Molting

Molting is the annual process where a chicken sheds its old, worn feathers and grows a fresh set, most commonly triggered in fall as daylight hours shorten. It is a normal, healthy part of a hen's yearly cycle, not a sign of illness, even though a bird mid-molt with patchy, thin feathering can look alarming to a new keeper the first time they see it.

During a molt, a hen's body redirects protein and energy away from egg production and toward growing new feathers, which is largely why laying slows down or stops entirely for several weeks. Feather loss generally starts around the head and neck and moves down the body toward the tail last. How long a molt lasts varies a lot bird to bird, from a light molt of a few weeks to a hard molt stretching well past two months.

Offering a higher-protein feed temporarily during a molt can support faster, healthier regrowth, and keeping stress low, since new feathers, called pin feathers, are sensitive and can bleed if damaged. A common mistake is assuming a molting bird has mites or an illness based on her rough appearance alone, or expecting normal egg production to continue right through a hard molt.