Molting, what percentage of feathers do they lose?

[My Three Chicks]

I live in Seattle and at the beginning of the month my girls started molting. I have 6 girls they are between 1.5 to 3.5 years old. I would consider it a hard molt because out of nowhere they dropped a ton of feathers. The new feathers are growing in fast.

I had thought that during annual molts they would lose and regrow ALL their feathers. But it seems like they lost between 20-50% of their total feathers and that's it. Not their whole body. And are just in regrowth mode.

Is this normal? Is this your experience too?

 

[Eggcessive]

Chickens can molt differently. Some may molt gradually, so much that you don’t notice much except for the loss of tail feathers. Others lose patches of feathers on the neck or sides, and some just lose a huge amount at once. It can be good to give a little extra protein during a molt.

 

[TooCheep]

I had thought that during annual molts they would lose and regrow ALL their feathers. But it seems like they lost between 20-50% of their total feathers and that's it. Not their whole body. And are just in regrowth mode.

Is this normal? Is this your experience too?

Yes. Molts only partially replace their feathers. Perfectly normal.

It can be good to give a little extra protein during a molt.

^This.

You might want to look at this thread to see some fairly extreme molts. Most are milder than in this thread. Frizzled chickens seem to be more extreme, so the annual awards go to Frizzles and everyone else categories.

 

[My Three Chicks]

Yes. Molts only partially replace their feathers. Perfectly normal.

^This.

You might want to look at this thread to see some fairly extreme molts.

Oh good to know that's normal. I've seen those crazy pics like in that thread and that's why I thought they molts would be more 'whole'.

And yep giving them lots of extra protein. Maybe too much since a couple of them are clearly not eating enough of their regular feed.