Moulting and stopped laying: twice in two months

[chickenboy7c2d]

My chickens have stopped laying and are moulting all over quite badly. It has snowed twice in the last couple of months and they have stopped laying twice in the last two months, is that anything to do with it? They are getting plenty of water, protein rich food and lots of room to roam. Is it normal or is something wrong?

 

[pbjmaker]

A lot of chickens don't lay much in the winter because the days are too short. If you add a light to their coop it might help. Thankfully we are past the shortest day of the season now and it is all uphill from here

Also if they are older birds, they seem to take longer to come out of a moult.

 

[teach1rusl]

Well it's quite natural for chickens to stop laying during a moult. However, you'll often read of birds not laying during a storm (rain or snow) or other weather disturbances...it's kind of like it throws them off

 

[Judy]

Are there birds that have molted twice in two months? Or is it that some molted two months ago and others are molting now? Are you sure there is no feather picking or lice/mites going on?

A lot of us are watching our birds molt in this cold weather and shaking out heads, including me. For me, a molt has been in progress for 3 or 4 months now -- but the ones who started first now have their feathers; no one has molted twice.

 

[chickenboy7c2d]

two moulted last time and four different ones are moulting this time.

 

[Whimsy]

I also am shaking my head, 3 of my original 6 birds are molting hard. The temperature is bitter, just think it is odd that they do it during the winter. They are about 10 months old.