Chicken Stopped Laying and Losing Feathers

[Litchfieldgirls]

Hi,
I also have Ameracanas, you will find that when they molt, they will be the first to stop laying and the last to begin again. The molting is perfectly normal for all your chickens and most will stop laying until January, unless you use some kind of light in the coop. I live in Connecticut , as soon as the weather cools my girls will start to molt and egg production will slow, same for my neighbors.
Sunflower seeds are a great snack and will give them energy.

 

[JulieAGill]

My Americana was the 2nd or 3rd to molt. She lays more of a bluish egg. The tan laying hen was the fist to molt but still hasn't laid an egg. I do have a light in their house that comes on about 5:30. Because there are so many wild free ranging chickens my girls stay in their enclosure. I forgot about black sunflower seeds being good for them. I bought feather fixer and I give them meal worms that I get at Walmart. They love those.

 

[cchin]

Our other hens have made it through their molt but they aren't all laying consistently everyday yet. They were and then stopped through the summer. We have 11 in our coop and we are getting about 7 a day right now. They are about 14 months old.

We want to start free ranging ours but our Rat Terrier killed one. And then one snuck out of the run the other day when we were throwing in some lettuce for them and the dog went at it again. Our dog completely shuts us out and just goes for the kill. We are going to try shock collar training him as he is young...only 10 months old. But we hope that with them free ranging we can give them a better quality of life.

We have cattle as well and have heard that the hens will take care of the worms in the cow manure. Not sure if that's true but our dog currently has two types of worms that we only assume he gets from the cows! Hopefully our hens can be happier and the dog can be worm free.