Laying during molt

[TheResidentialFarm]

Hello! This is my first winter with chickens. Out of my 13 birds that are currently molting or just finished molting, 12 haven't laid an egg in months/weeks, but are growing in beautiful new sets of fluffy feathers. One still looks very rough and is clearly not done molting, but she has recently returned to every other day laying (she's my only blue layer and I've seen her in the nest box). I keep an egg log, and she took exactly 30 days off.

How common is this? I wasn't expecting blue eggs again for at least another month. Is there any reason to be concerned that she will not complete her new set of feathers and instead put all her energy into laying? Winters in WI are harsh and I want her to have a full winter jacket!

 

[song of joy]

Yes, that does seem strange. I'm used to seeing most of my hens take a 2 to 4-month break from laying before they resume, which usually happens in Jan/Feb.

However, I have seen a couple of hens continue to lay at a low rate while also molting. This doesn't mean that they don't finish the molt. It probably means that they're getting enough protein in their diet to finish the molt and lay some eggs. I've never seen this happen with hard molts, but have seen it happen at the beginning and end of slow molts in a couple of hens over the years.

Supplemental light is another factor that could influence what you're seeing.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Birds are unable to lay inside of molt she has finished from what you said she is unable to be in molt she will be fine might offer scrambled eggs mixed with their food takes all their protein to lay eggs or molt a little boost will help to you keep a light in the coop?

 

[AlleysChicks]

Mine are doing the same. I have 6 molting and have been getting 0-4 eggs a day from that coop. I thought it was odd because I thought they didn’t lay.

 

[TheResidentialFarm]

They're on a 22% protein feed and get either meal worms, rabbit meat, or cat food every day or every other day as treats, so I feel confident they're getting enough protein.

I do have lights in the coop right now. A "dusk" light is on from 4-5 am and 5-5:30 PM. The brighter light comes on about 5am-5pm. I had thought the light wouldn't affect the molting birds, but help the pullets continue their laying through winter. Maybe the light is too encouraging?

@AlleysChicks , it's good to know yours are laying still too! Do you use lights in your coop?

 

[TheResidentialFarm]

@song of joy , to your point, I guess she did more of a slow molt. The back of her neck was all naked expect for pin feathers for a while, but the rest of her body has just looked rough and thinly feathered rather than going patchy like some of her sisters.

 

[song of joy]

They're on a 22% protein feed and get either meal worms, rabbit meat, or cat food every day or every other day as treats, so I feel confident they're getting enough protein.

I do have lights in the coop right now. A "dusk" light is on from 4-5 am and 5-5:30 PM. The brighter light comes on about 5am-5pm. I had thought the light wouldn't affect the molting birds, but help the pullets continue their laying through winter. Maybe the light is too encouraging?

The higher-protein feed will definitely help them during the molt. This may at least partially explain why one hen has been able to molt and lay at the same time.

I've never used supplemental light, so I'm not sure how it would affect the molt. I'm wondering if the extra light may be telling the hens to switch back to laying, thereby delaying the molt? I suppose it depends on when the light was added with respect to the molt cycle.

 

[AlleysChicks]

They're on a 22% protein feed and get either meal worms, rabbit meat, or cat food every day or every other day as treats, so I feel confident they're getting enough protein.

I do have lights in the coop right now. A "dusk" light is on from 4-5 am and 5-5:30 PM. The brighter light comes on about 5am-5pm. I had thought the light wouldn't affect the molting birds, but help the pullets continue their laying through winter. Maybe the light is too encouraging?

@AlleysChicks , it's good to know yours are laying still too! Do you use lights in your coop?

No lights. It’s been freezing at night also. My pullets aren’t laying now but my molting girls are something isn’t right there.

 

[TheResidentialFarm]

It probably has something to do with the high protein feed, but some of my hens stopped laying/started molting in late August and they haven't even started back up yet. This hen was the last to stop laying of the older girls and the first to start up again, so maybe she's just an aggressively productive layer I should really incubate some of her eggs if this is the type of bird she is.

We increased the time the lights were on slowly, so we just got up to the current amount of light 2 weeks ago. My 10 month old Black Java pullets have all decided to stop laying and molt despite the lights and protein....

 

[TheResidentialFarm]

No lights. It’s been freezing at night also. My pullets aren’t laying now but my molting girls are something isn’t right there.

The joy of chickens....