What shows a chicken is molting?

[Chickengirl209]

New to chicken raising!
What shows my hen is molting? Does she loose all her feathers, or what? What will they look like? Also, when do they usually molt?

 

[Buckingham Palace]

They will loose feathers so there will be lots around and they will look pretty scraggly as they moult

 

[nuthatched]

In an hard molt, they'll lose most, if not all of their feathers, in a soft molt, it won't be as noticeable. They typically molt at the beginning of seasons, a soft molt between every hard molt. Usually.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

I have a 14-month-old hen with all her belly feathers off, the skin is slick to the touch. It's been this way as long as I have cared for her vent back in March. I think she picks them off.

 

[Battlepants]

Of the more noticeable things are that the hens butt will fall off and your coop will look like a chicken exploded. Here's Nugget from this most recent winter:

 

[SmiYa0126]

New to chicken raising!
What shows my hen is molting? Does she loose all her feathers, or what? What will they look like? Also, when do they usually molt?

You'll start seeing full feathers that have fallen out underneath your chickens in the morning, and they look a little scraggly. My Plymouth blue is molting and her new feathers are a brighter color and have smooth edges.

 

[nuthatched]

Of the more noticeable things are that the hens butt will fall off and your coop will look like a chicken exploded. Here's Nugget from this most recent winter:
View attachment 3187318

I think her two feathers in her tail, very sassy.

 

[Sally PB]

One of my two year old hens has just three tail feathers.

 

[theoldchick]

The hen on the left is molting. The hen on the right is not. Some will have a mini-molt and lose a few feathers around the head and neck. The one pictured here is experiencing a mega-molt.

 

[3KillerBs]

Here's a full documentation of my California White's molt last winter: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-molting-story.1504702/