Introduction to molting in chickens

If you have long periods of time where your laying hens are non-productive, meaning they stop laying eggs or only produce a few, you may need to keep records and note molting times for each hen.

It’s easy to tell when your chickens are molting because it usually looks like a pillow of feathers that’s blown up in the coop. There are feathers everywhere, and you can see the spots listed below where the bird is missing feathers.

Study these patterns in your flock, and when you have new chickens, try asking the seller questions about this molting behavior. If he or she is concerned about egg production, they will already know the molting patterns of their flocks.

Every year, chickens shed their skin. They lose their old feathers and gain new ones. That usually means they stop laying eggs during this time as well. Those hens that continue to lay eggs will have a prolonged molting time.

There are early and late moulters. Early molters will only lay eggs for a short period of a few months before molting, and they are not the best layers. Their feathers during the molt will look a little better than those from late molts. Late moulters will lay for about a year before moulting, and they are your best layers. Late feathers will have a rougher appearance during moult than early ones.

Feather loss and regrowth is constant, so it’s not hard to tell when it occurs and whether each is an early or late molt. Early molters will only lose a couple of feathers at a time and can take 4-6 months to molt. Late molters have a shorter molting period of 2-3 months and shed their feathers quickly. Late molters will return to production quickly because feather shedding and regrowth occurs at the same time, shortening the molting period.

The order in which the feathers are lost will always be the same as follows:

• Head

• Neck

• Breast

• Body

• Wings: The outer or primary flight feathers are lost from the center first, followed by the secondary flight feathers. Late moulters will lose primary feathers in pairs or groups and early moulters will lose one at a time.

• Tail

Knowing the molting patterns of your chickens makes it easier to know which chickens are profitable and which are freeloaders. Sometimes it is easier to cull the most unproductive birds than to maintain feed and care costs for a minimum return in eggs.