What the molting!?

[ckseals]

How do I know if my chickens are molting? What are the signs?...aside from reduced egg production...

 

[australorpchick]

There will be feathers EVERYWHERE. Kind of like a chicken exploded.

 

[ginbart]

And they look so bad. I have an EE that I couldn't figure out why she looked so bad. Here she lost her beard and no feathers on her legs they looked so funny.

She still hasn't layed an egg in 3 months.

edited for writing wrong. Sorry

 

[gsim]

Feathers everywhere and chooks get to looking bad. If molting comes in cold weather expect no eggs. The protein will all be used by the chook's systems to re-feather their bodies before their systems allow egg production to resume. It is a built-in preservation mechanism. You can help by giving them a high-protein supplement such as Calf-Manna mixed with their feed and be sure that they have a dry coop with no drafts near to roost area.