Hen not laying....really really long molt?

[katkan16]

We have two laying hens that are about a year and a half old. Our Wyandotte went through her molt earlier this year and recovered from it as normal. Our leghorn started what seemed like a molt almost three months ago, pulling out feathers and not laying. It seemed to go on longer than normal, but she started recovering from it about a month ago. Her feathers are back in now but looking kind of scruffy on her tail and belly. She started laying again but the eggs are liquid and end up as a gooey mess in the laying box.
Their diet is an organic laying feed and is supplemented with scratch and a calcium source for shell strength. Both chickens are happy and healthy, eating and drinking, with a large yard for free ranging and no stress or predators. I treat them regularly for mites.
I am trying to figure out why she is still laying liquid eggs. When our other hen started laying again after her molt she did the same but only for a few days before they became normal again. This has lasted long enough for me to start wondering if there's another problem.
Any suggestions?

 

[hokankai]

She wasn't molting, she was broody! They pull feathers from their chest and bellies to make nests. You really should break them because they'll just keep sitting and will not eat or drink well.

Molting will look like a pillowcase exploded in your coop, and they'll look VERY scraggly!

Give her a few days to get back in the groove of things. Sometimes they lay weird eggs for no reason at all. My EE laid a few weirdo eggs for several days in a row, but she's back to normal.

 

[katkan16]

Hmmm...I have thought about her being broody but don't they usually try to spend a lot of time in the laying boxes when they do that? She's already out of the coop by the time we get up in the morning and doesn't go back until bedtime. She definitely went through a normal molt at the beginning of all this, it's just her tail and belly that are still looking scraggly now. She hasn't been aggressive and has been eating and drinking normally. Even her behavior has been completely normal.
It's just the weird egg liquid laying thing now. Does that still sound like she could be broody? If so, what should be done to try and get her out of it? I'm not sure if that's it but I don't know that much about it and I just want to make sure that she gets back to normal.
Honestly, she's kind of a spazzy chicken (even for a chicken), kind of high strung, and I've been thinking that maybe she's just nutty and as long as she seems healthy and happy that's fine with me

 

[hokankai]

Hmm, yeah broody would require her sitting in the nest. Normal molts can last a long time though, up to 4-6 months, especially since it sounds like this is her first hard molt being 1.5 years old. The only thing I can think of that would cause liquidy eggs would be a lack of calcium, or that she's just getting her cycle back on track after molting. Are you seeing her eat the oyster shell? Did you provide extra sources of protein during the molt?

 

[katkan16]

Ok, I didn't realize that molts could last that long and yes, this is her first one. Extra sources of protein? What would be some good suggestions for that supplement? They are free range and eat lots of bugs throughout the day. They also get veggie scraps from the kitchen. As far as the calcium supplement goes she seems to be eating it. It goes either in their food or their scratch to keep them occupied, and they seem to peck up every last crumb of that.