Have Your Chickens Stopped Laying too?

Have Your Chickens Stopped Laying too?
Eve H. Honeycutt


This seems to be a very common question that I get in the fall. Just this Sunday at Church a friend stopped me to ask about his birds. "My girls have stopped laying. What's the matter with them?"

The best answer- and the usual problem- is they are molting. Molting is a natural process for chickens. The shorter days and cooler temperatures trigger this strange phenomenon. All of a sudden, your most beautiful bird begins to lose her feathers. You might notice her stop laying just before this happens. If all of your birds are the same age, the rest of them may start the molting process as well. Females housed together tend to do this. Fortunately, the birds at my house are different ages and not all of them molted this year. A few of them even molted in the spring, which was odd.

If your birds are in a coop full time, you will see an abundance of feathers on the floor. This is all normal. Occasionally this excessive show of skin can trigger non-molting birds to pick on those who are losing the feathers. Keep an eye out for any birds who look like they are getting picked on. You may need to separate the molting hens if the bullying continues. If your birds are pastured or in a large pen, they will not be as prone to bullying since they have something else to occupy their time.

Fear Not! Molting may take 6-8 weeks to completely shed and regrow the feathers. Your most beautiful bird will be beautiful again! And she won't lose all her feathers at once, but she will probably have bare patches here and there. She will begin to lay again one day. Birds that molt early in the fall may begin laying again the same year. Late molting birds may not lay again until spring. Some birds will molt every year, and some will only molt every few years. The feathers that grow back are the same color and texture, just a more brilliant color- at least until the first dust bath.

So even though you may be heckled by your neighbors for having some strange looking birds, rest assured that you will be able to share your eggs again soon.