My 7.5 month old chickens are molting? in mid-winter?

[GardenTeacher]

Hi all,

I'm a new chicken keeper so maybe I'm being overly cautious but it just doesn't make sense to me that they would be molting now. We live in cold New York. They had roundworm but I haven't seen any evidence lately. They are eating and drinking normally and I haven't seen much pecking... Should I be looking for other causes for the molt that aren't seasonal or age-specific? thanks for any ideas.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I have two girls that did a "Mini January Molt" two years ago when they were less than a year old. It wasn't a horrible molt - at least not compared to the molt they just got through doing! I did some research at that time and learned a January molt wasn't all that unusual.

I know, doesn't make sense to me that they molt when it's so cold, either. Most molt in the fall. These same girls molted in the fall of this year and just got their feathers back. They resumed laying right before Christmas.

You might want to up their protein a bit so that they can get those new feathers in ASAP.