when will the molting stop?

[fowler_chick]

ok..i've given feathers away to every one who is crafty....'m about to give a bucket full to the grade school.....how much longer will they molt?...i'm running out of people to give these feathers too

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

Provide egg shells or oyster shells and make sure your feed has adequate salt. Also if you're lighting isn't regulated, get some timers to increase the lighting up to 17-18 hours a day. That should help.

 

[fowler_chick]

i talked to my feed co-op guy and asked him about his mixture in his feed, he says that there is anuff cal in there diet not to add more to it...i guess i'll be adding oyster shell in there too....as for lighting my girl are let out at about 7:30 is in the morning, i do have timers that are set to go off around midnight for both the coop and the run....we unplug the out door one onces hens are in for the night but the inside one goes off when the timmer os done....i'll try the oyster

 

[goldielocks]

We use Purina Layena and its suppose to have enough calcium in it but when i started feeding oyster shell i noticed that the eggs got alot harder. You could squeeze them a little bit and crack them before and now you cant. I throw a handful in with their scratch each day and also have some in their feeders.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This link may be helpful. It talks about late molters and early molters and answers your initial question. As is normal with many questions on here, it varies, maybe 2 months, maybe 6 months depending on the chicken.

Mississippi State describes molting
http://msucares.com/poultry/management/poultry_feathers.html

I always thought feathers were primarily protein, not calcium. I'm not sure why oyster shell would have anything to do with speeding up a molt. And I would never mix oyster shell or grit with the food but would offer it on the side. The layer has extra calcium in it and most chickens don't need extra. If they eat anything other than the layer, they may not be getting enough calcium and some chickens seem to want extra anyway. If they want extra and it is offered on the side, they can have it. But I personaly don't like the idea of forcing them to eat anything to excess.

It won't hurt to provide them with some extra protein during a molt and it would probably help. Like anything else, I would not feed it to excess, especialy as I think the length of a molt is more genetic than anything else.

Poor nutrition would slow down a molt and hurt them healthwise anyway so proper balanced feeding is always necessary. But if there were a way to speed up a molt, I'd expect it to be all over the extension web sites since the molting process costs the commercial producers a fortune.

 

[possumqueen]

feathers are wonderful addition to the compost heap!