Spring time Molt?? PICTURES ADDED - #9

[newchicksnducks]

I have 13 chickens. All were born in May or June of 2009. They started laying in the fall between 20-24 weeks old, did well til winter when production dwindled to 3-4 eggs a day. Once the days lengthened, we are back up to 10-12 eggs from 13 girls...quite nice But they seem to be going through a molt...I thought that occured in the fall, and that egg production lowered during this time. My girls must not have read the manuals, because they increased during this time, and are molting in the spring instead of fall! Feathers around their backs and fluff beneath their tails are missing on about 8 of them, and about 3-4 have thinning around their necks. No bugs (lice) have been found, and the coop was just cleaned this weekend, and again, no bugs found. My one BO and 3 GLW show no signs of molting, but all the other girls are affected.

How long does it take for the feathers to grow back?

Should we expect another molt in the fall affecting the girls who missed out this spring?

 

[prncssprplfrog]

My first question would be: do you have any roosters that would be contributing to the "thinning" of their feathers? I'll try and get a pic of my girls tomorrow.

 

[faykokoWV]

this poor girl molted all winter, started in January and she is just now getting her feathers back

 

[newchicksnducks]

I haven't taken any pictures yet, I'll try tomorrow (just got my computer back after a bad hard drive!). My girls don't have the all over feather loss that faykokoWV's girl does, more like a bald silver dollar on the back above the tail, maybe some scattered fluff loss, and slight thinning on those that have loss by their necks. The skin on the bald spots does not look damaged (no hen-pecking) and I have no rooster, so that is not an issue. The balding started about 2-3 weeks ago, and I think I saw a couple of new feathers poking up through the skin on my BA. They do look funny now Any idea how long an average molt lasts before they look like the sleek hens they once were? (Oh yeah, feed has stayed the same - Layena with some kitchen scraps)

 

[prncssprplfrog]

Mine were all born the first full week in June of last year & haven't been through a full molt yet that I know of. I think I would notice with 11 chickens.
I guess they do look ghastly in molt don't they!

 

[sotelomary]

Are you sure it's not hen pecking and eating feathers? Are there feathers on the ground? I had the same situation and at first I also thought it was molting. After several days of closely watching as best I could, I saw a hen pick a feather off another one and eat it. I have since ordered peepers for all 5 of them. I noticed a different hen pick at another one that still has all it's feathers. On this one I thought she was picking scratch off the hen since the hen was dust bathing, and I figured she had some scratch on her. But I then noticed the hen's pecking change to a type of feather pulling! I'm told the peepers will break their habit.

Good luck,
Mary

 

[newchicksnducks]

Still haven't gotten the pictures to post. I'll run out when the kids are down for a nap (I run a home day care too). I haven't seen any feather picking, and while there were feathers in the old shavings that we just cleaned up this weekend, I'm not sure if it was enough to consititute all the bare spots on my birds:/ Hmm. But if the birds were pecking each other, wouldn't someone have a wound by now? There are no bloody or even irritated skin on the chickens.

 

[faykokoWV]

hmm, you say there were feather in the shavings but they are missing more than were in the shavings.... where did they go? That actually leads me to believe someone might be eating them.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Here is the neck thinning on one of two hens with feathers missing around the neck area.

As you can see, the back near the tail region is balding on about 4 of my girls...although some new feathers do appear to be growing back, as you can see on the picture of my Dominique

Some of the girls (4-5) have feather loss in the butt fluff

As a whole, they seem to be doing better...possibly coming out of the molt, if that is what it was?? Out of 13, my 3 GLW, single Jersey Giant, and my lone BO did not seem to be affected, but all the other girls seemed to have feather loss. If it was feather picking, wouldn't it be towards just one or two hens? I've had my chickens not quite a year yet, so every stage is still new:/

Thanks for all your input and help!!

 

[blackbeauty]

Mine were born around May also, and I also have 13 chickens and my sultan is loosing some around her neck and the rest have bare butts and no track of any bugs either, and mine started to do that around the middle of december. But we are getting 9-12 a day so it sure didn't affect it at all. Mysterious.

:yiipchick