What Is Molting in Backyard Chickens?

What is Molting? 

Molting is the process that chickens (and other birds) go through to replace old, broken and dirty feathers with new healthy ones. This is not only for aesthetic reasons but also for health reasons. Healthy new feathers help trap warm air through the winter better than old feathers.

Late summer to mid fall, your run will start to look like there's been a huge pillow fight, with feathers everywhere.

The shorter days of fall normally trigger the molt, ensuring the bird will have nice new feathers to keep them warm through the winter, but stresses such as heat, overcrowding, predators or poor nutrition can also cause a hen to start molting.

Adding supplemental light in the coop and then changing your mind and deciding not to add light midway through the winter can also trigger a molt,  so be consistent with your supplemental light if you choose to add it.

The first adult molt generally occurs at about 18 months of age and then will occur annually after that, usually in the late summer or autumn.

Good layers tend to molt more quickly (taking 3-4 months, between 14-16 weeks generally) while poor layers can sometimes take up to 6 months to complete the entire molting process.

Hens stop laying while they are molting since all their energy and nutrients need to be concentrated on growing new feathers, although good layers may continue during the initial part of the molt. Roosters also molt and lose fertility while they are molting, even becoming permanently sterile if they lose enough body weight (more than 25%).

A chicken can go through a mild molt and barely look as if she's missing any feathers, or look really awful with huge chunks of feathers missing. My girls seem almost embarrassed, as if they know how horrible they look, and tend to hide behind bushes while they are molting.

They act listless and unhappy. This is normal.  They will bounce back to their perky selves once the molt period is over and they have their gorgeous new glossy, healthy feathers. Egg production most likely won't return to the same levels as before the first molt but eggs will generally be larger and of better quality.

While the length of each hens' molt can vary widely, the pattern is always the same. It starts at the head and neck, then moves to the saddle, breast, abdomen, wings and finally the tail.

It's fairly easy to recognize a molting hen versus one who is being pecked or the victim of feather pulling because in a molt, the new feathers literally push the old feathers out, so new shafts or quills can be seen where the old feathers are missing.

If feathers are being pulled out by other hens, there will be bare spots. If there are bare patches around the vent, it's most likely lice or other parasites, not a molt. If you notice a hen with a bare breast or abdomen, she's not molting, she's broody. Read more about broody hens HERE.

While the chicken is growing in new feathers, they are covered in a waxy coating to protect the "pin" feathers that are filled with blood which nourishes the growing shaft and feather.

As the feather grows, the wax casing breaks and falls off to allow the new feather to emerge. You might see the cast off casings in your nesting boxes or floor of your coop.

During a molt, extra nutrition is extremely beneficial to your hens. Feathers are made of approximately 80-90% protein, 8 percent water and 1% water-insoluble fats, so providing your molters extra protein during their molt is critical.  Good protein sources include:

• meal worms 
• sunflower seeds
• scrambled eggs
• meat scraps 
• fish scraps
• herbs

Note: some people suggest feeding canned cat food, but I don't advocate that. It is formulated for cats, not chickens, and canned fish such as mackerel, sardines or tuna is a far better (and cheaper) bet.

Many herbs also contain high levels of protein and can be fed free-choice, fresh, or added to your chickens' feed in dried/crushed form. Some of the best include basil, chervil, coriander, dill, fennel, marjoram, parsley, spearmint and tarragon.

I have developed an easy recipe for Molt Meatloaf that I feed to my hens while they are working hard to grow back their feathers that incorporates several protein sources.

They love it - and the eggs, oats and ground beef provide protein while the milk product provides added calcium, both of which help their molt go faster and more smoothly. 

MOLT MEATLOAF

Ingredients:

3 Eggs, lightly beaten
¾ Cup water
2T Molasses
2/3 Cup Old-fashioned Oats
2/3 Cup Layer Crumble (or pellets moistened in a bit of water)
¼ Cup Wheat germ
¼ Cup Powdered Milk
3 Cloves Garlic, chopped
¼ Cup Fresh or Dried Parsley
1T each Fresh or Dried Basil, Dill, Marjoram and Tarragon
1 ½ Pounds Ground Beef

In large bowl, combine eggs, milk and molasses. Stir in oats, crumble, wheat germ, powdered milk, garlic and herbs. Add meat and mix well. Pat mixture into a small casserole or loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Cool, slice and serve. Leftovers can be frozen and then defrosted as needed.

Sources:
http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/animal-industries/poultry/care-and-husbandry/moulting

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