All girls. I’ve raised 10 store-bought chicks and not 1 was a rooster! 4 no longer reside here but I get to visit them.Chicken molt when they need to.. They do not follow a certain guideline, or date. The may start molting in November,,, and there are also possibilities of a hard molt, or a staggered soft molt. In my small flock,,, some have finished molting 2 months ago,, and some have not started yet. They may also wait until spring.
I am in similar weather stage as you are. Autumn is starting to show up. and winter is on its way.
Beautiful flockBTW, are 6 all hens??
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
BTW, are 6 all hens??
We don’t supplement light.Are you finding feathers in the coop or run? If they do a soft molt, it's very gradual and you may not notice it on the bird itself, just from the feathers. Though if it's really slow and gradual, and only a couple feathers here and there over a long period of time, even that may not be very noticeable. My DSL Barnevelders did an extremely gradual soft molt that started in July. I'd find a feather or two here and there, and no eggs from them. It took them 3 months (!!!) but they are pretty much done with the molt now. They never had bare patches or looked raggedy. Very stealthy! My Orps, on the other hand, drop whole bunches and have naked patches, but are done with the whole thing faster.
Do you have light in the coop by any chance? If you provide supplemental light, their bodies may not be getting the signal that it's time to molt, since that's tied to the length of the day.
I always wondered what they do in cold climates. Do people knit scarves for them?Other naked body parts like combs and feet have evolved to withstand winter without feathers and have mechanisms for doing that. The neck, on the other hand, has not evolved to be naked in cold winters, so it can't be good for them... Maybe they stay hunched and huddled a lot, so the feathers from the rest of their body cover the neck some?
Yes,,, I know they take a break,,,, a much deserved break
,,, But you can keep your extra eggs for a long time If you decide to refrigerate them. There is another option,,,,, if interested, and I can link thread for you.
Everybody has their own way of molting
Which is fine most of the time, until it's not. Unfortunately with domestic animals we can't say "nature knows what she's doing" and trust that their bodies will do the right thing at the right time. We have messed with their genetics too much for them to be reliably self-sufficient anymore. Wild birds will molt at the correct time and be fine (because they'll die off if they don't), but chickens... can afford to do whatever, because their people will take care of them if they fail, and will allow them to procreate anyway, bad genetics and all (what's bad genetics in terms of molting time may not be considered bad enough if the bird has other qualities the humans want, so they select for what they want, all else be damned). There are chickens that molt at the absolute worst time and freeze to death. The weather is also more unpredictable than it used to be. So do keep an eye on them and if they start blowing their coats and showing naked skin, and you have a particularly nasty cold snap coming, consider bringing the naked ones into a basement or something at night until they cover up.
Yes, I’ll have to start popping some in the refrigerator!Yes,,, I know they take a break,,,, a much deserved break
Water glassing in lime.
