All chickens who are over a year old molt at least once every year, usually in the late summer and fall months. Molting is when a chicken replaces its old feathers with new feathers, which will help keep it warm and stay healthy. Molting can be stressful for chickens and it...

We’ve reached that time of the year where you get no fresh eggs from your homestead flock and it looks like someone plucked all your hens: welcome to molting season. All birds molt, both wild and domestic. It is a natural occurrence that is often triggered by weather patterns. Molting...

Why is my chicken losing feathers? A chicken’s feathers are what protect its skin and helps keep the chicken warm. There are two main reasons why a chicken would lose its feathers. Usually feather loss is caused by molting or the feathers being pulled out by other flock members. Feather...

Protein is needed for a chicken to survive. It is required for nearly all the body functions to work properly. Balancing protein in a flock’s diet is important because many factors play a role in the protein needs of individual chickens. The standard protein content in commercial chicken feeds may...

Supposably the annual fall molt should go smoothly and without issue, but if you have raised chickens for any length of time, you will know that they love to keep life interesting! Knowing when to step in and administer emergency care to molting chickens is essential for when your flock...

Protein is an important part of a chicken’s diet because it provides the building blocks for skin, muscles, and bones plus it helps the body fight off diseases. As homestead chicken raisers, we should be aware of the different protein sources we have available to offer our flocks. Each source...