Moulting question

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Okay, so banties Pied, Nero and Roadrunner, all moulted at the beginning of February when it was nice and warm. Boss, also a bantie started moulting three days ago.

and she would chose a time when it's getting cold.

But, the shavers haven't started moulting yet :eek:

will they suddenly shed everything and look plucked like Nero did, in the middle of winter? :confused:

[Seaweed]

I dunno. Some chooks just look scraggly when they are moulting & some go bald. Fingers crossed they just get a bit scruffy!

[Wonder-Full]

Dunno either, my banties started moulting probably 3wks ago and still going. I don;t think mind will go bald (well, they didnt' last year), but have bald feet and no tails so hopefully that will be the extent of it.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I will put up some photos of Nero both bald and new plumage.

the other interesting thing is that the new plumage on some of the banties isn't the same as the plumage last year. subtle shading differences.

[Seaweed]

I was thinking about this last night & there must be something external or nutritional that influences how bald they get. I have one hen who is my only hen who has ever gone totally bald when she moulted. She only did it one year. She is 5 now so she has had 4 opportunities to do it. In that case she did go clucky late but she has done it since without the same results.

re: colour changes. I have had hens & roos whose black bits have darkened up when they have moulted. They've even got blacker. Some breeds such as houdans go progressively whiter every time they moult.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Nero has the odd white tips to her feathers, roadrunner has a lot of white tips where she had none.

Can't tell with Pied. She was so pied that any rearrangement would be hard to spot.

None of the shavers have done a thing re moulting which is a bit of a worry.

[Seaweed]

One of my friends has shavers. Last time I was there, they looked like they were moulting. One had a naked neck. I'm possibly going around next week so I will look again. Isn't this the first year your shavers have been out of the battery place?