[Oliveview]

My hens are now off laying, or they are on strike.  We have at least 7 of the 10 birds looking very ´untidy´ and there are feathers scattered about.  The going off lay coincided too with the weather turning cooler (from 30 deg days to low 20´s)  The neighbours keep telling me it is very cold!  :shock:
Is it a daft question to ask?  (Probably) How long does moulting last?  I´d just managed to start selling the eggs too :cry:  This time a week ago we were getting 9 eggs a day, now we are down to 3 if we are lucky :cry:

I´ve bought 3 point of lay hens this week  and hopefully getting another 6 on Wednesday.
I´ve checked them out and can find no sign of creepy crawlies in their feathers.
Also, when they dig out dust baths do they normally get to over a foot deep???  I think they are planning a ´chicken run´ You can´t walk about the orchard bit at night, it is very dangerous with all the pot holes everywhere.  We need to borrow the neighbours rotovator and turn the soil over to level it out again for the hens to re-dig.
Pamela

[mother hen]

Hi Oliveview,

my experience of moulting is that it lasts quite a long time, I havent had an egg off hens for 3 months or longer sometimes and if ive introduced new chickens into pen it takes even longer as they then all busy themselves with the naughty perch instead of the nest box!  Im still waiting for eggs well after POL time and Id just got my first egg customer too!  
 

[Daisycow]

I was wondering the same thing Oliveview! 4 of ours are moulting and they are all doing it differently! One seems to have lost nearly all of her feathers in one go! Feel sorry for her, but they huddle together and she was sunbathing today. We have only one hen who is laying at the moment. As she is a pekin, it is every 3/4 days   .
But two of them are mottled and they were black with the odd white speck, but they are now coming through properly speckled, they are beautiful, so we'll let them off!! I will post pics when the moult is over.
Looking forward to the garden not looking like we have had a pillow fight in it!