This years pullet molting?

[freebird05]

Hi peeps,

I am rather new to chicken keeping & have read about molting in older chickens. However my Colombian wyandotte which was sold to me as seemingly a pullet molting right now.
So i'm asking my self, do under 1 year olds molt or was I sold an older hen which isn't laying eggs?

Thanks for reading!

 

[BantamLover21]

It is possible that she is a hen, but it is just as likely that she is molting as a pullet. Many chickens wait until they are over a year of age to molt, but some don't. Last year, I had 3 pullets (less than a year of age) molt as fall got closer. It just varies with each individual bird.

 

[Den in Penn]

Chickens that hatch in late fall can molt at the end of the next summer. Having gone through nearly one cycle of shorting and then lengthening days.

 

[freebird05]

Thanks for the answers!

 

[Bean789]

I have been wondering the same thing about molting in young pullets. My girls hatched April 7 and none of them have started molting as yet. The answers here have cleared up my apprehension that they would molt mid Dec or Jan. LOL Hopefully, they will go a full cycle of weather changes before they lose their feathers as most of them have just started laying.

 

[katekearby]

I was told a pullet molt was kind of light, but i have one who is pretty weird looking right now, and feathers everywhere. her 2 hatch mates are molting a little but this one the biggest and strongest of those 3 I'm afraid will get cold soon, she also is kind of segregated from the others like they won't have much to do with her while she looks weird ? Needless to say these 3 have also quit laying .

How long does a molt last? do i need to get this near naked hen a sweater? I assume that they should get 'back to normal'? soon?

 

[tj74roberts]

I have a 5 month old (hatched 8/31/14) Chocolate Orpington that is loosing feathers left and right. She is completely healthy no hitchhikers that I have found and I've been all over her. Any info would be helpful. Thank you

 

[aldarita]

I was under the understanding that pullets do not molt on their first year (just the usual light molts they go thru while growing) until last year all of my March pullets molted and some of them pretty hard, the previous year I had some May pullets that did not molt until their second fall, so I guess it varies with each chicken. No rules here I would say