Laying After a Molt

[jdjohnson]

My year old easter egger molted in either Aug or Sept of which during that time she stopped laying. Six months later and she is still not laying. She has all of her feathers back now and is beautiful. She is also eating well. We give our chicks the Layer feed. How long after a molt does it take to start laying again?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Are you using supplementary light? If not, she may wait until spring to start back up again.

 

[debid]

Are you using supplementary light? If not, she may wait until spring to start back up again.

X2 The days are lengthening now so she'll start again when they are long enough for her. Is her face red yet? I added light in late November after seeing that finishing their molt was not enough to get them back to laying. I brought their light hours up to 14 and all of the hens started laying again within 3 weeks' time. It's only a 40W bulb and only for a few hours in the early AM. I'm slowly reducing the time that the light is on as the days get longer. I'm pretty sure that without the light, some of them would only lay half the year.

 

[TwoCrows]

One of my Black Australorps also began her first adult molt this past August, (she will be 2 this spring) and it seemed like forever before she would begin laying again. She was done molting early December an she only started back laying last week.

So if your hen's comb is back from being shriveled and is now a bright red color, she may start laying anytime.

 

[jdjohnson]

We have not been using supplemental light. Thank you for your help!