Molting Chicken
2 February 2009
4 Comments
After going broody since Christmas, Molly the leghorn then decided that it was time to molt.
When they molt, chickens lose lots of feathers, and new ones grow to replace them. The process requires lots of protein, so they normally stop laying during molting. They look pretty scruffy for a while too.
Finally last week, Molly started laying again – almost a month to the day since she stopped. It’s great to have a steady supply of fresh eggs coming in again. We celebrated with eggs on toast for breakfast on the weekend. Yum!
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Hi there – I’ve got a French Maran who, since mid-December, has been laying really well and regularly. She was a 20 week POL when we got her at the begining of November. She hasn’t been broody, but has now decided to molt – is this normal – do hens molt at this time of year? All have an extremely good diet layers pellets (ordinary and organic) organic mxd corn, vitamin liquid in their water and occassional mineral powder on their mid-morning mush – they get lot’s of greens, oats, muesli, vegetable scraps etc – well spoilt – so really I’m just a bit miffed. Thanks Dee
Hi Dee. Chickens seem to molt once a year on average. It’s a natural process for them to renew their feathers, and there’s really nothing you can do to stop it. The advice seems to be to just give them lots of protein in their diet (yours seem to have a fantastic diet!) and wait it out. It only takes a week or two.
Hello. I am wondering if there are any places in Australia where I can buy Maran poultry
@peter: I don’t know of any off-hand, but have a look at my Illawarra chickens page for some ideas of places to look. I’d first try searching for local poultry clubs near where you live, and also check some papers like The Land and The Trading Post, and of course the Backyard Poultry Classifieds. Hope this helps!
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