Some of our chickens are moulting
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Chickens | 33 comments
I went down to the run today and it was covered with a light sprinkling of feathers. My initial gut reaction was slightly panicky. Had a fox got in or a giant rat? Then I remembered that sometimes chicken moult at this time of year. As chickens get older they are more likely to moult. It’s never the whole gang and that is why it’s a bit disturbing. We have three hens, looking great with bright red combs stepping about perkily. The other two look as if they haven’t seen a hairbrush for months.
My bantam book is reassuring. As the feathers drop from the head they are swiftly followed by new, squeaky clean ones. Also, chickens keep their ability to fly during a moult, retaining essential wing feathers for this task. The longer the feathers the longer they take to grow back.
It’s great that they can fly as this means that they have a chance if trouble strikes but it’s the eggs that I’m interested in. Our problem is that we haven’t collected an egg for days. They go ‘off lay’ when moulting. What about the three that are not moulting? Surely they could lay an egg or three to keep us happy.
Danny is kinder than me, ‘At least they’ll live a bit longer, if they have a rest,’ he said as he cracked a handful of eggs from John’s shop into the frying pan, ‘you’ll hate it when Carol dies.’
Thinking about it, he’s right. Although I do miss the warmth of a newly laid egg in my hand, in the morning.
Tips and tricks:
- Generally if you see a lot of feathers in the run at this time of year it’s an indication that some of the hens are moulting. If you suspect feather pulling and bullying, hang a head of cabbage in the run. Position this at a height that forces the chickens to stretch and jump to reach the cabbage. This should stop the feather pulling quickly.
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She was seperated this morning and died at lunch time! I have another hen who is malting and i’m now really worried the same will happen to her!
Hi Elaine
I’m so sorry to hear about your hen.
It’s normal to moult at this time of year but not all hens do. If the other hen is being picked on, separate her. Fingers crossed that she’ll be OK
Hi There
This website has been so helpful. I have 4 bantams of which 2 have lost feathers, one is really bad, she is very down and is now being hen packed by a bantam that hasn’t moulted. Is it usual for a hen to help another loose the feathers or is she being bullied?
Hi Elaine
Your hen is being bullied. It might be a good idea to separate her, somewhere warm, where she can rest and repair.
Hello everyone!
I wonder if you could ease my angst. I purchased 3 beautiful girls four weeks ago and everything was fine. For the last week and a half two of them have stopped laying. They seem happy and perky but a few incidents have puzzled me.
– one had a very dirty bottom to which she happily let the other two peak at her tail feathers I have since given her a bath (which she loved)but the peaking continues
– lots of small feathers in the run and coop. This could be moulting i suppose but the girls don’t have any spiky bits.
– the dropping have gone from regular to white and frothy to very green and mushy.
You are probably screaming at your screen right now but i’m a complete novice and a compulsive worrier. :0) Please help and put my mind to rest xxx
HELL I HAVE 6 EX BAT HENS THAT LAID FOGAIN R 6 TO 8 WEEK NOW THEY HAVE STOPPED HOW LONG BEFORE THEY START LAYING A
we have six hens, year old, still not totally molting. but so we can tell who they are in the garden, or who is laying what, for that matter, we painted a band around the leg useing a dark nail varnish, top right, top left, middle, bottom left, bot right, and the smallest no band. no effect to skin did this when first got them, cos isa brown is hard too tell whats what,and nail varnish has perfect small brush in bottle . wardie
Two out of our three one year old bantams moulted heavily about 12 weeks ago and they show no signs of new feathers. This seems an excessive time to start replacing the feathers. Egg laying has continued as normal. They have layers pellets with a handful of mixed corn scattered around each morning. The third bantam eats dropped feathers and has started pecking one moulted bantam’s neck. Any suggestions for stimulating feather growth and stopping pecking would be welcome.
Thank you for this tip. When if ever does this change? Two of the hens have been like this for about a month. They have stopped moulting and grown new feathers, are eating normally and seem OK, other than having little time for the young cockerel we introduced about three months ago. Our third younger hen is fine, laying occasionally and has become the cockerel’s best friend over the last fortnight since he learned to crow! Sorry if all this seems naive bit we’ve only had the chickens since June.
Hi Judith
Pale comb usually indicates no egg laying. When a hen moults she ceases to lay.
Do hens’ combs go pale when they moult and is this the reason they have stopped laying?
Many thanks for your response. It was more or less as I thought. I did try the not feeding anything but the layer pellets, but I gave in after two days!!! I will try again. Many thanks again. Diane