What shows a chicken is molting?

[MysteryChicken]

 

[NanaK]

I have some that you can hardly tell they are molting and then a couple hens who look like porcupines.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Things to look for

- Extra feathers on the floor in coop and run (if you have different colored birds, you can usually ID which one is molting based on feather color).
- Molting birds often become more skittish and don't want to be touched. They'll slow or stop laying. Combs may get pale and shrivel a bit. They might go off feed a bit.
- A bird with a hard molt will blow out patches of feathers and then start regrowing pinfeathers in those patches, which gives them that porcupine look. A bird with a softer molt might look a little patchy here and there but won't have big obvious missing clumps.

My EE Custard molts pretty hard every year