molting

[woodenflutes]

my chickens have went to half the number of eggs for about a month,,,then they stopped. i didn't understand why the early drop off of eggs but i know the reason why they've stopped now because of the number of cast off feathers...too bad i don't have ducks if they do the same thing because duck or goose feathers are good for fletching feathers fro arrows,,,i didn't know if heat would cause the early moulting but then it didn't seem to affect them in high dessert temperatures...any sugsestions on the early molting

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you joined us!

When days get shorter, chickens molt. Days have been getting shorter for about three months. These two articles may help.

Mississippi State describes molting
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html

Kansas State feather loss
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/mf2308.pdf

I'm not sure what your temperatures were like, but really hot weather can slow them down laying. I usually get a decrease in really hot weather.