OMG!!! Do chickens "blow" their feathers?

[gritsar]

You know how a dog will blow its coat? Basically shed in one big batch?
All my chickens are molting, most pretty quickly.
I just noticed Jezebel. Yesterday she looked kinda ragged, with gaps between her feathers.
Today she looks like someone plucked her and then glued soft downy fuzz all over her body in a hurry.
Could she lose her old feathers and grow in the new ones that fast???
She's a light brahma and there are bunches of white feathers everywhere....along with buff ones and dark ones....

 

[CMV]

So, one day I was looking at one of my chickens and said to myself, "Hmmm... I think she's molting. She's looking a little raggedy." The next day I looked at the same chicken and she was BALD. She molted overnight- dropped all her feathers at once. She's almost grown back in now, so she definitely just dropped all her feathers from molting, not some other cause.

So I would say YES.

 

[Imp]

Maybe your chicken got hit by a tornado?

Imp-see link

http://www.tornadoproject.com/oddities/oddities.htm

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Thanks!
I went back out and checked on Jezebel. I couldn't pick her up when I first noticed cuz I had my hands full.
Flipped the ol' gal over and she's naked!

I thought she looked bad from the top, the bottom is worse. Poor gal.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Only you Imp! Only you!

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Only you Imp! Only you!

Not me. It's all Google's fault.

Imp- gotten quite the education searching Google.

 

[Southerngirl]

You know, you do live in Arkansas after all ! A tornado is a great explanation. Our Brahmas and others are all molting now too. I had to rake the chicken yard up a couple of days ago because it looked like a hawk had flown in and massacred all the chickens; feathers were everywhere! I guess we need hen aprons to hide the girls nakedness!!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Actually I was looking at the interior of the coop when I went to put the chickens to bed. The entire floor is covered in feathers and I'm thinking, well no need to buy pine shavings this week. Feather bed in the coop.

 

[Pathfinders]

Actually, birds that molt fast like that are good to have, as it means they will return to production sooner. Fast-molting birds are to be prized. Slow molters should be culled (or rehomed, or whatever), as they use up food while molting over a long period of time, but produce no eggs.

Now if your birds are just pets, it won't matter either way. But if you count on production for whatever reason (breeding or egg selling), fast molters are the way to go.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
Now you have homework. It seems appropriate since school just started. This site tells you how to identify fast molters by the pattern of the feathers growing back. I know you sell your eggs but I still think your's are more pets than producers.

http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html