Our Brown Hen is molting. This is a natural process. A different times, throughout their lives hens lose their feathers then grow them back. It usually happens in the spring or fall with the change of weather and natural light.
It doesn’t look very good, as you can see here. But it’s perfectly natural. The last hen to molt was the white one. And look at her now!
So if you’re coming to our Open House and see our strangely featherless hen walking around I just want you to know there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s just doing what chickens do.
Our chickens are looking very scraggly too, with 2 of 4 having a serious molt at the moment – the coop floor was a carpet of white feathers when I let them out this morning.
I remember the first time they ever molted I was very alarmed thinking something had got into the coop and attacked them overnight, because I had no idea how many feathers would fall out at the same time!
It is kind of weird to see them is way and to see all those feathers!