Molting in June?

[tball]

I have 4- 2 year old birds, and added 4 new birds 17 weeks ago. All of my older birds went through their 1st molt this fall/winter, The first molted last August, she is the one molting now. Is this OK or a problem, On top of that I'm only getting 1 egg a day ! Production reds should be good for more than one year ?

 

[tball]

Nothing?

 

[Messipaw]

That sounds about right. Most hens won't lay or slow down during their molt.

 

[nbenevento]

As Messypaw said, they will pretty much stop laying during a molt. Tough, a molt usually happens in the fall, so that is at least a little odd. Also, production reds and other high production breeds can in fact only lay for a year or two. They are bred to be work horses like that but they quit earlier than other breeds.

 

[centrarchid]

To clarify, your birds likely did have a molt you noticed readily last fall where body and tail feathers were replaced. Starting about May your birds began another molt but currently it is only the flight feathers on wings being replaced. Hens will continue to lay when only these feathers are being replaced assuming they are in good nutrition. This fall the molt will intensify with replacement of body and tail feathers as well as balance of wing flight feathers. It is during this intense latter part of molt that egg production typically stop.