Molting questions...

[Mystyk13]

Hello to all! My hens are about 9 months old now and I have some questions about molting. I read that they need a certain amount of hours of light to keep laying...we have been doing that and getting eggs everyday, no probs there. I think I also read though, that if they have that amount of light they will never molt. I think that they do need to molt to rejuvenate right?? Is there a certain time of year that they molt? We are coming into more daylight now and will be able to turn the timer light off....so do they molt after summer and when the daylight is not so long...and should we keep the light off when they do molt? I'm so confused!

Please help explaing the whole preocess to me and thanks!

 

[scgamecock]

Many chickens molt in the winter because of shorter daylight hours but they can do it at anytime.i have a 1 year old Partridge Rock hen that is molting right now.

 

[wynedot55]

your hens wont molt till winter or till they bout 18 months old.

 

[chickflick]

My 2yr old Astalorp molted this past winter. krisrose has a 1 yr old Partridge Rock that is going thru a molt now. So, I guess they can molt any time.

 

[FingerLakesChick]

Now I am worried because I thought my almost one year old is molting right now. She is losing feathers like crazy - they're all over the place!! Is there something wrong? Or does she just not know it's Spring and she's too young to molt?

 

[OHChick]

Quote:
some of my hens are just under a year old and a few of them are moulting too, i think they can do it any season of the year.

 

[FingerLakesChick]

I'll stop worrying, thank you!! This is my first flock, so it seems every new thing they do worries me!!