Moulting in laying chickens

[ohareward]

I thought I would pass this info on.

Autumn is a time for everything to wind down towards winter and for the chickens, these signals can't be ignored. Their bodies naturally begin to shed their feathers, in preparation for a thick new coat of many feathers to keep them warm over winter. Moulting places a huge stress on birds and is often the answer to the most common question that people ask at this time of year: "Why have my birds stopped laying?"
The timeline of a chicken and its feathers
Months 1 - 5
Down is shed by young chicks and a first coat of feathers is grown. A pullet goes through three partial moults of different feathers before growing a set of adult feathers. At around the 20-26 week mark, it will have its full coat and will begin to use its energy to produce eggs.
Months 13 - 14
Pullets that began laying just over a year ago will undergo their first moult. This may vary depending on the weather, as a cooler summer can encourage early moulting, while a long, hot summer can mean it is delayed. While some birds will lay the odd egg, most chickens will not lay for the 8-10 weeks it takes to moult. Cockerels will also be less fertile at this time.
Month 16 and beyond.
The older birds get, the longer and more frequent the moult. A second moult will occur about 10 months later, and birds will often not come back into lay until warmer spring weather. At this point you may wish to carry out a cull, if high egg numbers are important. After about three years of age, a bird may moult twice a year for longer and longer periods, and eventually stop laying altogether.
Disease-induced moulting
The first symptoms of sickness will be a drop in feed consumption, a decline in egg production, often followed by moulting, a dull/listless appearance, diarrhoea, coughing or lameness. In this case, moulting is a reaction to the stress of illness. While it can be hard sometimes to work out why a bird is sick (making treatment difficult), consider taking a dead bird to a vet for a post-mortem. This should only take a few minutes and may help you identify if you have an on-going problem that could affect the rest of your flock.
Carrying birds through a moult.
In commercial flocks, artificial lights are used to extend the day length so there is no gradual decreasing day length to induce a moult. For the home flock owner, there is also the option of extending winter day length by using lights, a time clock to bring a light on at 5am and turn it off when it is light, then on at 5pm and off again at 9pm, to give the birds 16 hours of daylight.
During a moult a bird is resting, growing new feathers and building up body reserves to get itself through another year of laying. Feathers are made up of protein and even a good diet does not contain enough protein to grow feathers and maintain egg production at the same time. The bird also requires extra feed to keep itself warm during moulting as the weather is colder at night, plus they have lost their insulation. All of this action goinjg on during a moult takes more energy than normal. Many people ctually reduce feed levels during this time and then wonder why their birds keep moulting, or just don't ever start laying. Keep a good quality feed available at all times.
If you carry roosters, they too will moult (probably first, before the hens) and during this time will almost certainly be infertile.
Good layers vs bad layers - how moulting tells you who is who
A bird that goes into moult early and takes a long time to start laying again is not going to be laying as many eggs for you. She will probably lose a few feathers at a time and rarely show bald patches. A bird that always appears to have soft, glossy feathers and rarely (or never) shows bald patches is almost certainly a hen who is not laying or lays rarely.
A high producing hen will lose lots of her feathers quite quickly, becoming bald or very patchy-looking, but will come back into lay 10-12 weeks later.
What does a natural moult look like?
There is an order to the loss of feathers during a moult.
1. Head and neck.
2. Saddle, breast and abdomen.
3. Wings.
4. Tail.
A bird will usually keep laying at a reduced rate until the wing feathers go.
Egg production after moulting
As a bird ages, it naturally lays less eggs. Expect a drop of 10-30% in hens after their first moult (or second year of egg production), compared to their first year. The following year, you should expect to get around 50% less than year one.
Is it good to allow birds to moult?
Advantages
It's cheaper to carry birds through a moult than to buy replacement pullets.
Buying in replacement pullets can be deferred, saving time and money.
The older birds get, the more immune they become to diseases in their environment.
The first eggs of moulted birds are bigger than pullet-sized eggs from new young birds.
By keeping good egg producers that moult quickly and culling out poor ones, you carry on the better performing genes into your breeding birds.
Disadvantages
Moulted birds lay less eggs and their conversion of feed into eggs drop.
While in a moult birds continue eating (and cost you money) but produce very little or nothing.
You may end up with too few eggs produced following a moult.
Just a reminder, if you use light bulbs, make sure that they are always working

[Bonniegirl]

Anyone got a magnifying glass!! That lettering is small ain't it?? Or is it me eyes!!!

[Millymollymandy]

I've made the text bigger so it is easier to read!

As for the moulting chooks, mine are 2 1/2 yrs old and I've got one who has gone through a full moult and is laying every day, one who has been stuck in a half moult for about 6 months now and lays about once a month and the third one is just showing signs of losing the tips of her feathers and lays about 3 or 4 eggs a week.

It's not fast this moulting business.

Anyway I'm getting two new point of lay hens tomorrow, I can't wait, I'm so eggcited (they are pets to me!).

[flower]

oooh! mmm, watcha getting?

I'm just introducing three new bantams to my big old hybrid girls (Bouddica and Guinevere).
The new girls are Madame Bloolay( a lavender araucana) Racey Lacey (a buff laced wyandotte bantam) and Cocette (a pure white pekin frizzle)

The biguns aren't being very welcoming as you can imagine!

Thanks for the info ohareward!

[Millymollymandy]

oooh! mmm, watcha getting?

White ones from the market! You get a choice of red ones, white ones or black ones with gold necks.