Features of molting chickens

Changing feathers is a normal process for chickens and is repeated every year. Over 12 months, the feathers wear out and become weaker. Rapid molting in domestic chickens requires large energy expenditures, therefore, during the molting period, egg production in chickens decreases or disappears altogether. After the end of the period, the birds lay eggs once every 4 days, gradually increasing productivity. If the hen starts producing eggs once every 1-2 days, her body has fully recovered.

Laying hens moult in stages. Egg breeds shed first, then meat-egg and meat breeds. The feathers on the most mobile parts of the body - the head, neck, legs - fall off first. Afterwards the back, belly and chest shed. At the end, the feathers of the wings and tail change. This sequence allows the birds to retain some heat and gradually expend energy on growing new feathers.

Natural shedding

Chickens molt at a certain time, it does not depend on the breed. Most often, a change in plumage occurs in young individuals. Adult chickens need more time to change feathers. Roosters molt faster and earlier than females.

There are several periods of natural molting in chickens:

• one-month-old chicks exchange down for down plumage;
• at the age of 3 months, chickens begin to sprout contour feathers, which will not fall out until the end of their lives;
• spring molting in chickens in the first year of life occurs at the age of 9-12 months;
• at a more mature age, chickens begin molting in the fall and occur every year at approximately the same time.

Productive laying hens often lose most of their plumage during molting.

The process lasts from 6 to 8 weeks. At this time, chickens lose weight, become weaker, and require good care. Some hens molt more slowly, extending the process to 14 weeks or longer. At the same time, the loss of strength has little effect on their appearance.

Farmers induce a process called forced molting.

It is used on large poultry farms when there is a need to increase egg production and speed up the process of growing new plumage. Before starting the process, the health of the birds and the conditions of the chicken coop are assessed, weak flocks are excluded, and the premises are disinfected.

When forced molting of chickens, they are guided by natural periods of plumage change, so it is carried out in the fall or spring. There are two main approaches used:

1. When special preparations are introduced into the food, the change in plumage is accelerated, and the production of reproductive hormones slows down. For this purpose, hormonal agents are used - “Thyroidin”, “Thyroxine”, “Progesterone”, or chemical ones - containing iodine, calcium, nilevar, protamon. The appearance of these drugs in the laying hen’s body causes a stressful state. After excluding them from the diet, the feather cover begins to quickly change, the bird returns to normal and resumes egg production.
2. Traditional medicine recipes and animal science techniques also give positive results at home. Daylight hours are reduced to 15 hours. The amount of food and drink is reduced to a minimum for 4-10 days, with an emphasis on fiber. Such actions also lead to stress, and therefore cause accelerated plumage loss.

It has been discovered more than once that after forced molting, chickens began to produce eggs of greater mass and size. The amount of product also increases significantly, especially during periods of active walking in the fresh air in the warm season. The first egg after molting appears even before the formation of new feather cover is completed.

Shedding due to illness

In such cases, the entire livestock looks sick, eats poorly, and rarely walks in the fresh air. They are trying to fix the problem by expanding the space of the chicken coop. In cases where the formation of new plumage takes a long time and is painful, you should consult a veterinarian.

Diet of molting hens

Good feeding and regular drinking help birds successfully survive the molting period and maintain strength. At this time, the area occupied by each individual at the feeder increases to 10 cm per head. The diet of laying hens is varied.

During the molting period, the following components should be present in the diet:

• feed mixtures with high protein content;
• insects, worms, which will replenish the body with protein and protein;
• vitamin supplements that provide high levels of vitamins A, B, C, D, K, as well as iodine and manganese;
• fresh green mass in the spring, as well as vegetables, berries and fruits, in cold times - boiled vegetables;
• bone meal, shells, fish flour, low-fat cottage cheese will help speed up the process of growing feathers.

Feeding also includes regularly changing the water in the drinking bowls to clean water. Sometimes it is replaced with a decoction of herbs that support the body of birds. Weak laying hens are susceptible to disease, so the water should not be dirty.

Caring for Moulting Birds

The main task of the poultry farmer during the molting period of domestic chickens is not to harm his charges. Therefore, it is better to speed up the molt. It is worth organizing comfortable conditions for keeping birds and a diet.

Molting in laying hens

Moulting chickens // Life in the village

Conclusion

Egg production after molting, especially if chickens molt in winter, quickly resumes in comfortable conditions, with proper organization feeding, absence of illnesses and stress. To ensure that the laying hen’s body is renewed every year, and the size and number of eggs increases, they monitor the periods in which this process most often occurs.

The need for molting, i.e., periodic change of plumage, is explained by the fraying and fading of the feather. Under the influence of the sun, moisture, dryness, the color of the pen changes: black becomes brownish, dark brown becomes pale brown, gray becomes brownish-gray, etc. The erasing of the edges of the pen, accompanied by a violation of its structure, is even more important, since small the adhesive barbs are partially destroyed. Particularly weakly pigmented or non-pigmented parts of the feather become worn out. These changes are also more significant in the most important elements of the plumage during flight - the flight and tail feathers.

Wearing feathers has a detrimental effect on the flying properties of the bird. The most intense molting in adult birds occurs after the end of the breeding season. The alternation of the processes of reproduction and molting may find a partial explanation in the fact that both of them require costs large quantity energy and therefore can hardly occur simultaneously in the bird’s body. The normal course of molting requires good nutrition of the body; weakening of nutrition causes a slowdown in the process of molting and irregularities in the structure of the feather (on large feathers, transverse depressions appear, running along the fan and making the feather fragile).

While the feather has not yet reached half its normal length, its growth proceeds quickly, and then slows down. Small birds' feathers grow more slowly than large ones. In the sparrow, the secondary flight feathers grow at a rate slightly exceeding 4 mm per day; in the saker falcon, the daily growth of the flight feathers in the last period of growth is 6-7 mm per day. In each species of bird, molting occurs at a very specific time and in a certain sequence.

Birds belonging to the same family or order usually have the same molting pattern, and it thus serves as one of the systematic characteristics of groups. There are well-known general patterns regarding the change of flight and tail feathers. Tail feathers change either centripetally, i.e. from the outer pair to the middle one, or centrifugally, i.e. from the middle pair to the outer one, or, finally, as happens in woodpeckers, molting begins from the pair adjacent to the middle ones and goes to the edge of the tail, and ends with the central tails. Secondary flight feathers usually molt concentrically, that is, molting begins with the outermost and innermost feathers and ends with the middle feathers, or centrifugally.

The molting of the primary flight feathers ends with the replacement of the front (second and first) feathers; in some species it begins from the middle feathers (from the seventh) and goes to the inner (proximal) edge of the row, i.e., first the eighth, ninth, tenth, and then the sixth, fifth, fourth, third, etc.; in other species, the primary flight feathers are replaced in a row - the tenth, ninth, etc. In some species - loons, ducks, geese, swans, flamingos, cranes, rails, guillemots - the flight feathers fall out simultaneously or almost simultaneously, and the bird for some time ( ducks for 21-35 days, swans - up to 49 days) loses the ability to fly.

In some birds, molting begins with small feathers, in others, with large ones, although, in general, the change of small and large feathers coincides, but the change of the anterior primary flight feathers, as the most important feathers in flight, usually occurs at the very end of the molting, after full development other parts of the plumage.

The different types of moulting in birds can be broadly described as follows. . When emerging from the egg, the young bird is dressed in embryonic down, which is replaced by the first outfit of contour (definitive) feathers. This (first) outfit of contour feathers is called nesting. It is often distinguished by its special color (often similar to the color of females), softness and lower density of the feathers, as well as greater width and sometimes length of the tail and flight feathers. Birds wear nesting plumage for varying periods of time - from several weeks to 16-18 months. In many passerines, its change - post-nesting molting occurs at the end of summer. In pigeons, rollers and owls it occurs in the first autumn. Birds of prey begin to molt at about one year of age - sparrowhawks around May, golden eagles in April, peregrine falcons in March and May; Their molting ends in late autumn or early winter, so they nest in their nest plumage with a small admixture of feathers from the next plumage. Many waders, as well as rails, chickens and grebes moult, changing their nesting plumage, in autumn or winter at the age of 5-8 months; herons moult later, in the spring; at the age of 8-10 months, tubenoses change their nesting plumage. In ducks, post-nesting molt begins in September and ends in winter or even in spring. Post-nesting molt sometimes leads to a change in the entire plumage and is then called complete, or during it only part of the plumage (small feathers) is replaced, and then it is called partial. An example of partial post-nesting molting in passerines is the molting of the families of ravens, finches, wagtails, tits, flycatchers, warblers, and thrushes. For example, in a white wagtail, at about 2% of the month, the coverts of the head, body, small and medium wing coverts, part of the greater wing coverts, inner secondaries, and sometimes the middle pair of tail feathers are replaced. However, the extent of such partial molting varies among different genera. In other passerines (larks, starlings, etc.), the post-nesting moult is complete.

After a complete post-nesting molt, the bird puts on an outfit that will be worn for a year and replaced, or once a year and completely - this is the so-called annual outfit(falcons, hawks, starlings, larks), or (which is rare) will change twice a year (the so-called pre-nuptial plumage of the common grouse, city swallow). With partial post-nesting molt, subsequent molts can cover the entire plumage. Then the plumage put on by the bird as a result of post-nesting molting is called a combined annual plumage (since in it the large plumage, in particular the flight feathers and tail feathers, remains from the nesting plumage); This outfit is worn, for example, by ravens, tits, common buntings, and mountain buntings (but not all buntings). If the plumage, put on as a result of partial post-breeding molting, is then replaced twice a year, then it is called a combined prenuptial plumage (flycatchers, wagtails, many warblers).

Further molts proceed like this. The annual plumage changes as a result of molting, which usually occurs in late summer - early autumn. This molt is called the annual molt. In the event that the color of the annual plumage, put on as a result of the post-nesting molt, differs from the final coloring of adult birds (this happens, for example, in large gulls, eagles and sea eagles), the corresponding annual plumage is noted as transitional. If three or four years pass before receiving the final plumage, then for the corresponding bird we have the first transitional annual plumage, the second transitional annual plumage, etc. The change of breeding plumage, like the change of annual plumage, occurs at the end of summer - early autumn.

Subsequent molts take place regularly according to this pattern. Birds wearing annual plumage change it once a year as a result of annual molting. In forms that molt twice a year, the interbreeding, or postnuptial, plumage as a result of the nuptial molt is replaced by a combined nuptial one, then the postnuptial molt occurs, etc. In many cases, molting brings with it a change in color. Sometimes, by spring, a change in color in birds occurs without molting, as a result of the fraying of the edges of the feathers and the protrusion of bright flowers that were covered by the edges of the feathers (for example, in small finches, buntings, etc.). But no recoloring of the grown feather - a physiologically dead formation, contrary to the opinion of old authors, does not occur and cannot occur. Marriage attire is usually brighter than intermarital attire, and gender differences in it are more pronounced.

The molting process reaches the greatest complexity in the white partridge, in which four plumages can be distinguished in a year: two of them (spring and winter) correspond to mating and interbreeding, and summer and autumn have no analogues among other groups of birds. Different animals react differently to adverse changes environment, such as a decrease or increase in temperature, loss of snow cover, and a decrease in the amount of food.

Very often you have to watch chickens walking around the yard with practically no feathers, or with only fine fluff left on them. Inexperienced poultry farmers immediately become wary and ask the question: “why do chickens molt in the summer?” And they begin to look for the cause of this phenomenon. In most cases, shedding is a natural process. But there are times when birds shed their “clothes” as a result of illness. They also induce artificial molting in poultry farms. What it is and why it is needed, we will understand in this article.

What is molting

Molting in laying hens is a process that is inherent in nature. Thanks to him, they shed their old plumage and acquire new ones.

Important! A healthy laying hen molts only in the autumn. This is necessary so that the new feathers are warmed in winter and do not allow the bird to freeze.

Since old feathers succumb to friction with age, fade and wear out, nature made sure that it was possible to grow new ones. The feathers on the head and neck fall out first because these are the parts that move the most. Next comes the turn of the back, since it is this part that is constantly under the influence of the sun's rays. Then they come off the chest and tail.

Moulting in chickens

When molting begins, the birds lose weight and stop laying eggs. At the site of future plumage, tubercles first appear, which are penetrated by blood vessels. Soon, small tubes will appear from these tubercles, from which feathers will subsequently grow. During this period, the skin becomes very sensitive, and if the tube is slightly injured, blood begins to ooze out of it. Therefore, laying hens, when molting, try to avoid contact with both people and other animals. They hide from everyone in quiet places where they will be unnoticed.

When do chickens molt?

Many owners are interested in the question: “when do chickens molt?” During the first year of a chicken's life, several similar periods occur:

1. Once the little chicks are four weeks old, their first molt occurs. At this time, the first fluff is shed and a new one begins to grow.
2. When the young are three months old, they change their plumage again. This time, contour feathers grow, the same as those worn by adult birds.
3. Already in the spring, the pullets molt again.

In the fall, chickens tend to change their feathers every year. Many people are interested in the question: “How many days does it take for chickens to molt and when will they lay eggs?” It should be remembered that in those individuals that are very productive, feathers fall out much more intensely. It is common for them to replace old ones with new ones over a period of six or eight weeks.

Important! Those chickens that look very pitiful and plucked when changing feathers are actually very productive and need to be protected and appreciated.

Laying hens, which lay very poorly throughout the year, molt in the summer, from July to August. Molting continues for several months. This goes unnoticed, since they constantly walk in thick plumage.

Moulting in chickens

If the plumage of chickens changes for a long time, in addition, they become lethargic and slow, this is the first sign that you need to monitor the chicken’s health and take action. The animal is sick or has suffered severe stress. A stressful situation for laying hens can occur:

• as a result of the lack of water, which is why the bird is constantly thirsty;
• chickens are hungry and must get their own food to live;
• In winter, laying hens receive little light.

Important! If laying hens that are two or even three years old begin to lose their feathers, and it is noticed that they are broken, then you need to immediately contact a specialist and look for ways to solve the problem, since this is unnatural for adults.

Chickens tend to change their plumage in the summer when they hatch chicks. When they return to their normal diet, they begin to actively grow new feathers. Other reasons why birds begin to molt may be the following:

Once the causes of untimely shedding are identified, they can be addressed quickly and in a timely manner. The stressful situation must be eliminated immediately. To do this, you need to ensure that the birds always have sufficient water and food. In winter, you need to extend daylight hours with the help of artificial lighting. Lighting for chickens is recommended for at least fifteen hours. If you eliminate all these reasons, they will stop shedding.

Seasonal periods

Birds can moult during periods of changing climatic conditions. There are four types of shedding, depending on the season:

• In the spring, chickens can shed feathers they don't need. This process begins in the month of March or April.
• In the summer, chickens lose feathers when a malfunction occurs in the body and it stops functioning properly. The poultry owner should know that summer molting is the first sign of bird disease. This period falls in July and lasts no more than a month.
• In autumn, this is the most necessary process in the chicken’s body. It begins at the end of August or beginning of September and lasts for fifty-five days. In winter, chickens will already have thick and lush plumage.
• In winter, this is the most unnatural process, since the cold period of the year should not provoke feather loss. If this happens, then you should pay attention to the condition of the birds and their health.

Why do they do forced molting?

In poultry farms, laying hens are forced to shed their old plumage artificially. This is done for the first time for those individuals who are at least thirty weeks old. Thus, their productivity is extended. Making a chicken shed its feathers is much more profitable than raising young animals.

Interesting to know! Artificially replacing the feathers of laying hens increases egg mass and significantly improves the quality of chicken. In addition, this process significantly rejuvenates the birds.

To artificially induce a change in plumage, it is necessary to create a stressful situation. To do this, the animals are put on a short hunger strike without drinking. The animals are left in the poultry house, which is shaded to reduce daylight hours.

To artificially induce a change in plumage, it is necessary to create a stressful situation.

It should be noted that it is the hunger strike that has the greatest impact on molting. They arrange it for one or two weeks. The hunger strike should correspond to how much weight the chicken needs to lose. This process also has an impact on the time it takes for the hen to stop laying eggs.

There are two fasting modes:

1. The first is in the case when the weight of the chicken is significantly higher than allowed by the standard. In this case, a strict hunger strike is used.
2. For already thin chickens, gentle fasting is prescribed.

A bird that has been starving for a long period lays eggs much later, but as a result it will be more productive and will lay eggs much longer.

At home, changing feathers is also very important, because thanks to it, the hen grows and develops. In addition, she is significantly rejuvenated, has excellent health, and feels better. Then you need to create for the bird good conditions, in which she will undergo a change of plumage almost painlessly. It is necessary to constantly provide birds with food and water. Do not forget about the mineral elements and vitamins necessary for the chicken’s body.

It is necessary to constantly provide birds with food and water.

Thanks to these conditions, the hen will lay even better at the end of her molt. At the same time, she will become very beautiful and well-groomed. The new feathers will be clean and fluffy. Thus, she will protect herself from cold and frost on harsh winter days.

How to speed up the shedding process

The molting period depends on how healthy the chicken is physiologically. For a completely healthy laying hen, it is normal for feathers to change over a period of ten weeks. For birds that are lagging behind in development, this process increases to fourteen weeks. With proper care for laying hens, shedding can be reduced to at least five weeks.

In this case, experts recommend adding special additives to the feed that contain the required amount of minerals and vitamins. And also isolate molting individuals from other birds and protect them from drafts.

A change of plumage is necessary for chickens, but on condition that it occurs in the fall. Only during this period do chickens rejuvenate their bodies and prepare for winter.

A well-known Russian proverb says that a bird can be identified by its feathers. And indeed it is. Looking at a bird, we first of all pay attention to its plumage - so, in appearance In magpies we are attracted by the stepped long tail, in lapwings we are struck by the thin elongated feathers on the back of the head that form a crest, and we also distinguish the Australian swan from our mute swan by the color of their plumage. Wherein, the nature of the plumage is also a good identifying feature for the birds themselves. Thus, the shape and color of a feather, like the bird’s voice, play a great role in the life of birds, especially during the so-called mating periods. However, these are far from the only functions of plumage. It is impossible to imagine a bird that would be completely devoid of plumage. Without it, she would not have been able to resist the processes of increased heat transfer and this would have been the cause of her death. Such a bird would not be able to fly, and waterfowl species would not be able to stay on the water, let alone dive or swim...

Continuing to study the features of bird life (we previously talked about), today we invite you to talk about the molting of birds...

The need for molting in birds

A bird's feather is not eternal. And, it cannot serve birds throughout their entire lives. Therefore, the feather tends to fade, wear out and collapse. But, in order for the plumage to always perform its functions, which we wrote about above, it must be periodically replaced with a new one. Add to this the fact that the purpose of the plumage, as well as its color, are also different at different times of the year.

So, for many birds, a bright outfit is not at all necessary for the winter; moreover, for them it poses a hidden threat. Whereas during the mating season, the plumage of birds shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow, and on the contrary, attracts attention.

Interesting fact, in sedentary grouse the number of feathers even increases in autumn, and the feathers themselves become larger and fluffier at their base. The heat-insulating properties of such plumage are also enhanced. Whereas after the spring molt, such a feather begins to warm the bird less, as its structure changes.

The processes of plumage renewal in birds are often confined to a period of time when birds are free from worries that are associated with the processes of reproduction. Current behavior, laying eggs, incubating eggs, all this often negatively affects the quality of the hen's nutrition. Yes, and feeding the chicks itself requires enormous energy expenditure. Therefore, it is not surprising that the hen does not moult during this period of time. But when the brood has already grown up and becomes independent, before flying off to warmer climes, this is the most best time in order to replace the old pen with a new one.

Those hunters who spend a lot of time in the forest during this period often notice that the behavior of molting birds becomes special - they try to be inconspicuous and out of sight of animals and people.

Molting rates in birds

Molting processes different types birds actually occur in different ways. First of all, the rate of molting differs. So, for example, representatives of the chicken species do not molt very quickly, but rather gradually. They are particularly slow in molting processes. predator birds. Of course, the worse they fly, the less food they will get, so they have to change their feathers gradually, and this process is extended over a long period of time so that their flight qualities do not suffer from this. And, here are all the types of birds that are directly associated with water, and that do not depend on flight in the air - they molt at a fairly fast pace. To do this, they climb into inaccessible places, and intensively lose their flight and tail feathers there, at which time they become absolutely helpless, since in the event of a sudden danger, they will not be able to fly into the air. As a rule, this period lasts from 20 to 50 days, depending on the type of bird.

Some hunters have even been able to observe how the flight feathers of such birds fall out. Frightened by a rustling in the forest, the bird tries to fly into the air, flaps its wings several times, and feathers begin to fall off from its wings to the ground, and the bird itself falls into the water.

At such a time, despite the fact that the birds are quite vulnerable and hunting them is not difficult, hunting waterfowl molting game should be prohibited. And, those places where such molting of birds occurs should be considered protected and the birds there should not be disturbed.

Mass molting of geese

Features of molting in birds

It is worth noting that this or that molting rate not only characterizes individual species birds, but their whole groups and even squads. So, for example, those birds that experience intense molting include exotic flamingos and a group of crane birds. By the way, according to this biological characteristic, cranes differ from storks and herons, which are part of the order of wading birds. But there are also exceptions. Strangely, the demoiselle crane, which lives in dry steppe areas, moults like herons do - slowly, and without losing the ability to fly. The African crowned crane moults in a similar slow manner.

At the same time, sometimes there are differences in the nature and rate of molting even within the same bird species. And here, according to zoologists and specialists, everything depends on the circumstances.

How do rhinoceros birds molt?

So, for example, a female rhinoceros bird, which is in voluntary confinement while incubating eggs, uses this time to renew its plumage. And, this is very convenient, since the molting itself occurs very quickly in this species of birds and with the loss of flight abilities. When the female rhinoceros bird has already left her brood, by this time her plumage has already been renewed. Whereas the male rhinoceros bird, on the contrary, during this period is just preparing to molt.

However, according to experts, female rhinoceros birds may not lose the ability to fly in all situations. If they do not nest in any year, then they molt like their males - slowly.

How sparrowhawks molt

The molting processes differ between male and female sparrowhawks. So, after hatching the chicks, the female stays next to them on the nest. The male provides her with food, and she herself only passes it on after dividing it between the chicks. And, molting processes occur in her when she sits on the nest. In the male, molting begins after the chicks leave the nest and the newly moulted female begins to take care of them. At the same time, the molting process in both sparrowhawks occurs slowly, and the birds do not lose the ability to fly.

How many times a year do birds molt?

Types of shedding

According to zoologists -

changing plumage at least once a year is a mandatory occurrence for all birds.

In other words, at least once a year, they all shed. Although, there are species of birds that molt several times a year. At the same time, only one of these lines is complete, all the others only cover certain parts of the plumage. This is partial molting. At the same time, with partial molting, the so-called nuptial feathers often grow, which fall out after the birds breed, and after this the stage of complete molting begins.

If a bird has more than one molt per year, then, as a rule, it has its own outfits for the main seasons, which it puts on from year to year. As for complete molting in this case, most often it occurs in the autumn, after breeding and before the birds fly away for the winter - such a molting is called autumn, but it will be correctly called post-breeding. During this process of changing feathers, the bird puts on a more modest outfit.

So, for example, the redshank, which has rusty-red plumage in summer, becomes gray after such a molt. This often confuses hunters who, not being familiar with such properties of the bird, confuse what species a bird with such an unusual coloring may belong to.

Partial molting usually occurs in late winter and early spring. As a result of these processes, the birds' plumage becomes bright, the so-called nuptial plumage. Often this molt is also called prenuptial, but it would be more correct to call it nesting.

Despite all of the above, there are many species of birds that do not molt in the spring and begin breeding, in their bright plumage, which, however, differs from the calmer winter one. A similar phenomenon is observed in birds that belong to the passerine order. Previously, scientists thought that the plumage of these birds was recolored, but it was completely wrong to think so. By itself a bird's feather is a dead structure that, once formed, can only gradually decay. In autumn, after the end of the full annual molt, the feathers of birds of this species have wide whitish edges that cover the brightly colored parts of neighboring feathers. Therefore, looking at such birds, it seems that they are dull in color. But, by the beginning of spring, the light edges of the plumage begin to break off, and the color of the plumage becomes different, brighter, as those feathers that were previously on the bird, but which were not visible, become visible. So, for example, a bunting can acquire golden-yellow plumage on its head instead of the winter gray color...

This is how many birds acquire a new spring outfit - their bright plumage, but at the same time they do not molt.

How ducks molt

An interesting order of plumage changes can be observed in ducks (read about here). Thus, complete molting, during which the birds completely lose the ability to fly, occurs immediately after the moment when the chicks begin to mature. And, here are male ducks, they enter the molting period a little earlier. And already in the second half of July, many of them are already moulted and acquire quick plumage, which is very similar to the color of the female’s plumage. Most birds live in this plumage until spring. But, ducks prefer to wear it for a shorter period of time. No more than 2-3 months, or even less. After this, the ducks again begin a period of new molting, this time partial. It occurs in them long before the breeding season, and therefore, already in the fall, from October, many mallard drakes put on their breeding plumage. They spend almost the entire winter in such bright colors, and they arrive in it in the spring. Thus, they put on their nuptial attire much earlier than they begin to reproduce.

How falcons molt

It is interesting to analyze the molting processes in some species of falcons. So, for example, Hobbies fly away in the fall for the winter in the plumage that they acquired while still in the nest. This type of plumage is even called nesting plumage (you can find out more about bird nesting). They keep this outfit throughout the winter, and in it they return to their homeland in the spring. Upon arrival to their homeland, they begin a molting period. Moreover, this time their molt is complete, but very extended over time. It begins with the change of small feathers, but as soon as the bird begins to nest (this happens at the age of 10 months), the moult either stops or resumes after nesting is completed, so it can drag on for several months with a break for the nesting period. In the second year of life, Hobbies molt for the winter, where they undergo a complete molt, and they return in the spring with renewed feathers.

How waders molt

It is quite interesting to watch the molting of waders. This is especially true for the timing of this process. While in some species of birds such a complete post-nuptial molt begins at the beginning of summer and is already over by the time the birds fly away, some species of waders fly away when their molt begins, and finish changing feathers during the winter. There are species of birds in which there is a long break between the change of small plumage and the molting of large feathers - tail and flight feathers. At the same time, it can be so long in time that it coincides with the beginning of a new change of small feathers and partly the prenuptial molt.

Thus, we can draw conclusions that most birds molt once a year and at the same time their molt is complete. It occurs during the post-nuptial period, before departure, and sometimes during wintering grounds. Other species of birds, in addition to complete and post-nuptial molt, can change plumage both at the end of winter and at the end of spring. This type of molt is called partial and prenuptial. Such birds have 2 different outfits - winter and brighter breeding. In some species of birds, deviations are possible when the winter plumage is also the mating plumage (we looked at this using the example of ducks). Accordingly, only cover feathers can be changed 2 times a year; flight feathers and tail feathers are changed once a year.

Although, in ornithological sources you can find references to the fact that such replacement (flight and tail feathers) also occurs 2 times a year, but these facts need to be further double-checked.

Feathers are made of keratin. Although it is very durable, they still wear out over time and therefore they are replaced with new ones. The change of plumage is called molting.

As we already know, different feathers perform a very specific task, for example, protect from the cold or create a load-bearing surface for the wing. So that birds can always fly, do not freeze from the cold and do not overheat from the heat during molting, it occurs gradually, according to a strictly established “schedule”. Moreover, each order of birds has its own order of changing plumage. Usually the old feather falls out only when a new one has already grown nearby. Therefore, the feather outfit always remains intact and there are no holes in the wings.

Most waterfowl change all their flight feathers in one short period. Because of this, ducks and geese lose their ability to fly during molting. They will be able to take to the air again only when all their feathers have grown back. Sometimes during molting, not all plumage is renewed, but only part of it - for example, large flight feathers of the wings and large tail feathers, or only small feathers located close to the body. Feathers change not only because they wear out. Many birds, especially males, dress in luxurious nuptial attire before the nesting period begins, and then change back into modest everyday attire.

The feather wears out over time, losing its properties and, accordingly, affecting the bird's ability to fly. When molting, both feathers and the keratinized layer of the epidermis, horny plates of the beak, claws and scales on the legs change. Different kinds birds have from one to several moults during the year. Regardless of their number, all birds (with rare exceptions) go through a full annual molt. It starts at different birds at different times, often between the hatching of the chicks and the autumn migration, and may even occur with the beginning of egg laying, as in the case of crows. The duration of molting also varies, for crows - up to 150 days, for small passerines - 80-120 days. Some large birds change their flight feathers every two years (eagles, storks, herons). Ravens have only one moult per year; some other birds may also have partial prenuptial, as well as postnuptial and pre-winter molts. Chicks undergo post-nesting molt - a change in “nest” plumage that occurs from several weeks to a year or more after the chick leaves the nest. Such a molt can be complete or partial, with the replacement of all or part of the feathers. In ravens, partial post-nesting molt occurs.

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