So over the past few weeks, a number of my hens are going through the moult – not a pretty sight but give them a few weeks and they will have lovely new feathers starting to grow

Don’t panic when your chickens start losing their feathers. Moulting is a normal and natural process of shedding feathers and re-growing them that all chickens go through. The best thing you can do to help your chickens through the moult is to feed extra protein feed or treats – sunflower seeds, mealworms and add some poultry spice to their feed or tonic to their water.

Available from Charlottes Chickens

Moults are most common during autumn, and in my experience, it usually happens between late September, October and November, just before it gets really cold.  It can be quite frightening as one day they can seem fine and fully feathered and the next morning you are faced with a coop full of feathers.  When a hen is coming into moult, it’s very common for her laying to slow down, and eventually stop for a while until feathers have grown back