Official Contest: Worst Chicken Molt Pictures - Winner!

[Nava]

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Oh good lord!!! Someone needs to knit her a chicken cozy.

winter is coming, and I think I'm going to need some.. who makes therm? I'll take 3 please

 

[snomom2000]

Here's another contender! The poor thing is a Rhode Island Red. I just want to bring her in the house, feed her really good and keep her warm! The nights are starting to really cool off!

 

[OrpingtonManor]

Alex is so bald, no one will beat her. But, if we quit posting, where's the fun in that? So, in that spirit, here's Tatertot. I'd post pics of the piles of feathers in the corners of the yard, too, but I cleaned them up yesterday.

eta - I just saw snomom2000's bird. yikes! poor thing!

 

[JimWWhite]

OK. I'm not an expert but a lot of these chickens that folks have posted pics of are not of molting birds. I suspect a lot of them are bad, no extremely bad cases of mites. I've had a few of my Gals go through molt and they loose a few feathers but they quickly fill back in. I don't think molting birds lose as many feathers as some of these birds have. If you see anything like these chickens have then you need to check for mites immediately. If I were to see raw, red skin I'm pretty sure it's not molting but a parasite and I reach for the only thing that I've found that will knock it down, Sevin dust. I'll only dust a hen if she's showing really bad signs of feather loss but when I do within just a few days she starts to put feather back on right away. One little Gold Comet that I named Miss Pity because of her feather loss got dusted and now she's almost back to normal. She lost her tail feathers but I think I'm seeing those coming back in now.

So, it may not be molt. Check this website by doing a search on mites. Mites attack at the base of the feathers and will cluster there causing the damage. If it is mites use Sevin or some other treatment to get rid of them quickly or it will spread like wild fire through your flock. And if you're against Sevin there are other treatments that are organic that work well too.

 

[Illia]

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That is true, but there are also a lot of birds who just take longer to grow back in. Especially frizzles, for example.

 

[shesaredroan]

My compost pile benefits from those 'feathers in the corner'............that's about the only fun part of molting time.

 

[Nava]

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I have over a 100 birds, and I've seen mites, and I can proudly say that my out side chickens are clean but Alex is an inside chicken and let me tell you I have no mites in the house, but I do have my horse come in for lunch but no mites, and the pics I took of Alex were outside and she only goes out side when is warm. It just takes a long time for the feathers to grow. I had chickens molt but Alex takes the cake. here is LOLA eating at the table

 

[Illia]

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Nava what don't you let in your house?

- What's up with its eye though? Not trying to get off topic, just curious.

 

[BethBale]

OH, MY GOSH, that poor frizzle looks like it a lawn mower got hold of it! Poor bird. Good thing chickens don't have many mirrors around...though I do have one for my guineas.

 

[Nava]

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Nava what don't you let in your house?

- What's up with its eye though? Not trying to get off topic, just curious.

vet said it was cancer, so she gets special treatment ever since, she's 22 years old.