Weird molting schedule this year

[Ryguy3684]

My chickens have always molted in fall and early winter. An occasional winter molt, but only once or twice. This year I had 3 hens only molt half their feathers this fall and they're now molting the second half. 2 other hens didn't molt last fall and are now in a full molt. The only hen with an excuse was the one that got vent gleet and it took 4 rounds of treatment to finally take care of it. Anyone have this weird half molt happen, or spring molt? Not worried, just curious.

 

[MysteryChicken]

My chickens have always molted in fall and early winter. An occasional winter molt, but only once or twice. This year I had 3 hens only molt half their feathers this fall and they're now molting the second half. 2 other hens didn't molt last fall and are now in a full molt. The only hen with an excuse was the one that got vent gleet and it took 4 rounds of treatment to finally take care of it. Anyone have this weird half molt happen, or spring molt? Not worried, just curious.

No, but some of my birds molt twice a year. Once in Spring/Summer, & Fall/Winter.

 

[Ryguy3684]

No, but some of my birds molt twice a year. Once in Spring/Summer, & Fall/Winter.

Lol. Two molts a year sounds like a lot of egg free days.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Lol. Two molts a year sounds like a lot of egg free days.

Sometimes. It depends on who stops laying, & who starts up again. I still get eggs through molting season.

 

[NewAtThis8]

My chickens are still laying, but showing up in the morning out of the coop with less and less feathers…. They were “treated” for mites but I didn’t see anything on them. I covered them in DE and cleaned out the coop and bombed it. Still losing feathers. It started with bare butts but now I’m seeing patches on their necks, shoulders/above wings and thighs. ….this has also been going on since April. Do molts take this long!!? Do I have a feather eater? One of the 5 is perfectly normal… so I’m suspicious. I changed their food to layer pellets with more protein but I’m at a loss here. They all look awful.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My chickens are still laying, but showing up in the morning out of the coop with less and less feathers…. They were “treated” for mites but I didn’t see anything on them. I covered them in DE and cleaned out the coop and bombed it. Still losing feathers. It started with bare butts but now I’m seeing patches on their necks, shoulders/above wings and thighs. ….this has also been going on since April. Do molts take this long!!? Do I have a feather eater? One of the 5 is perfectly normal… so I’m suspicious. I changed their food to layer pellets with more protein but I’m at a loss here. They all look awful.

Any photos? How old are the birds? Do you have a rooster?

 

[NewAtThis8]

Any photos? How old are the birds? Do you have a rooster?

They are 1 year and 3 months old- they only molted once I believe when they were juveniles unless their fall molt was more subtle. No rooster. Here’s some screen grabs from their coop cam-the first pic is Blanche who is the worst- no feathers on her bum or legs and thin in patches other places. The last pic is Minerva who started it all, she is actually younger than the others and is only a year old. She started in April with this and hasn’t grown a feather back yet.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They are 1 year and 3 months old- they only molted once I believe when they were juveniles unless their fall molt was more subtle. No rooster. Here’s some screen grabs from their coop cam-the first pic is Blanche who is the worst- no feathers on her bum or legs and thin in patches other places. The last pic is Minerva who started it all, she is actually younger than the others and is only a year old. She started in April with this and hasn’t grown a feather back yet.

My guess is feather picking just based on the last photo (and as a general rule the likeliest culprit is the bird(s) with less damage). Hard to see the damage with a coop cam, we'd need clearer photos to help assess. Also photos of your overall set up would help. How much space do they have in the run, and do they free range at all (and if so how long?)

How long ago did you switch to higher protein food? What's the protein %?

 

[NewAtThis8]

My guess is feather picking just based on the last photo (and as a general rule the likeliest culprit is the bird(s) with less damage). Hard to see the damage with a coop cam, we'd need clearer photos to help assess. Also photos of your overall set up would help. How much space do they have in the run, and do they free range at all (and if so how long?)

How long ago did you switch to higher protein food? What's the protein %?

I switched them a month ago to Kalmbach layer pellets, 17% protein. I think they have one step higher that is actually for feather growth at 22% but wasn’t sure if that was overkill?

They have a 10x6 run, there are 5 of them. They all fit comfortably in their coop at night, seem to have enough space to dig, food water and dust bath filled with DE and first Saturday lime (one of them just lays in there, she loves it).

They free range but only when supervised, usually about an hour a day but some days we can’t get out with them… we have a ton of predators (hawks, eagles, vultures, everything) so we made sure they had the space and things they needed in their covered run.

Here’s a pic of the setup and two of the birds. One has some black specks on her skin, but I do think that’s dirt/sand. I could very much be wrong, though, but I didn’t see anything moving.

 

[NewAtThis8]

I switched them a month ago to Kalmbach layer pellets, 17% protein. I think they have one step higher that is actually for feather growth at 22% but wasn’t sure if that was overkill?

They have a 10x6 run, there are 5 of them. They all fit comfortably in their coop at night, seem to have enough space to dig, food water and dust bath filled with DE and first Saturday lime (one of them just lays in there, she loves it).

They free range but only when supervised, usually about an hour a day but some days we can’t get out with them… we have a ton of predators (hawks, eagles, vultures, everything) so we made sure they had the space and things they needed in their covered run.

Here’s a pic of the setup and two of the birds. One has some black specks on her skin, but I do think that’s dirt/sand. I could very much be wrong, though, but I didn’t see anything moving.

the run photo didn’t attach- this photo is older and the duck coop (and ducks) are no longer in there, they got their own space in May.