When the days set about go shorter , you may walk out to your coop to discover feathers everywhere ! Worried , you take a straits count and find no one is missing . There are a short ton of feathers and you notice a few of your birds are bald-pated .
You think to yourself : “ Surely a predator did this ! ”
While a predator could be probable , what is also potential is that your muckle has start out their yearly molt . Now this is a little overdramatized . But right at 18 months of years , a mountain will lose a majority of its feathering over an 8 - calendar week catamenia .
After your poulet complete molting for the first time , it ’ll continue each year . New feather growth can take up to 16 week to finish .
moult looks different on dissimilar chickens . There are many factors that act a function in how a snort molts and how rapidly they bounce back from it . The first foretoken that moult has start is chicken will set out to look a scrap ho-hum , as feathering miss their luster .
After that point , you may have a chicken that go through a hard molt and blows off all their feathers at once . These chickens face bald-headed .
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you may also have a bird you barely acknowledge is molting — with an erstwhile feather here , a young plume there . You ’ll specially find roosters because some tend to lose their tails during molting . Molting starts with the head and work its way down to the tail plumage .
Growing FeathersInstead of Laying Eggs
When poulet are molting , they regrow their plumage . An old feathering falls out and is replaced with apin plumage . This flag feather is covered in a protein cocktail dress . As the feather grows , the case falls off .
You ’ll notice a few things pass with your mass during a molting other than the multitude of feathers . eggs production will drop off tremendously , and you may not even get any ball at all .
Molting and the combination of lost sun are factors that play into the sudden decrement of eggs from your chickens .
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shed chickens have to keep up their nutrient reserves . Growing those feathers and the protein sheath is a draw of employment ! Especially when their feathers are 85 pct protein .
weight unit loss may also be a element .
During a ecdysis , your flock is hard at work verify newfangled feathers will offer just as much affectionateness and protection as old unity . Your commonly sweet birdie may be offish or even mean during this time .
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Molting can be a very irritating and stressful clip for your crybaby .
say more : Keep your flock healthy and happy with these stress - busters !
How You Can Help
There are so many method and illusion to help your mass ’s molt go smooth and less stressful . Some are very mainstream , and some I will discuss are tool I employ within my own flock .
At the first sign of molting , start promote treat prison term on top of their even diet . Your most helpful treat are as follows .
Scrambled or boiled bollock are go to be a great delicacy that is chock full of protein .
bungalow cheese is high in protein and is easily digestible for chickens . It also has a low fatty content so you do not have to worry about overfeeding .
Yogurt is an excellent informant of Ca and beneficial bacterium for your great deal ’s enteric health . This treat must be monitored . course too much can stimulate diarrhea
Broccoli has many nutritional good properties and also contains some protein !
Tuna and sardines are also full of many nutrients that are beneficial during moulting . Be measured with this one also . Any additive may cause intestinal upset . Fresh is best over processed . If you ca n’t ascertain fresh , tin is fine , but stay away from added Strategic Arms Limitation Talks .
Pumpkin seeds are gamy in protein and a great treat ! Every year , my flock gets a few whole pumpkin vine trim up in fourth . They eat them down to the rind and absolutely love it .
mealworm are always going to be a batch favorite . Being that they are also packed with protein to help through moult , keep some on hand to help when molt sentence strike . Maggie McManus / Shutterstock
pullulate lentils are an splendid treat that is very easy , inexpensive and full of protein , too ! You may have to DIY your lentils but it ’s deserving it .
smutty oil sunflower ejaculate are easily usable , cheap and full of nutrients ! If your birds start having weight unit loss , this is an fantabulous treat for them . The oil will also help those new feathering hail in glossy and subdued .
This next item may seem controversial to some , but it has helped many of my hard molt birds through their moult . I only give this treat in emergency situation . If you notice one of your bird is n’t doing well , at the first sign I give mine moist high - protein hotdog food . It is packed with protein and will definitely boost your chick ’s nutrient intake .
Please keep in brain that none of these treats lean here should supervene upon or outweigh your slew ’s regular dietary provender . It ’s not best practice to give all these treat yeararound . Reserve most of these delicacy for knockout winters and molt season .
Read more : Is wet nutrient really good for chickens ? We take a look .
Other Ways That You Can Help
ecdysis can also be abominable for chickens . I do it we all fear sunburn when we have that one biddy that go bald on the back . But forego the chicken saddle and advertise off handling your birds until their molt is almost completed .
If you break these new feathers , they can bleed . Even accidentally touching these feathering can cause hurting . In turn , that will stress your bird .
It ’s the same with putting on a poulet saddleback . The pin feather have a vein - filled shaft and can stop in a compass point . If those feathers somehow get hung in the cloth of a volaille saddle , they can weaken and again start bleed .
If potential , I would part all roosters during this time . They can cause harm to those feather as well while mount the biddy . Especially not having the contribute protective covering of a biddy ’s feather during this sentence , the rooster ’s spur can cause some undefendable wounds on the tegument . S.Reed / Shutterstock
Keep Them Occupied
Chickens are already very stressed while molting . Their nutrient bank deposit take a grueling hit , leaving them vulnerable . And you may notice they are n’t as active as they were a few calendar week ago .
They ’ve shed feathers , which also leaves their skin vulnerable to the elements and pests . cutis sores can develop , and your crybaby will be ill-tempered than common .
Keeping their environment during this time as stress - free as potential will help them recover quicker . Never move your flock members during molt . This will take a tremendous toll on them . in person , I coop up my whole flock during this time , .
My roosters are put into a knight bachelor pad away from my hens to keep them from fight . They are given areas that provide spook . And to keep them from find fault on each other or becoming stressed out , I give them boredom busters that incorporate goody to help with their molt .
Here are my favorites :
This one is pretty soft . All you need is a uncompromising 2 - in branch and some string . Tie the twine on either side of the branch and impound to something sturdy in their playpen or you may establish a standpoint .
A regular hay ball with a prominent head of Brassica oleracea italica will keep your birds busy for quite some clip .
Simply position a whole autumn pumpkin with a few holes slew into the sides . you may also string up it up if you would like . Chickens are funny , and once they realize it wo n’t injure them , get quick for some funny antics .
Releasing alive crickets into your volaille playpen will give your flock some exercise while they get the reward of a tasty kickshaw pack with food that they need .
This is a good way to reuse those plastic bottles you no longer expend . Put some1⁄2 – column inch holes in a plastic nursing bottle . Fill it up with goody and topographic point inside your pens . Use more than one bottle to keep fighting down .
This will give your bird a good alimental boost and is also simple to do . Get your lentil and put them in a container . Let the lentils sit around overnight in body of water . Drain the water the next Clarence Day . Every 12 hour cover the lentils in body of water and drainage . replicate that process until you get to your desired size ! Typically that is around four days if you are shoot a lot of them .
These tedium buster should be introduced easy and step by step over a course of clock time . Introducing all of these at once may stress your poulet , and that is the last thing we want to do while they are molting .
The busters that include kickshaw should also be done in moderation and should not supersede your flock ’s feed or primary nutrient source .
The first metre you see your flock molt can be worrying , but with the above tips I ’ve used over the many yr of having my passel , you all will displume through just fine . While molting may seem like a serious issue the first sentence you see it , it ’s very lifelike and will occur every year .
Sidebar:Build a Bath
The final tool that I carry out during molt is adding a few thing to my pot ’s rubble bathing tub . rubble bathe helps during molt by avail keep pests at bay and also help oneself those loose feather come in out . Do n’t be horrify if you do out one day and their dust - bathing expanse is full of feathers .
Outside of molt season , my mountain ’s debris bath is the chase :
This is just my personal practice with my crybaby , but once molting season kicks off , I change the dust - bath formula to :
Sidebar:Birds of a Feather
Molting does n’t apply to only chickens in the avian world . Every avian of every species has some type of molt . Quail , duck , geese , swans and even wild bird have an annual moult . If you keep any of these other species , most of the tips above still apply !
water bird and quail need a heavy protein boost , just like chickens . Most duck will have two molt a year , while geese and swans will have one annual moulting . Quail will have one to two molts a yr , depending on the specie .
Ensuring that your water bird has plenty of fresh , clean water available to swim in will play an significant persona in help oneself their molt along . Your once - very - friendly duck or bozo will be irritable during this metre . molting affects them the same as chickens regarding how the feathering grows and that it can be painful .
This article originally come out in the September / October 2021 issue ofChickensmagazine .
