If chooks molt @ 18 mo. (and yearly?), then when....

[gritsar]

can I expect my flock to molt again? They are 28 months old (near about, hatched 4/8/2007). They molted around the 18 month mark. Now 10 months later I think they are about to molt again.
Sound about right?
My daily egg count has dwindled from excellent (10 egg daily/13 hens), down to 5 daily, then 3, now nothing; over the course of about two weeks.
I'm also noticing that every time my roo mates a hen feathers go flying everywhere. He's a gentle roo and this is usually not the case.

 

[pgpoultry]

Mine do a big moult about once a year and mini moults in the hot weather. My Brahmas don't really have a moult apart from the boys losing the biggest of their tail feathers and a few from their feet and legs. I would have thought, if your egg production has gone off and the feathers are flying that yours are going into moult.

Last year we had a very cold spring and summer here and mine barely moulted at all, so I am sure that the ambient temperature influences the amount of feather loss.

Sandie

 

[gritsar]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[gritsar]

Well, four eggs today so if they are molting I'm hoping it will be a mild one and collectively they will produce enough eggs to supply my family.
No mites, no illness, no parasites. I'm almost positive its a molt.