Post Pics Of Your Chicken With Worst Molt

[emjay]

does this happen every year??? egads. some of them look terrible, haha.

 

[MareeZoCool]

I ain't never see a chicken in moult B4. Thanks for the education!

 

[Chicken Chaperone]

Henrietta moulting is exactly what brought me here to BYC. I was in a complete panic as a first time foster chicken mom with little instructions or warnings and zero
experience with chickens and I came upon a coop full of feathers! ack! It was like someone had a horrible pillow fight- feathers were everywhere and I
was nose to scowling beak with a plucked, terrible looking and grumpy chicken! I've still never seen a worse stink eye as Henrietta gave me that day!
I made a mad dash for the computer and googled 'chicken loosing feathers' and found BYC and after a good read I slapped myself on the forehead
and said "Of course, birds moult! Doh!" I wouldn't have dared take a picture- she would have wing slapped me down
like cheap paparazzi!! So yes, newbies, be aware- moults happen, they look like something out of your worst nightmares and you may have a chicken
on your hands that has figured out that it is somehow all your fault and is very ticked off! It took a month of hand-fed meal worms and treats to convince
Henrietta that I was not the source of all evil and that I was actually a good thing in her world and that no, her moult was not my fault.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:
Yep...pretty much. They lose most feathers (or all in some cases) and grow in new, pretty fresh ones. I have a couple that molt mildly (a few patches over a longer amount of time) and one that goes buck naked in a few days and grows them all back at ones. One year, she had 2 flight feathers on one wing and 3 on the other....that was it for her entire body. She looked more like porcupine than a chicken.

 

[Emzyyy]

I don't have a photo but my White Crested Black Polish hen's feathers turn splashish right before she molts. Really odd ahaa. Then they all fall out.

 

[Opa]

I wonder if someone makes a chicken suit?

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

Quote:
just cut an arm off an old sweater, cut little wing holes, and put it on the poor thing! QUICK!

poor birdie! i've seen these things made for tropical birds that pluck themselves bald so bad. they call them 'flight suits' i think.

 

[Opa]

Chickie'sMoma :

Quote:
just cut an arm off an old sweater, cut little wing holes, and put it on the poor thing! QUICK!

poor birdie! i've seen these things made for tropical birds that pluck themselves bald so bad. they call them 'flight suits' i think.

Now that was clever and funny.

 

[MrsChicken1954]

Sounds good, but I would worry that the less intellectually gifted chickens would peck at the edges of the sweater and choke on the yarn.?

 

[fmk]

Hi All,
I was worried that my hens were looking 'worst for wear' until I saw some of the photos here! How long does molting normally last (mine have been losing feathers for months now)? Is it normal to loose a lot of neck feathers too ( I suspected they might be pecking each other but I haven't witnessed it)? I have 5 hens and the laying has been good all winter (average 4 eggs/day) - we have had one of our coldest & most miserable winter weather ever experienced here in Ireland. I'll post some photos of the molting hens tomorrow. Frank