Moulting - from the hens' perspective

[Icemaiden]

Our girls take very different views to the moulting process...

Tufty (Cream Legbar):
Oh, I'm bored with laying eggs. I'll shed a feather every other day for a few months. Mum doesn't expect eggs if I'm moulting...

Holly (White Leghorn):
Oh no. I've started moulting. That'll interfere with my egg -a- day routine... I wonder if I can get it all over and done with in three weeks? At least I'll be a white leghorn again instead of a decidedly off-white leghorn...

Hope (Light Sussex):
It's getting chilly. Time for a new winter coat. Pass me an empty pillow, someone...
Shakes herself & the run looks like an explosion in a duvet factory...

 

[LadyA]

I had a beautiful black hen one time (some sort of hybrid, but a beautiful blue/black sheen). She woke up one morning with literally every single feather in a heap under her on the perch! The other hens didn't seem to recognise her, and kept attacking her, not to mention that she was cold, so I had to separate her and let her use the spare henhouse for a couple of weeks. She was an awful fright when her feathers started to come through. Naked, pimply skin with dark spikes showing under the skin, and then little tufts of black stuck out all over her! Just right for Halloween, as she looked like the stuff of nightmares!

 

[rick]

It must be a very odd and uncomfortable experience when they go for it all out like that! Was she the same colour afterwards?

 

[bigyetiman]

We had a Barred Rock that would wake up one morning, give a big shake and be virtually naked, our Light Sussex adopt the lets take our time over this, after all one doesn't want a naked bum, so undignified, and we can sit around looking miserable for weeks on end. The humans will think we are ill and we may get a treat or two
A couple of the Bluebelles would practice " the lets look like a porcupine for a few weeks"
The rest seem to go through it in a fairly quick fashion without looking too bad, they just become a bit grumpy through the whole process. Bit like a hormonal teenager

 

[dianefairhall]

I had a good laugh at that, Icemaiden! Ours don't seem to be moulting but perhaps thinking about it? We had a 'let's all lay a small egg' day yesterday. If Morag lays much smaller they will soon be non-existent in any case. She is very intermittent with egg production.

Skye Light (Sussex X) Well, I've got a bald neck but I'm still laying massive eggs - will that do?

Izzie (Bluebell) I've had a bald bum for a year since the neighbours' dog bit me! I was hoping for new feathers by now. Still laying, I'm a good girl, AND I've been to the vet which the others haven't.

Morag Cuckoo Marans X) My feathers are perfect but I only bother laying every other day or so. Don't think Mum notices whose eggs are missing.

 

[LadyA]

It must be a very odd and uncomfortable experience when they go for it all out like that! Was she the same colour afterwards?

Yep, beautiful blue-black. She wasn't a great layer, and was always the underdog, but she was stunning.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

 

[Marigold]

Did she do it again next time? There are online patterns for knitting coats for naked hens!
- though this one doesn’t look as if she needs it.
https://www.instructables.com/Chicken-Sweater/

 

[LadyA]

Did she do it again next time? There are online patterns for knitting coats for naked hens!
- though this one doesn’t look as if she needs it.
https://www.instructables.com/Chicken-Sweater/

Sadly, she only lived through one moult. Can't remember what happened to her. In fact, that whole batch of hens never seemed quite "right" and all died young. They were all different strains of hybrids. There were one or two speckled types, the black one and another couple of variations. I've stuck to the little brown girls since then. The batch I have now are just two years old, going through their first moult. I've had them here 18 months, and they were already starting to lay when I got them. They are all still laying regularly, and I've literally not had a moment's disquiet about any of them. Not even a runny bum, ever.