what is normal feather loss vs molting??

[nuchickontheblock]

I am wondering what is normal feather loss. I have 3 ameracaunas that are 9 months old that I have had for 2 months. Except for a few eggs from one pullet the first 5 days, we have not seen any eggs. The one that was laying, immediately started to lose feathers when we got her and I assumed that she was molting. She has now stopped losing her major feathers (large tail and wing feathers) for the past 3 weeks and never started laying again. Now I have another one who has started losing quite a few of her tail and wing feathers. Neither of them ever looked featherless or had bald patches, so I am unclear how many feathers should drop normally. I have picked up about 12 large and many small fluffy feathers in the past week that I know by color and observation are coming from the same girl. Would heat have anything to do with it? We've been having a heat wave the past week here in the northeast, but they are eating fine, have plenty of water and shade; and are acting normal.

I know that humans supposedly lose about 100 hairs each day, so I wondered about chickens???!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

These sites may be of interest to you. The first one gives a good progression of molting, which feathers are lost in which order. The second one talks about feather loss in general.

Mississippi State describes molting
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html

Kansas State feather loss
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/mf2308.pdf

Hope this helps

 

[nuchickontheblock]

Thanks. Very helpful resources. I will be more observant of which feathers and when.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It does sound like she may be molting. When mine molted, it was 3 1/2 months before they started laying again.