Do you wait out the moult?

[chickenlizzy]

We are just starting our chicken adventure this Spring. We get our chicks on April 5th. I know many people that own chickens and i'm wondering.... Do you wait out the moult or replace the chicken when she starts. I know some people that replace the chicken when she starts because they are unwilling to wait that long for eggs. How old are the hens when they have their first moult? We are planning on getting 2-RIR, 2-BO, 2-Plymoth Barred Rocks, and 2-Australorps, if they are all available. Is it better to get chickens of differing ages so that you hopefully always have some laying? I don't think I want to replace them just because they are moulting, but I also don't want to go many months with no eggs.

 

[thedeacon]

I have about the same as you. My were hatched in Oct. I raised them through the winter and they started laying in early spring. They all started moulting around Nov at 1 yr old. They did not begin laying again until March. I thought that was a long moult. They laying great guns again. I will get some additional ones this spring so I have eggs through winter when the older ones are moulting. Unless you purchase or have raised replacements, I would keep them during moulting

 

[Lisa202]

Quote:
Is it normal for them to stop laying for 4 months? Does it actually take 4 months for the feathers to grow back in, or do they grow back in fairly quick and it's just the stress that delays the egg laying?

I can't imagine not having fresh eggs for that long. I'm spoiled now.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Pullets usually lay straight through their first fall and winter. The following year, as 1 yr old hens, they start developing seasonal rhythms to their laying.

They may go broody in the spring, which will stop their laying. This is when they try to set on a clutch of eggs, to hatch chicks. Most of my hens haven't been particularly broody, but I have several now that were especially bad their first spring. They all went broody that year, some 2 or 3 times! They're almost 4 years old now. Fortunately, they were better starting with their second spring as adults. Last year I think only 2 went broody. They were still laying an egg almost every single day last year. So, I can't complain.

They normally do a heavy molt in the fall as adults, which may stop them from laying. Some chickens still lay when molting. Your entire flock may not molt at exactly the same time or in the same way. Some chickens molt very slowly. Some chickens drop a lot of feathers all at once and need to regrow them all at once. That calls for a lot of protein, especially methionine, which is already in short supply in plant foods. If their body doesn't have enough extra protein to create both an egg and feathers, it will choose feathers. You can supplement their diet with more protein to help them.

Chickens are sensitive to the length of the day. When the days grow shorter as winter approaches, many adult chickens stop laying. Some breeds are better winter layers than others. You can give them supplemental lighting to keep the days at a standard length for them or let them take a rest for the winter. People do it both ways.

What you can run into is a situation where the chickens stop laying because of a molt and then don't start up again until spring, because the winter days are too short.

What I do is add supplemental light, so they have a consistent day length, starting in the fall and going until spring. Before they start molting in the fall, I set aside a few more eggs in the refrigerator. Clean eggs, that still have the bloom on, have been known to last 6 months in the refrigerator. I don't keep them that long, but I do have some set aside so I have enough for a supply during the fall molt. Since I have lighting, my chickens go back to laying after the molt, so I have winter eggs. If you end up with a lot of broody hens in your flock, you can also set aside a few eggs for the spring broody season, too. If you decide not to use lighting in the winter, you can set aside more eggs to get you through more of the winter.

 

[BarefootMom]

We waited it out but we were still getting about 4 eggs a day from our EEs and 1 BR...now we are getting about 18 eggs a day!

ours stopped for about 3 months.

 

[Lisa202]

Quote:
Thanks so much for all the great info! I will definitely save this post.