I'm posting this for a friend... Hopefully I put it in the right section!
A friend of mine has 10 SLWs, 10 Buff Orps, 2 RSLs (all will be two years old in March); and 10 Barred Rocks, and 10 Cherry Eggers (which will be one year old in March.) All of the older birds began to molt in September and are just about done molting, which I know is very normal for their age. But in November the BRs and CEs started molting too. My friend wants to know why. She takes excellent care of her birds, feeds them high dollar feed, and keeps them very healthy. For the last couple months she's been getting about four eggs a day from all of these hens. She also hatched some Coturnix Quail in October, and recently moved most of the males into another pen to be fattened and kept away from the females. Those extra males soon after being moved went into a molt. The females and two males left in their pen for breeding are not molting. So what are the possible causes for molting? I'm thinking it was stress from being moved into a new area. Her husband built a new coop in November and they moved all of the chickens into it (to make room for some OEGBs they had bought). Soon after, the BRs and CEs went into a molt. I'm thinking it was caused by stress from being moved, but I wanted to ask the experts! So what do ya'll think? (Feel free to ask questions!)
Thanks!
A friend of mine has 10 SLWs, 10 Buff Orps, 2 RSLs (all will be two years old in March); and 10 Barred Rocks, and 10 Cherry Eggers (which will be one year old in March.) All of the older birds began to molt in September and are just about done molting, which I know is very normal for their age. But in November the BRs and CEs started molting too. My friend wants to know why. She takes excellent care of her birds, feeds them high dollar feed, and keeps them very healthy. For the last couple months she's been getting about four eggs a day from all of these hens. She also hatched some Coturnix Quail in October, and recently moved most of the males into another pen to be fattened and kept away from the females. Those extra males soon after being moved went into a molt. The females and two males left in their pen for breeding are not molting. So what are the possible causes for molting? I'm thinking it was stress from being moved into a new area. Her husband built a new coop in November and they moved all of the chickens into it (to make room for some OEGBs they had bought). Soon after, the BRs and CEs went into a molt. I'm thinking it was caused by stress from being moved, but I wanted to ask the experts! So what do ya'll think? (Feel free to ask questions!)
Thanks!
