My Hens Are Going Bald

Late winter It is cold Why in the world are my hens losing their feathers when they need every single one to keep toasty warm?  Feather loss could be caused by age, molting, crowding, brooding, an overactive rooster or, gulp, lice or mites

Just before they begin laying, hens that hatched four or five months earlier look like they just stepped out of a chicken spa Their feathery wardrobe is gorgeous and covers everything but their legs, feet, and heads Then life’s stresses begin taking a toll  After months of laying,  patches of  feathers disappear revealing reddish bare skin  Although

How to Help Your Chickens Through a Molt

Have you noticed that your chickens start to lose some of their feathers late in the summer every year? A couple times a year, chickens go through a process called molting where they lose feathers and their egg production drops off Molting usually happens in adult birds twice a year (in the fall and spring) as the amount of daylight changes

Chickens go through several molts as they grow Their first molt happens when they lose their baby down and grow in feathers when they’re only about a week old Then they molt again around eight to twelve weeks, and