forced molting in chickens

This is a technique used in commercial egg houses to get the birds to go into lay again faster. It involves with holding food for a week or more (and sometimes light) to cause the chickens stress via starvation= which then gets them to molt simultaneously, and then come back into lay simultaneously when they get fed again and recover (if they are strong enough to recover). This lets the industry get more eggs/year/bird. Not considered humane by most people. You can get more eggs out of your birds (at least the ones that naturally stop laying during the winter due to decreased light) by artificially lighting your coop to keep them on 12 hr days. Most people with small backyard flocks don't bother with this. I don't. I consider eggs to be somewhat seasonal, along with my vegetable garden....

 

Personally, I find it cruel. No backyard flock owner has any reason/need to force molt a flock, IMO.

 

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