Early molt ...?

[Paul 1952]

Hi all,
I've got one of our Black Stars that's having an issue, maybe natural, maybe not. She's only 7-8 months old and stopped laying about a week or so ago. Noticed feathers and such in the coop and her longer tail feathers scattered about and now on the back of her neck. Strikes me as a tad early for a molt so have checked for bugs and such, found none... she's been eating fine and seems plenty alert. Doesn't seem to be a case of being picked on and I've seen her cleaning and preening and working herself over...
Just seems way too early for a molt so wondering what else I might need to look for? Any ideas?

Here's her from the side, notice the short tail and a bit of feathers lacking on the back of the neck... she's the one farthest away here.



And this one is a closer shot of the back of her neck....

 

[Nike]

Nope! I think she's right on time! All of my hens are molting right now. They're growing in their winter feathers I believe.
Your hens are so cute!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Yep, she's molting. She'll start laying eggs again when she's done growing in feathers and gets her weight back to a healthy level.

I've had some 9 month old pullets molt before - not the norm, but not uncommon either.

 

[Paul 1952]

Thanks you two ... that's pretty much what I thought. Just looking for some confirmation... and they are pretty cute! ;-)

Here's another action shot ...

 

[Nike]

Cute! I love those hens that look like they have brown feathers, so pretty!

 

[Paul 1952]

yup, those are Red Stars... 3 Black Stars & 3 Red Stars is our little flock. And the molting girl seems to be pretty spry this morning... chasing the wild birds out of the yard and such. So pretty sure it's just a normal molt.