Yes, same! Last year, we decided we'd start a flock in 2020. We picked up chicks a few weeks before COVID, and I'm so grateful. Little did we know how much they'd lift us up this year.
When ours started molting, I thought they were too young, but plenty of people online have had chickens molt at 7-8 months. They just looked so ragged and pale and sad. I eyeballed them for days trying to make sure nothing else was wrong.
Our head hen, Brahma Donna, stopped laying a couple weeks ago, and now she's molting at 9 months, as cold weather arrives. Sigh. Luckily she still has a whole lot more feathers than she's lost. Brahmas are like feathered bowling balls.
