For the new folks that haven't experienced a molt yet.

[vfrench]

My girls are going though a hard molt. First time for girls and myself. The combs are dull and they stopped laying eggs. What can I expect?

 

[chickman70]

Wow awesome pic, looks like your girl got in a cock fight(no pun intended)... Good information to have! When they molt do they allways stop laying during molting? I have 2-7 mo old lady's laying 2@day about 6 days a week.

 

[aart]

My girls are going though a hard molt. First time for girls and myself. The combs are dull and they stopped laying eggs. What can I expect?

If you read this whole thread, you'll get a pretty good idea.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Wow awesome pic, looks like your girl got in a cock fight(no pun intended)... Good information to have! When they molt do they allways stop laying during molting? I have 2-7 mo old lady's laying 2@day about 6 days a week.

Yes, they stop laying while molting. They need all of their protein stores to grow in new feathers. Feathers are virtually all protein, as are eggs, so something has to give.

Quote: Ditto.

 

[Happy Chooks]

With the days getting longer now, some of my hens are starting back up from their molts. (and some new pullets starting to lay too) I'm up to 2-6 eggs a day, from 0-1 in December. I have around 40 hens/pullets.

 

[mrchicks]

I'm up to 7-9 from my flock, after 0 for about 2 months. I had to buy eggs for Thanksgiving, how embarrassing. The egg lady in the checkout line with creepy store eggs.

 

[robbie1970]

I have a barred rock roo hes about 9 months he lost most of his feathers when he was real young they came back but are more of a silver to white color than the others from the same batch what causes this color change and will it change again when he molts I hope not he is beautiful with that silver color will try to post some pictures of him tommorow

 

[Grandmas Coop]

Its been a rough winter for my hens, they are slowly coming out of their molt. I stopped feeding them the Scratch N Peck layer for a while and bought Layena it has a higher protein. This helped but now they have what looks like quills. Poor things!!! little blood spots, 2 hens have sore bottoms where the feathers are growing back. Out of 10 hens I have been getting hit and miss 3 to 7 eggs a day, usually 5.

 

[vpatt]

My girls are going though a hard molt. First time for girls and myself. The combs are dull and they stopped laying eggs. What can I expect?

They need protein for eggs and for feathers so when they are trying to grow new feathers their bodies don't have enough protein to produce eggs also......you can up the protein with a higher protein feed or some type of people food or scraps that contains more protein. I bought a sack of chick starter for my chicks that were hatched the end of November and I started mixing it with the layer mash to up the protein for all the chickens. I thought it wouldn't hurt in the cold and when some were going thru a mild molt. This upped their protein to about 19.5% during the winter. If you lower the amount of layer mash remember to set out oyster shell for them. I wont do this in warmer weather for the hens unless there is some reason to. Also, because you give them extra protein does not mean they will lay eggs during the molt.....but hopefully it will help them thru the molt in good health. This is what I have learned on this site. I don't know if everyone agrees with this but it is what I'm trying.

 

[Nofowlplay]

My BR is going through heavy molting and her poor little butt is nearly bald. I will try to post a pic soon. My SS is lightly molting and still laying an egg every 3 days or so. My Buff Orp is fine and lays about 2 eggs per week because of light reduction in the winter. The Ameraucana finished her molt several weeks ago and looks gorgeous! They are all approximately the same age. I am glad for BYC and it is so helpful for relatively newby chicken owners such as myself!
More protein is what I am giving them. Costco sells these little cakes called Aussie Bites that have all kinds of seeds in them ..they get some of those and show bird feed and BOSS along with their regular feed . Plus meal worms, Kale and some scratch.!
Thanks for all the great helpful posts!