The telltale feathers dot throughout our running game apparently declare that autumn molting season was once again upon us . Some birds , like Butters Orpington , omit a few feathers each daytime , retaining a full , fluffy appearance throughout the past couple of months .
Others , like Fitzgirl Orpington … yeeesh . Poor Fitzgirl depend like she blank out to take off her Halloween hedgehog costume . Her moulting was so severe that my Word Jaeson and I had to clean out the entire chicken coop , all three nestboxes , and the water boy , which was poultice with discarded smuggled feathers .
Jaeson was repel . “ Why ’d she cast all her feathers when none of the other girlfriend did ? ” he enquire .
Why did Fitzgurl look like a horror - motion picture cull while her coopmates look like pageantry queen ? Unlike Butters , Selene , and the residue of her henhouse crew , who underwent a balmy molt , Fitzgirl underwent a operose molt , losing all her feathers at the same time .
To a keeper raw to chickens , a hard molt can be almost heart stopping . Over the years , I ’ve receive dozens of panicked message from backyard batch owners , each of them freak out out that their hen might be pallid and/or dying .
Read more : Feather loss usually imply molting … but that ’s not always the subject .
The Annual Feather Purge
Nope ! This annual feathering purge happens every year once a biddy arrive at more or less 18 calendar month of age . It ’s the poultry way of say out with the previous , in with the raw .
A girl toss away her old , often draggle feather to maturate in healthy new plume . It just so happen that some chickens , like Butters , do this in an almost imperceptible mode while others go full drama queen , like Fitzgirl .
Do n’t misunderstand me … a chicken ’s temperament has nothing to do with how she molts . Fitzgirl is actually quite unsure . She ’s the one hen in the Orpington entourage who will not take kickshaw from my hand . She ’ll hang back while everyone else crowds and leaping for dusty clams , mealworm , etc .
If anyone in the group is a drama queen , it ’s Selene Orpington , who “ sings ” quite loudly for five minute before laying an ballock and for 10 minute after . Every . Single . Egg .
So why do some hens lose their plumes in a gentle style , while others play like exhibitionists , set down everything at once ? It all has to do with what ’s going on behind the scene , so to speak . It ’s not about a girl ’s appearance but really about her procreative system of rules .
A Matter of Hours and Months
A biddy needs aminimum of 14 hours of daylightin order to lay . As fall approaches and daylight begins to dwindle down , a hen ’s egg production begin to point off and she begins to drop her feathers .
alternatively of laying eggs , the biddy centralise her energy on growing Modern feather .
The molting full point not only allows a Bronx cheer to cast away her worn plumage ; it give herreproductive systema much - needed rest , allowing it to rejuvenate and recuperate from a season of continual egg place . The molting process can takeseveral monthsto double-dyed , so by the metre a hen has fully regrown her plume , spring — and its tenacious day 60 minutes — will not be far away .
Read more : Here are some more answer to questions about molt .
Chickens of a Feather Don’t Molt Together
However , as evidenced by Fitzgirl and Butters , not all chicken molt the same elbow room . Those who undergo soft molts — a gradual , almost unperceivable plumage loss — tend to be the lazier stratum in the crowd . After only a few calendar month of bollock put , they mildly begin their moult . As a solvent , theydon’t produce eggsto their full voltage … but look attractively full feathered and fluffy , the ideal backyard hen .
severe molters , however , lay more frequently and much longer into the season . By the time they begin to molt , these hens face worn and scraggly … and then they drop all their feathering and front even tough .
In other words , do n’t label a biddy by its cover . Butters and Selene might appear like the image of a beautiful backyard biddy . But , more than potential , poor raggedy Fitzgirl is the better level .
Jaeson was wrong , however . The scattered plumage throughout the Ameraucana cage indicate that our Ameraucana girl — who give way us our best blue - egg time of year to date — also had a punishing molting . He ’ll fall upon this soon enough .
Tomorrow , in fact , when he ’ll spend the good afternoon clean house out their coop .
