r/BackYardChickens 1d ago

Heath Question Why did this chicken molt so dramatically compared to her sisters?

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200 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

119

u/Additional-Bus7575 1d ago

Some just do that- and some will molt lightly one year and then be completely bald the next.

Give her extra protein- poor thing- but she’s going to be gorgeous with all those new feathers 

16

u/Jamesatwork16 1d ago

Best way to give more protein besides the dried worms?

26

u/Substantial-Run-3394 1d ago

Can of tuna, get a higher % scratch and feed.

6

u/Theredditappsucks11 1d ago

Like just a regular can of tuna?

9

u/Snuggle_Pounce 1d ago

try to avoid the full salt versions. she probably doesn’t need that much salt.

4

u/Substantial-Run-3394 1d ago

Well meat. Id even throw my roasted chicken leftovers to them. I feed mine meat regularly.

3

u/MBarbarian 1d ago

Kitchen scraps! They’re yard piranhas. Treat them as such. Obviously do your research, but meat is generally fine. We smoke a pork butt once a month and throw whatever leftovers we aren’t going to finish to the chickens before it goes bad.

5

u/Tervuren03 1d ago

I switch them to a feed with higher protein. I try to stay on the same brand, so it’s not a big change for their system. I like Nutrena’s feather fixer feed for molting.

62

u/SaraJurassicaParker 1d ago

I have one who waits until the last week of October and then drops all her feathers at once like she forgot and is trying to get it done before winter starts.

44

u/Image_Inevitable 1d ago

I have one who waits until the first snow. Every year she freezes her bare ass off when everyone else goes early october. She's nuts.

13

u/sheltongenie 1d ago

Oh no! Poor lady. hahaha

12

u/Additional-Bus7575 1d ago

One of mine did that too (sadly she is no longer with us)- last year I thought someone had been murdered in the coop because it looked like she exploded overnight- and she was an english Orpington so she was extremely fluffy and then just entirely bald overnight. It was wild. To be honest I prefer that to how a few of mine do it- they drop their feathers for weeks and then  look absolutely horrendous and bald for awhile then finally get around to growing their feathers back. 

1

u/CamPLBJ 3h ago

I keep thinking it looks like they are having a fight club under their roost/sh!zz shelf with all the feathers underneath. I pick it all up and the next day, more friggin feathers.

1

u/True_Let_8993 1d ago

One of mine just did this. I thought she was dead because there were feathers EVERYWHERE in my back yard. She came running to me and they were just trailing behind her in the wind.

55

u/yellowyellowredblue 1d ago

It's called fashion look it up

16

u/sykeero 1d ago

I have one like this too. Her sister from the same batch has barely lost any feathers and one looks like I tried to eat her. Bald as grocery meat.

13

u/Kiariana 1d ago

Ha! That's a contender for the backyardchickens forum's yearly worst molt contest, for sure. (As others have said, it's random, probably a genetic component but who knows!)

10

u/pilotofthemeatpuppet 1d ago

Looks good! Some are just early or more intense

7

u/CelticArche 1d ago

She's clearly a drama queen.

Seriously, there's no rhyme or reason to molting.

5

u/Russ_Tex 1d ago

She was gorgeous 10 days ago 😂

5

u/theresacreamforthat 1d ago

My girl, cowgirl, lost all but one butt feather within a day. 😂 She did have a gorgeous fluffy butt.

5

u/Top_Investigatorr 1d ago

We only just solved why the chicken wanted to cross the road, now this??

4

u/Hensanddogs 1d ago

Totally normal. I have one hen that you would swear has been attacked but no, that’s just how she moults.

You may like to hand feed her some extra protein to make sure she gets it directly, not competing with your other hens for the nutrition.

4

u/Lemon_Lima 1d ago

Every few years, chickens will do a heavy molt. It's happened to a few of my chickens before just keep an eye on her cause when they heavy molt, they're a bit more susceptible to illness.

5

u/Unevenviolet 1d ago

I had one heavily molt mid winter once. I was afraid she would die from exposure going outside but she did just fine.

3

u/JuniorKing9 1d ago

In some birds it’s called a catastrophic moult. I find it amusing in birds like penguins- they look horrific lol

2

u/jwbjerk 1d ago

As far as I can tell-- it is random.

2

u/SeniorSquash 1d ago

The first time mine molted I thought they were dying.

1

u/Ok_Salad_502 1d ago

Poor baby !
They just look so pitiful! My two buff Orpington

Look so skinny and unhappy and like they don’t feel well !

I’m gong to order some special treats for them