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Monday, December 21, 2020

Chickens Molting During Winter

In the fifth chapter of The Definitive Guide To Keeping Chickens In Winter, we look at molting. 

So, you opened up the hen house in the morning and thought it was a crime scene from CSI. Feathers strewn around the floor in heaps…you think the worst! 

A predator killed the girls, but no, they are all calmly perched on their roosts chirping away to themselves. What happened?? 

The molt has started. 

What is the molt? Why does it happen? How does it affect your hens? These are just some of the questions we will answer here for you today.

6 comments:

  1. My chickens went to melting in November egg production went to pretty much zero.
    They are now starting to lay an egg like every other day almost back to normal

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My birds haven't laid an egg in almost 2 months now. I hate storebought eggs.

      Delete
    2. Same here. My buddy does the light thing and that keeps his girls laying. I ought to rig up a light, just never done it. Store bought eggs are terrible

      Delete
  2. I clip my birds wings cuz I cant free range, too many predators in these woods. If you clip wings make sure you re clip after the molt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't have any chickens right now, I might start a new flock next spring but I've always been amazed that most of my birds start molt in the dead of winter.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I got 32 hens and the run and coop look like a slaughter of Olympic proportions

    ReplyDelete

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