Winter molt or being bullied?

[crittersitter]

In the past 24 hours my 13 month old BR has lost a ton of feathers.Mostly around her neck and upper back.Vent area is nice and full. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the coop door this morning and feathers were everywhere! I only have 3 chickens, all the same age. There has never really been a pecking order,they get along very well. They eat layena,have flock block,scraps, omelets for breakfast and I treat them to mealworms and crickets since they are not going out in the snow.

They have more than adequate space and I spent a good part of my morning observing them and didn't see any bullying but she is acting like "the kid in the schoolyard that wasn't asked to play." She would normally eat with the other two but is walking circles around them and eating the bits they are dropping. She looks like she feels left out and it makes me sad for her.

She stopped laying around the holidays. Could I have forced a molt by not providing enough light? It has been really cold here and the coop has a tarp on it that covered the window and I don't usually get to let them out until 9am. The tarp was supposed to be temporarily covering the window but then we got pounded with lots of snow. In retrospect I probably should have removed the snow and let sunlight in but my husband suggested it would provide extra insulation. So the coop has been extra dark, buried in snow with no additional artificial light since x-mas. I took the tarp down an hour ago.

Can they molt in the dead of winter? We are not even close to spring yet and seeing as how i have never seen a molt before,I just don't know what to expect. Where do i buy chicken clothes? She is going to need something to stay warm.
Also, i have checked for mites and don't see anything. There are some weird purplish spikes where the feathers came off.
Thanks for any advice. I am going to go observe some more and try and snap a pic or two.

 

[thebritt]

I think a pic might be helpful. Seems odd that just one would molt, but if you have no rooster(s) then I can't imagine what else it could be

. I'm reasonably certain a couple days of reduced light wouldn't trigger a molt, esp. in just one chicken, but mine have always free-ranged during the day, so I have no experience with manipulating light.

 

[purpletree23]

If she has pin feathers coming in to replace the lost ones then she is molting. If there are not replacements then she is being picked on.

One of my girls started molting last week and I had a long talk with her and asked her to wait just a few more weeks because I don't know how I'll keep her warm.

She just looked at me with her big eyes like I was crazy. Well, I am crazy and I'll figure something out for her. I've had chickens molt at all times of the year. I could never figure out a pattern.

 

[crittersitter]

Thanks for the replies. Well it turns out she is molting. Bummer. I wasn't aware that it could happen in the middle of winter. I've added a small heat lamp to the coop and hopefully spring isn't too far off!

 

[HHandbasket]

I know someone who had a bird molt in mid winter, and my EE did a mini-molt in the coldest part of mid-winter! Go figure. Silly birds.

 

[chuckzoo]

From the progession of the missing feathers it definately sounds like a molt.

Two of mine have molted recently. They don't feel very good when they molt and their behaviour may differ from what is normal for them. If you see the pin feathers coming through where the old feathers are being lost this will confirm it. A molt is stressful on the body and a lot of protein is required to grow new feathers since feathers are comprised of 85% protein (read from a peer reviewed paper). Try to provide additional protein. The easiest way in my opinion is to switch to Gamebird feed 24% protein.

Good luck