moulting warrens.

[clucking chicks]

Please could you tell me if my 2 lovely warren ladies will moult this year? This will be their second winter and they didn't moult last year.
Thanks for your help!

PS Why do chickens moult in the winter? I wouldn't want to be naked in the garden just now! Brrrrr! 07

 

[Chuck]

You haven't said what age they are or what season they were hatched and this is important.

Some birds drop their feathers over a long period therefore some owners don't know they've moulted. The other extreme is that many drop almost their entire feather covering over a period of a couple of weeks, then look like porcupines when the new feathers come through.

Late summer and autumn is the usual time for moulting as with wild birds but chickens are not hatched in a short nesting season like the wild birds, so the moult can occur outside these times.

It would be very unusual for birds to go two years without a moult. Have yours laid continually over that period ?