Is it OK to cull chickens when they are molting?

[skysterry]

We have 7 chicks that are about 3-4 weeks old, and it is about time to move them into the larger hen yard, so this means that the old hens must go, city says we can only have 6 anyway. The older hens are in molt, is it ok to harvest them for food during the molting?

 

[donrae]

It should be fine. Less feathers for plucking!

They might in threory be a little lighter when molting, but as there's not a ton of meat on a hen I don't see as you'd notice anyway. And I don't see how it would be worth feeding them longer to bring them back to condition and regrow all those feathers for maybe a pound of meat total among them all.