Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
By using controlled light, monitoring the flock's feed, and managing the unnatural en-
vironment, you can probably avoid molting altogether, much as the large commercial
egg-laying operations do. A bird will lay for as long as 18 to 20 months before eventu-
ally becoming tired and beginning to molt anyhow.
Molting Is a Resting Phase
Before you decide to alter your flock's environment and bio cycle completely, keep in
mind that forcing chickens to lay for 20 months without giving them a chance to rest is
hardly chicken-friendly. Molting provides a resting period for hens. This rest time nat-
urally occurs if you don't provide extra light — even if you maintain the birds on a feed
designed to promote laying. Make sure that the birds have no artificial light and cut back
on the calcium and they will enter the molting process naturally.
Molting gives hens a chance to grow replacement feathers and gives her ovaries a
rest after all of the egg laying. Laying an egg every day or every other day is a highly
demanding physiological process. The hen needs a chance to recuperate, restore some
of her lost calcium, and rebuild her feathers while getting ready for winter. It's humane
to allow her to undergo this natural process.
But it's not impossible to enjoy a continuous supply of eggs year-round. If you have
young birds just coming in to lay as your older birds are molting, you'll have your eggs.
You can do this fairly easily by controlling them with light or keeping them separated.
You may need to provide an old tarp or other divider of sorts in your pen to keep
one side artificially lit and the other side natural. Have your young replacements on the
lighted side and let them lay, and give your old girls a rest on the natural light side. The
young spring-hatched replacements can be just coming into laying when fall hits and the
old hens are slowing down.
When you're in the business of selling eggs, it's important to maintain this sort of
system to keep your customers happy. They may start buying their eggs at the grocery
store when yours are in short supply, and fail to return when your hens are laying again.
That's a risk most folks don't want to take.
Encouraging hens to lay during the winter months can be challenging if you do
not have insulated facilities. Without a protected place to live, the birds will not lay
well, and the eggs, of course, will freeze. So to keep your hens warm and customers
happy, provide some sort of insulated henhouse that maintains a temperature above 20°F
(−6°C). For details about weatherizing facilities, see
chapter 2
, Housing and Supplies.
Roosters Rest, Too
Roosters also undergo molting; it's when they gain a new coat of feathers and some in-
sulation for the winter season. While in the molting phase, all chickens, male and fe-
