7 Month old Welsummers molting already?

[Andylbc]

Hi all, Looking for help or advice.
When i bought my Welsummer's i was told they were 20 weeks old, this was 7 weeks ago which should make them 7 months old or 27weeks.
Every reference i have said they should be laying by now but their not. They have not laid anything. They are settled in the Coop and come running to me when i go out to the garden and show no sign of ill health or stress apart from Molting.
is 27 weeks and the end of August the right time for them to Molt? They have so far been molting for the last week and show no signs of stopping. is this Normal for young chickens?

 

[runnermom]

My Welsummer was the last to start laying out of my 6. It was around 25 weeks. But that doesn't help with your molting ?.

 

[dunnmom]

I would say it's uncommon, but it could happen. I've heard that some go through an extra juvenile molt. My mom had one that did this before laying her first egg. It's usually not a full molt, if that makes you feel any better. Hang in there, and maybe feed her extra protein. Two of my 6 hens started laying after 30 weeks.

 

[Andylbc]

I can see one of them having an extra juvenile molt before their first egg but all three? at the same time?
Im all new to this so I picked up some different types of feed to see if i can add some extra protein and nutrients and also a bag of Nutrena Feather Fixer that's supposed to give them a little extra during the Molt

 

[dunnmom]

Hmm... You've got a good point. Have you recently checked them for parasites? Could it be stress-related? It does seem odd that they're all doing it.

 

[aart]

All 3 probably come from the same 'line', maybe even siblings, so that could account for the similarities.

Birds coming to probable point of lay age at this time of year could be part of the issue, due to the decreasing light of day. Amount of daily light affects both laying and molting, a bird who is molting is not going to lay anyway.

Feather Fixer has a bit higher protein(18%?) but still laying level calcium(3-4%).
I feed a 20% flock raiser with oyster shell on the side.

Are your birds show quality or hatchery birds?
Show lines may lay later/older than hatchery birds.

Had a Wellie did a full but soft molt in November at 9 months of age, but she had started laying on Aug 1 at 23wks...she was offline for 10 wks.

Chickens can frustratingly unlike pez dispensers.

 

[Andylbc]

update..
they have spent the whole weekend pruning themselves.. hardly eating. I checked for mites/lice and found nothing crawling around on any of them, no eggs attached anywhere or anything.
They just stand there pecking themselves.
They are not show birds but should all be siblings so maybe they are all at the same level of egg laying?
i put a layer of DE around the Coop and run, changed all the bedding and added new sand to the run incase it was insects maybe that will help.

 

[aart]

If they are doing a lot of preening they well may be molting.
Part feathers down to skin and see if you see new pin feathers coming in,
also do that near vent to look for bugs.

 

[Andylbc]

If they are doing a lot of preening they well may be molting.
Part feathers down to skin and see if you see new pin feathers coming in,
also do that near vent to look for bugs.

Thats what i see.. lots of little black feathers.

 

[dunnmom]

I think part of the reason they preen so much during molting is their skin is extra sensitive and irritable. I can't imagine growing pinfeathers would be very pleasant. I think this is also why they don't usually want to be handled while molting, either. Mine always acted irritable and kind of down in the dumps while molting.