Chickens haven't layed in months...is this really a molt?

[MaKettle]

My girls were hatched in March 2010 & have been wonderful layers up until the end of the summer. It all started towards the end of July when my Buff Orpington stopped laying. We thought it was from the extreme heat but then we noticed the feather loss & assumed that she was molting. We went on vacation at the beginning of August & came back to find our Golden Comet in the same situation. Our BO was looking much better & continued to act normally but still no eggs. Then, my Brown Leghorn started with the feather loss & no eggs. We joked that we didn't know that a molt was contagious.

Currently, my BO & GC appear to have regrown their feathers & don't appear to be actively molting but my Leghorn is still in the midst of it. We have not had any eggs since the beginning of August from all 3 chickens. I'm just wondering if we have something else going on here.

Has anyone had any experience with such a long time without eggs? My husband is threatening to put them in a pot!

 

[Pharm Girl]

My EE took 5 months last winter to molt, while my wyandotte went *poof* and dropped them all in a week, then promptly re-grew them in about a month. This year my BO and BA seem to be loosing feathers one small clump at a time. They might take all winter like the EE did. If they don't look sick or wormy, give them time, extra protein, and oyster shell. Good luck.

 

[MaKettle]

so there is such a thing as a really slow molt??

 

[Pharm Girl]

I've only had chickens two seasons, so not the expert, but, like I said, my EE took 5 months! We threatened to make soup too. I know the feeling. This year we got 5 more, so we have plenty of eggs every day and they are free to moult about the cabin as they wish. We are urban, but there''s not much difference between 4 and 9 really? right? Heh heh. Shhh, quiet down out there...