My Buff Orpington went through a full-up molt in October-November. She lost enough feathers that she was cold at night on the roost and slept in the nesting box for a few weeks presumably for warmth.
She seemed to have recovered, although I can't say her laying has been all that impressive. Last week I noticed she dropped a fair number of feathers again - nothing like the first time, but quite a few feathers in the pen and the coop. And she's been sleeping in the nesting box again.
I'm wondering if it is a second molt - does that happen? - or if it might be a stress reaction of some kind. A day or two before she stopped dropping feathers again a red-tailed hawk tried to attack my girls and they were both (my other one is an EE) sufficiently terrified that they didn't really come out of their pen to free-range for a few days. No feathers were dropped on the spot, though; is it common for a hen to lose feathers after the fact like that? She hasn't laid an egg since the hawk episode - I'd say it's been almost a week.
Oddly, the EE, who is exactly the same age as the BO, hasn't molted at all.
Here they are:
She seemed to have recovered, although I can't say her laying has been all that impressive. Last week I noticed she dropped a fair number of feathers again - nothing like the first time, but quite a few feathers in the pen and the coop. And she's been sleeping in the nesting box again.
I'm wondering if it is a second molt - does that happen? - or if it might be a stress reaction of some kind. A day or two before she stopped dropping feathers again a red-tailed hawk tried to attack my girls and they were both (my other one is an EE) sufficiently terrified that they didn't really come out of their pen to free-range for a few days. No feathers were dropped on the spot, though; is it common for a hen to lose feathers after the fact like that? She hasn't laid an egg since the hawk episode - I'd say it's been almost a week.
Oddly, the EE, who is exactly the same age as the BO, hasn't molted at all.
Here they are:
