Feather changes?

MountainMomma359 · Tuesday at 5:00 PM

My 15 week old girls are getting new, super fluffy feathers...but a lot of them are coming out? Every day there are so many small floofy feathers in the run (I know they are new daily because they are in a tractor that I move daily) and I can see these new feathers poking out from under the main feathers. They don't look to be molting, no bald or scarcely feathered spots. Is this normal for the age or what? I'm worried it's some kind of deficiency or something.

NatJ · Tuesday at 5:03 PM

Yes, they are molting.
Chicks molt quite a few times as they grow up, before they settle down to the adult pattern of (usually) once a year in the fall.

MountainMomma359 said:
They don't look to be molting, no bald or scarcely feathered spots.

Chicks usually molt gradually, so they do not have bare spots.

Some adult hens molt gradually too. The ones with big bare spots are just the ones that people tend to photograph.

MountainMomma359 · Tuesday at 5:31 PM

NatJ said:
Yes, they are molting.
Chicks molt quite a few times as they grow up, before they settle down to the adult pattern of (usually) once a year in the fall.

Chicks usually molt gradually, so they do not have bare spots.

Some adult hens molt gradually too. The ones with big bare spots are just the ones that people tend to photograph.

Thanks, I assumed they would look terrible when they molt

I'm so ready for them to be big girls and lay me some eggs!

CaliforniaMountainChicks · Tuesday at 5:33 PM

Mine are 13 weeks and slowly going through a molt too. This is the molt where a lot of their adult feathers and coloring starts to come in!

MountainMomma359 · Tuesday at 5:40 PM

CaliforniaMountainChicks said:
Mine are 13 weeks and slowly going through a molt too. This is the molt where a lot of their adult feathers and coloring starts to come in!

My dog is blowing her coat right now too so I guess it's just shedding season, huh?

MountainMomma359 · Tuesday at 5:49 PM

Oh wait so do I need to do anything with their diet? Up protein?

NatJ · Tuesday at 6:16 PM

MountainMomma359 said:
Oh wait so do I need to do anything with their diet? Up protein?

Chick starter or grower has the right amount of protein. That is part of why it does have more protein than layer feed-- they need to grow their bodies and lots of feathers in those first months.

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