It’s that time of year where my property looks like birds have exploded everywhere – Or someone had a massive pillow fight I wasn’t invited to. There are very large turkey feathers and fluffy chicken feathers and long goose feathers EVERYWHERE.
Turkey wing feathers – quill pens anyone?
Molting is the process birds go through annually to replace old feathers with shiny new ones. For turkeys and geese it generally starts after mating season in late spring/early summer. Chickens start adding their feathers to the piles around August. Molts can go fairly quickly or be a long process and for my birds, it varies wildly with the individual. Some birds are almost naked and others hide it fairly well, unlike Francois:
The turkeys always seem to look particularly tattered after mating season:
While I do have some chickens who will molt during winter most of the birds have finished by Thanksgiving. Here, Rupert and the boys are almost done molting and looking pretty handsome:
Molting is a natural part of keeping birds so you can expect your property or poultry pen to look like it’s snowing feathers for part of the year. 
I’m Jake Keiser, a former city girl seeking self-reliance and a fabulous farm life in Oxford, Mississippi.
