Some hens still haven't molted!!

I have had chickens for ten years now, and have had quite a mix of breeds and ages since then. I have 20 right now. Two seasons ago (March 2012) I got 12 "red pullets" from Tractor Supply. They are awesome layers. But last fall, they were not molting like they should have... they were almost 20 months old then... and I couldn't WAIT til they molted, because they had begun picking each other the previous winter, and had had bald spots and clipped feathers all last summer.

Now it's JANUARY, and only three of these have just recently successfully molted. The others are still just as patchy with dull old clipped feathers, no signs of new feathers anywhere. The other breeds, older birds (ages 3-8), molted last fall like always.

Never had this problem, and I'm afraid maybe I'm missing something. I make them lay all winter, with 12 hours of light using a timer. They eat the DUMOR layer pellets, and I provide a Flock Block to try to keep them picking again. That's been successful, there has been very little picking this winter, and it's been so cold that they are in 24 hours a day month after month. I also give the birds several handfuls of scratch feed every day. They have lots of room with a new addition this winter, a dust-bin, new perches...

Is it possible that they are laying too much, and not getting enough protein to molt??? Too many treats? These red hens are laying about 1 egg every 2-3 days right now.

They literally have only half enough feathers, and it's COLD. But they say you shouldn't use a heat lamp!!

Help!

Thanks!!

 

Thanks for the replies!

All I can think is maybe the genetics is messed up, and these birds were bred to lay, lay, lay, and molting is not so automatic. They were your basic "red pullet" from TSC, so who knows how good the strains there are. I'll cull out the birds that aren't molting later this summer once my new chicks start to lay.

In the meantime I've added a heat lamp, and more fresh, dry straw. The next few weeks are supposed to be high in the single digits and lows below zero. Their little red rumps and butts are so sorry!! No sign of frostbite thank goodness.