Not complaining

[GoldenCometLady]

But just curious. My laying hens are Golden Comets and doing great.
They began laying at 15 wks last July and are still going strong.
Only had one slump when the daylight went to less hours and so
I put on a light and everything went back to normal. My lowest days
have been 6 eggs for 11 hens.

At what age do they molt? They tell me they will quit laying when
they molt. Mine never have yet and they were a yr old this past March.
The only time they lost a lot of feathers were when they were young
and getting bigger feathers.

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

They molt around 18 months of age, and they will prolly stop laying during that period. After their feathers grow back, they will start laying again. The thing is, they will lay less eggs then during their first year, and they eggs will be larger with thinner shells. (same amount of shell, just covering a larger egg)

 

[Imp]

Not all chickens do the hard molt you see in some of the pitiful pictures posted here. I've rarely had a hen molt hard, even for years. Sometimes it is a mini-molt maybe lose the feathers on the head or neck etc.
I have no idea if it is related to a milder temperate climate, supplying light in the coop or some other factor.

Imp

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

Prolly breed related too. The only one I've really knoticed a bad one on was of a single comb brown leghorn I had. She was a brat, but during the molt she just hunched up and ignored everyone rather then throwing random pecks at everybody.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

They'll probably do a big molt this fall. Some chickens still lay eggs during their molt, a lot of them don't. It depends a bit on whether it's a hard or gradual molt and how good their diet is. It takes a lot to grow all those feathers.

I've never had chickens do a hard molt and look bald until a few years ago. I think genetics plays a big part in it. I wouldn't normally want to breed that into chickens, since we have such severe fall and winter weather, but they're also some of the best layers I've ever had. You just never know what you're going to get, with chickens.