When do chickens molt

[osint2026]

My cockerels are 8 months when will they molt?

 

[Grind Hard Farm]

16-18 months

 

[rosemarythyme]

"Next fall" they'll be old enough for an adult molt, though some birds do it early and some later (and some molt at odd times or might skip a year just to make you wonder).

 

[Ridgerunner]

My cockerels are 8 months when will they molt?

The main trigger for a molt is the days getting shorter in the fall. Chickens evolved to raise chicks in the good weather months of spring and summer and stop raising chicks when the weather got bad in the fall. Their feathers wear out so they need to be replaced. So when the days get shorter in the fall they molt and replace their worn-out feathers. It's the same for males and females.

But your cockerels are not mature chickens. Like some pullets, some cockerels skip the molt their first fall and do not molt until the following fall. But some do molt their first fall. Your cockerels might start molting pretty soon as the days are getting shorter in California where you are or they may wait another 12 months or so to molt.

Their age is not what controls it. The control is the days getting shorter.

 

[SamLockwood]

It varies and it's usually by the season, although I have yet to see birds less than a year old molt in the fall.