When temperatures drop is not the time to be without feathers!

BY KRISTI COOK

If you’ve had chickens for any length of time, you know they shed feathers. The occasional feather dropped around the yard is normal with heavier loads of feathers dropped during the fall molt.

While most flocks recover from molting without a hitch, there are those who appear to refuse to regrow their feathers or something else keeps them from completing this all-important task before winter, such as mites and cannibalism. These naked chickens find themselves in a heap of trouble when cool fall days and nights suddenly turn cold and dreary with the onset of winter.

Keeping these unfeathered fowl warm throughout winter can be challenging at best. However, it’s not impossible. With a little know-how as to the causes and solutions, you can aid them in their quest to keep warm.

CAUSES OF FEATHER LOSS

To ensure the rapid growth of new feathers, the flock owner must first determine the cause of feather loss. Here’s a rundown of the most common causes.

MOLT: The most common cause of feather loss is the annual molt. Fall’s reduced daylight hours and lower intensity sunlight triggers the loss of old feathers and growth of new ones. Beginning at the head and working its way down, natural molting often makes chickens look as though they had a run-in with a blind barber, while others merely experience minor balding. If you gently pull the remaining feathers back, you’ll find a patch of pinfeathers pushing to the surface to cover bare spots, with complete replacement taking place within six to 16 weeks.

However, stress from disease, lack of water/feed (even for only a few hours), getting chilled or sudden removal of coop lighting can cause unseasonal or abnormal molting. This stress-induced feather loss may not follow the head-to-toe sequence of annual molting and often results in slower or nonexistent development of new feathers unless the stressor is removed. The reduced speed of feather replacement, or the lack thereof, leaves chickens especially prone to injury or death as the mercury drops and must be remedied as quickly as possible while incorporating significant measures to keep the flock warm.