Thanks for starting this thread!! I was just about to post the same topic...I have a Partridge Rock who has started to molt super early this year and I'm not sure why. I live in Western NY state...my flock just turned three in June and their last two molts began well into Fall so I'm curious what could be going on with this one hen. She is the least "skilled" drinker of the bunch and it's been unusually super hot and humid here this summer. Wondering if her lack of good drinking technique is keeping her from getting adequate water to keep her from being stressed into a molt? (She never quite figured out how to scoop water into her beak...she pecks at the water like she's bobbing for apples...gets water in her nostrils, gets annoyed with drinking and walks away).
My Buff Orpington is also loosing some feathers, but not nearly at the same rate as my Rock girl. The Orp girl has just tried to go broody, but I broke it on the second day. She hasn't come back into lay yet. Wondering if the stress of breaking her from being broody and the heat has her out of whack and starting to drop the feathers. I'm so used to my girls being hardy creatures, for the most part, that it's a little worrying when things don't go as you are used to!
Is anyone else out there experiencing an early molt this summer?
Thanks!