I was down to only 9 birds in my coop -- 8 layers (RIReds and barred rocks) and a roo, and saw an opportunity to acquire 9 more birds (eight 4 month old pullets -- RIReds and 2 Araucanas -- and a one year old Jersey Giant).This was exactly one month ago. I had hoped that as the flock would be divided nearly evenly in half with old and new birds, there might quickly be a truce, and united flock. The Roo immediately set about attacking the new girls with murder in his eye. It was the final straw with me, so I immediately segregated him and butchered him the following day.
It took about a week for the girls to call a complete truce. Since the roo is gone, the older ladies have finally started regrowing feathers on their backs, elbows and tails. Even so, there's a scary number of feathers all over the ground, so I'm assuming that they're in their first real molt. They'll be two years old around Halloween. Between the stress of molting and combining flocks, I've only gotten one egg a day for the past month, if I'm lucky. Would anybody care to speculate how long before the ladies might start to lay again? And the pullets might be ready for their first lay?
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Hi Jeanne,
Right now I'm guessing the heat is impacting their laying. If the girls go into molt, it lasts about 14 weeks (yes weeks) in case you are not familiar with the process. They will begin slowing down and then stop all laying until they start coming out of molt. (I have always thought it was nature's bad joke to have chickens go into molt moving into fall and winter :-) As for the younger ones, 4 months is about the age when they begin laying, but with the various issues, they may just now be settling down to begin laying.
Rachael and others may have some other thoughts based on current experience, as I do not currently have hens. Good luck.
Hi Jeanne,
Sorry to be the bearer of difficult news. Are you using a wading pool for your girls? Anything that will help them with heat may encourage your teenagers to get their groove going sooner than later. If you also mean can you speed up the molt process - not as far as I know - it is just a part of their nature.
By the way, when your mature gals come out of molt they may not lay as much as in their first year, going down a bit more each year as they age. I personally just figured if I had maturing girls I would let them help me more in the garden (if you want help cleaning out last seasons' garden, chickens are great) and on bug patrol, figuring they earned a going slowly into retirement.
I do keep a shallow tray in their coop filled with water at all times. I also have a mister that runs through the hottest hours of the day. The coop is well shaded and has good breezes flowing through. I dare not let the girls have the run of the ranch though, because I've got got 4 bird dogs, retrievers, who I don't trust to LEAVE IT when I'm not around to enforce the edict. One of the pullets laid a first egg today!! YAY!!