with a feather in her mouth - much relieved to see Snowball perfectly well in the coop.

 

[Lnysmom]

Eww. That poor chicken, she looks terrible!

 

[WillowChick]

"All other Breeds" One of my Barnevelder hens.





This is her fully feathered....LOL.

She's gorgeous!

 

[Ali707]

I can't say that this is the ugliest chicken or the worst moult because although she is nekked she just sort of looks like dinner. Not that I eat my girls but she still looks like she is ready for the pot.

I can say this is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. The "action" sequence is hilarious. She has a little of the french connection going on with the leg and arm pit hair, but the next picture I thought maybe she was a Jackie Chan fan. In the third pic she is clearly doing a little victory dance and in the 4th pic she seems to be leading her homies away. And the last pic seems to remind me of Eve and the Garden of Eden........Tells a story all by itself.

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!

...

Bald chicks rule.LOL
this little half pint is fearless when it come to her and her GF's one and only chick.
She is a frizzle
photo taken a couple weeks ago

 

[Melabella]

This doesn't look real!

That is from molting??

WOWZA! It's almost scary looking!

 

[surfingdevil]

My chooks are beginning to molt I think! although not really sure and I live in the Mediterranean so mine may molt at a later date. The turkeys seem to be molting and growing new ones at the same time. I have no idea what is going on as it's the first time we've had chickens and turkeys! I will wait patiently. Can't wait to see all the pics.

 

[kdubcook]

Hey! I'm in SE Texas too!!..........buuuuuut.......my chickens don't look like that...LOL

Although I'm only on page 11 of this thread so far, I have to say I can't imagine a worse looking molt than what you just posted. That's, um,.....yeah, that's pretty gnarly.

Did you say that you have frizzle chickens? I have Rumpless, Cochin Bantam, Americana-marked EE's, RIR & RIW. My roosters are the Red Cochin Bantam and a gorgeous RIR gentleman. If you're close to Houston, let me know if you'd like to swap some chicks or fertilized eggs. All my hens lay EE's except my RIR and RIW (who may actually be a RIR/Leghorn, she has yet to lay so I don't know if her eggs will be white or brown).

Right now I only have 3 non-feathered leg chicks sired by my RIR, all the rest (8 chicks-- 6, 3 wk olds & 2, 1 wk olds) are sired by my grumpy little Cochin...lol. 4 of those 8 are rumpless and the females I get out of all 11 should all lay EE's.

Do you put a plywood bottom in your coop during the winter...well, what we have of a "winter" anyway.....this is my first year with chickens. Our coops are above-ground, so poop goes straight into the grass where I can rake it up. If we put a plywood bottom on our coops, then we'll have to replace it every year, huh? Since it will get covered in poop and begin to warp? How does that work? Or is your pen not above-ground? Do you just rake it out? I need some tips from someone in our tropical climate zone!!!

 

[zazouse]

Hey! I'm in SE Texas too!!..........buuuuuut.......my chickens don't look like that...LOL

Although I'm only on page 11 of this thread so far, I have to say I can't imagine a worse looking molt than what you just posted. That's, um,.....yeah, that's pretty gnarly.

Did you say that you have frizzle chickens? I have Rumpless, Cochin Bantam, Americana-marked EE's, RIR & RIW. My roosters are the Red Cochin Bantam and a gorgeous RIR gentleman. If you're close to Houston, let me know if you'd like to swap some chicks or fertilized eggs. All my hens lay EE's except my RIR and RIW (who may actually be a RIR/Leghorn, she has yet to lay so I don't know if her eggs will be white or brown).

Right now I only have 3 non-feathered leg chicks sired by my RIR, all the rest (8 chicks-- 6, 3 wk olds & 2, 1 wk olds) are sired by my grumpy little Cochin...lol. 4 of those 8 are rumpless and the females I get out of all 11 should all lay EE's.

Do you put a plywood bottom in your coop during the winter...well, what we have of a "winter" anyway.....this is my first year with chickens. Our coops are above-ground, so poop goes straight into the grass where I can rake it up. If we put a plywood bottom on our coops, then we'll have to replace it every year, huh? Since it will get covered in poop and begin to warp? How does that work? Or is your pen not above-ground? Do you just rake it out? I need some tips from someone in our tropical climate zone!!!

That little hen is a frizzle, this is how alot of them molt here..
I appreciate the offer on the egg swap but my flock is closed so i do not take in any outside birds or eggs for bio security reasons, i have 100's of birds here and just don't want to take any chances unless i have to like when i added my peacocks a couple years ago, they came from a tested flock and were well care for so i felt confortable buying from them.
I would not put plywood on the ground, rats will be under there in a heart beat,snake too, shavings is the best for our area.
i don't have any coops for my birds just roost areas and feed stations they are totally free ranged here protected by a pack of dogs.

 

[kdubcook]

Yes, we've already learned that lesson the hard way. We've spent over a thousand dollars (my hub calls her our milion dollar chicken) on our Rhode Island White (or RIR/Leghorn mix, not sure yet).
She had all sorts of infections from the feed store, thankfully I took her to the vet the first day we got her so she was never around the rest of our chickens. She miraculously lived through the horrible ordeal of us having to tube feed her, 3 procedures on her sinus cavities, pox, and she was barely even skin and bones when we got her and could barely hold her head up by the next day. She's gettin' fat & sassy now, as that was back in early July.
Ours are free range too, also protected by a very dutiful jack russel terrier and shitzu...lol. Our backyard is completely fenced and the chickens think the dogs are part of their flock...lol.

The actual floors of our coops are about 3 feet above ground which have hardware cloth wiring accross the bottom to enclose their roosting space. Their poop falls down through the wire and I just rake it up out from underneath.