My chicken have just finished with her molt. Her comb shrunk and it is not red anymore, all of her feathers have grown back except for maybe 1 or 2 pin shafts on her neck feathers. She is not laying yet and her comb looks pretty bad( compared to the rest of my hens). It is pretty small. She is still a little grumpy for some reason.LOL She is normally a very sweet and tame bird. How long does it take for her comb to "grow" back to normal and for her to start laying eggs and acting normal again? Is her comb anything for me to be concerned about? Thanks so much for any feedback!! FarmGirl
Hormonal levels drop during the molt and combs generally 'wilt' and become pale. As the photo period increases, her comb will brighten, and she will start laying.
X2 It takes a while after molting before the hormones get going to get them back into laying. I have some birds that will start laying toward the end of the molt with still a few feathers left to grow in. And then some that will wait an entire month before laying, after the last feather has grown in and the comb is bright red and full. Each bird is different and will get back to laying when they are good and ready.
x3. The whole moulting process can take three months or more, and it's common for birds to not get ready to lay again and have small, shrunken combs for a while after all their feathers grow back. My flock started moulting in October (down to 30% rate of lay) and only yesterday got back above a 70% rate of lay--and that's with careful lighting control. We had one of those "blizzard of feathers" moults this year.
