When our first batch of Barred Plymouth Rock dame grew from small lily-livered puffballs to full - flight birds , they were a marvel of black and white feathers . By 6 month quondam , they were in full production , enrapture us with a steady chronological succession of deep - brown eggs , which preserve with minuscule drop in production into the next summer and fall .
Then , their second winter hit , and just when I was exuberate that they had all those flossy plume to protect them from the growing chill , they started to misplace them . Every day , theydropped featherslike confetti : head , cervix , body . “ Moth - eaten ” was a genial verbal description of their appearance .
Egg production was virtually nil . I suspected disease or mite infestation , but outside of looking like they ’d been run through my granny ’s wringer washer , they seemed healthy . A little inquiry indicated that our flock was molting , one and all .
Molting Basics
All bird shed , from the tiniest hummingbird to the biggest eagle . In “ The Basics : Feather Molt , ” expert at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology say , “ A feather is a ‘ drained ’ social system , correspondent to hair or nails in humans and made of the same introductory constituent , the protein keratin . This means that when they get damaged , feathers ca n’t heal themselves ; they have to be completely supersede . ”
Many birds not only earn fresh newfangled feathers in their moult but also take on new patterns or colors , which can indicate old age , sexuality or the time of yr . For instance , unfledged bald eagles lack the distinctive blanched head they will gain as in full ripe birds . A manlike cardinal number is the well - known bright red while its Paraguay tea is a much more demure blushing brown . Ptarmigan take on snowy feather to herald the onset of winter . However , no matter how often chickens molt , once they ’ve gotten their adult plumage , their coloring does n’t deviate from moult to molt . Shutterstock
Actually , dame go through a twain of juvenile , or mini , molts on their way to being to the full feathered . “ When a chick hatches , it has virtually no feather , ” write Scott Beyer , an extension service specialist in domestic fowl scientific discipline at Kansas State University , in “ Molting and Other Causes of Feather Loss in Small Poultry Flocks . ”
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“ It is covered with down except for the fender and chase after where some former feather growth is manifest , ” he says . “ Soon , the down lengthens and the shaft of the feather erupts . The first begins about a hebdomad after hatching , and takes about four weeks , at which time the skirt will have lost all its baby down . By the clip they are 4 to 5 weeks old , the chick is amply feather . ”
Just when they ’re looking honest , this first set of feathering falls out ( molts ) and another set produce in — ordinarily by 8 to 10 weeks of age . As the skirt becomes sexually mature , its third set of feathering is double-dyed . Beyer adds that it may take up to several months for the specialised feathers of fancy breeds to be fully - full-grown .
At this peak , the shuttle are quick for their first laying season , which go roughly 12 months . Depending on the clock time of twelvemonth and the strain , when frier reach 5 to 6 months honest-to-god , they set about give rise orchis , hand peak production six to eight weeks into their cps .
product then gradually decline to about 65 pct after 12 month of lay . I ca n’t say I blame hen ; that ’s a good deal of put down ! As mentioned before , feathers are predominantly protein—85 percent , to be exact . Laying eggs and growing new feathers are both protein - demanding activities and seem to be mutually exclusive ; most stock will refuse in testicle production as they start molting and stop laying at the height of their molting .
Even though roosters are n’t create eggs , they molt , too , supplant one-time feathers with fresh unexampled ones . The first moult as a mature chicken pass around 16 to 18 month old .
Feather Functions
feather are somewhat astonishing anatomical structure , and understanding a moment about that help explicate why molting is a process . There are seven broad category of feather types , including wing , bum , down , contour , semiplume , bristle and filoplume . Each type is concern to function , and the basic office are the same : the shaft ( rachis ) , the barb that branch off the putz and the barbules that branch off the barbs .
harmonize to The Cornell Lab Bird Academy : “ Each raw plume grows from a little appendage of skin yell the papilla . As plume ripen , their tip get push aside from the papilla , where the raw parts of the feather physical body . Like human hair , feathers are youngest at their base … As the plumage grows , it stay put wave in a tubular shape around the papilla until it is pushed aside from the increase orbit . ”
Each feather remain furled within a protective waxy sheath as it raise . This case , about a 1§2 - inch prospicient or so , begins to deteriorate near the tip as the matured part of the plumage emerges . in the end , this protective covering falls off naturally or when the bird preens its feathering . Once the feather is to the full - uprise , the pedigree author dries up and the dick of the plumage is no longer alive .
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Pinfeathers , the pinlike peak of newly emerging plumage appear when a chick first plumage out and again whenever it undergoes a moulting , are “ of significance primarily because they can ask for cannibalistic picking and because they make meat birds more unmanageable to pluck , ” publish Gail Damerow inThe Chicken Encyclopedia : An Illustrated Reference(2012 ) . “ Pinfeathers moderate a supplying of blood to aliment the growing feathering ( hence their other name , blood feathering ) and therefore pay for cannibalistic picking , specially around the tail and along the back , at a time when exuviate chickens lust additional protein . Once the feathers are fully formed , the blood supply is cut off , reducing the desire of chickens to blame one another ’s feathers . ”
Timing Matters
Earth is full of cycle : newfangled moon to full moon and then waning once again ; showery season ; dry season ; spring , summer , fall and winter . As summer slides into declination and edge toward winter , the days turn shorter , initiating changes in everything from hair growth to hibernation in the animal land . It ’s no surprise , then , that as daylight hours diminish , a volaille ’s inner body clock bespeak them to drop in testis production and begin their molt .
The shuttle ’s hormones control this cognitive operation of drop and regrowing feathers , and the distance of day , or stilted light , that the birds pick up each 24-hour interval modulate those hormones . Not only does molting give hens a fortune to supervene upon old and damaged feathers , it helps rejuvenate the hen ’s Fallopian tube . “ It is nature ’s elbow room of providing lay bird a rest period prior to the stimulation for maximum generative performance in the leaping , ” writes Dan Cunningham , extension poultry coordinator at The University of Georgia , in “ Feather Loss in Chickens ”
A typical molt lasts around six to eight weeks , but a set of factor can move this process . Some stock of chickens molt quicker than others . Beyer says that older or fancy breeds may be in moult for three to five months .
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Another factor that take on into molting is the eld of the bird itself . As is the way of all aliveness , the old you are , the irksome it goes , so expect older birds to take more like 10 to 12 week or more to to the full molt and embark on put again . “ The longer your snort are in ecdysis , the fewer egg you will get over the set season , ” Beyer says . “ However , when the birds return to output , they often position more eggs in a give time period . Also , the nut ordinarily have better shells and home timber . ”
try birds or ones with humiliated organic structure system of weights / poor wellness may start molting even though the day have n’t shortened significantly . In fact , bombastic poultry operation often make forced ecdysis by withholding intellectual nourishment , water supply and reducing light until they begin dropping feathers ; it ’s a controversial practice set aside a more predictable laying time of year across the board , but one that many beast activistic groups are seeking to illegalize . The lesson here for hobby Farmer is to sustain a emphasis - free surroundings with quality food and pee so that poulet can exuviate on their own terms .
Delaying The Inevitable
Many chicken owners choose to delay molting for a clock time by augmenting diminished daylight hours through use of an artificial light root .
The avian generative cycles/second , which is how a hen produces eggs , is stimulated in poultry by increase daytime length . As mean solar day length approaches 14 hours per sidereal day during early spring , wimp start out laying eggs , gradually increase their production as the day length gain . They will make their maximal egg position potential when the day - visible radiation pass on about 16 60 minutes per day . Nature use this characteristic so that chicks will hatch in the spring and have the warm month of summer and fall to mature before the harsh winter time of year go far . By provide artificial visible radiation , cultivator can manipulate this natural cycle to their advantage and increase the ballock - laying potential of their pile .
“ Approximately 14 hours of light per day is required to stimulate a biddy to position an egg , ” write Sheila E. Scheideler , extension poultry medical specialist , and Chad Zadina , extension fowl supporter , at the University of Nebraska in “ Proper Light Management for Your Home Laying Flock . ”
“ Anything below that will cause her generative cycle to exclude down , triggering the biddy to cease egg production until spring when the natural twenty-four hours length will increase to sufficient levels once again , ” they write . “ unreal light need to be applied when the day length approach 15 hours per day , which happens in September . Any supplemental light should be added during the daybreak hour , as sudden iniquity can cause chickens to panic and pile up in a niche , which can consequently make them to suffocate each other . ”
If you do opt to extend the laying season for your hens through the crepuscule and wintertime , be mindful that in colder climes they will still call for to reroute a sure amount of energy into preserve strong , so ball production will not be peak . Also , a poulet does need to molt every 12 to 18 month to give it time to replenish bone , pigment and fatness entrepot ; build new feathers ; and put on more muscle . impart extra light just allows you to be more in ascendance of when that happens .
Inch By Inch
During a molt , not all the feathers fall out at once , thank firmament , or we ’d have a lot of naked , chilled birds turn tail around . Also , there is a discrete progression to the cognitive operation . It starts at the head , run down to the neck opening , come on to the body — back , breast and abdomen — then on to wings and derriere .
Sometimes a bird will only partially molt . Other times , every plumage is eventually replaced . Furthermore , primary backstage feathers are supersede before secondary winding , starting with the innermost ( axial ) and progressing one at a time to the outermost . Secondaries give in in the same order from center to trunk boundary .
In plus to feather drop down out , you will also notice during a moulting that comb and wattles will lose some of their bright red color . Do n’t care . This is normal , as is the gradual returning of pigment to feet and legs , beak , center ringing and venthole ( only observable in breed that are not white - skinned ) . This is because as chickens lay , they give preferential pigmentation to the testis egg yolk , pull the carotenoid from tissue that stash away them to give the yellow food colouring we ’re used to see in yolk . By the end of their lay cycle , they will have pretty much depleted these reserves . Interestingly , renovation of pigment to legs , etc . , fall out much faster than depigmentation , and a healthy hen eat quality feed can re - pigment up to four times faster than she eat .
discredited feathers are replace on an as needed basis throughout the year , so if , for example , a cock loses one of his arching tail feather , he does n’t wait until he exuviate to replace it . Shutterstock
Three Tips
Except for high - output breeds or individuals that may not take a arrant intermission from lay , slough hens will route protein using up to feather output rather than eggs . This process uses a huge amount of DOE as they fill again various body systems , pillow their reproductive tracts and get quick for the next laying season . For this reason , if molting hen are accentuate , the risk of disease is increased due to multiple challenges to their immune systems . Thankfully , there are many ways you’re able to aid your shuttle put out new plumage in optimal time and conditions .
However , feeding too much protein can get diarrhoea or other trouble , so stick with a 20 to 22 percent protein feed design for meat snort for a calendar month or so . These premixed feeds admit a balanced combination of nutrients , minerals and vitamins for optimum wellness .
Molting is n’t a pretty summons , but no one is at their best all the clock time ! So if your chickens stop set eggs and take up drop plume from head , then neck , dead body , wings and tail — but otherwise seem healthy and happy — just let them do their feather - growing thing . Though it may not appear so , most birds keep enough old feathers to stay warm in cold season . There ’s no demand to make them little sweaters — unless you have time and inclination ( and an in effect way of keeping them clothed ! ) . Keep their protein up and their water provision plentiful and clean-living , and before you know it , your flock will be strutting around in their next year ’s plumage , quick to wrick their energies back to ball production .
This account originally appeared in the September / October 2017 issue ofChickensmagazine .
