It ’s almost wintertime , and both my wimp have finished their molts just in sentence for the cooler weather condition ( and what timing — we dropped from a balmy 72 ° F on Monday to a parky 57 ° F today ! ) .
It was an particularly try out class for the chicken , since they bothsuffered from poultry poxat the same clip they were shed . The process of regrow their feathering for winter was already exhausting enough ( both of them block lay in early fall ) , but they also exit through weeks of fowl pox , which put them in a slump .
Thankfully , they bounced back last week and seem to be their normal selves again … happy , hungry , chatty , and utterly flossy .
Kimora go through a hard and acute molt this season , at times face like she was being prepped for the stew pot . She knock off handful of plumage every night , and since new feathers are very fragile and painful as they ’re farm out , I could n’t even ease her by holding or patting her .
Iman , on the other hired hand , did n’t even see like she was shed . The only signal I discover were her unremarkably square feet ( I call them her Ugg boots ) looking a little bare . But she had a cushy ecdysis this year , and replaced her older feathers with novel ones just as quickly as she was shake off them .
I do n’t gestate either of them to start lay again until February , when the days become longer . They rest and relax through winter , stock up their energy for a springtime comeback .
The only change in their diet during this time is a lack of atomic number 20 ; since they ’re not place eggs , they consume less ( or even none ) of their crushed oyster shells . Kimora may surprise me with an egg or two some week this winter , as she ’s quite the overachiever ; but Iman , being the diva she is , demands ample greens and kickshaw with nothing in reappearance . And I ’m ok with that .
Some wimp - keepers encourage their mountain to continue lay through wintertime by simulating daytime , as an increased length of day touch off a hen ’s generative cps . They position lights on timers to turn over on before sunrise , render at least 14 to 16 hour of light to induce laying in the darker months .
Installing supplemental spark in the henhouse is a very personal determination and sometimes , it ’s a logistical subject . Do you have reliable power to the hencoop ? Do your chickens have an enclosed run where they can safely roam while nighttime predators are still on the prowl ? If you have the resources for extra twinkle outside and you ca n’t bear to be without testis over winter , interpolate your flock ’s mother wit of day keeps them systematically producing .
The important thing to remember is that chickens must go through a full molting every year to maintain their health . Productive layers ordinarily take off their molts tardily and end up too soon , while pathetic layer normally start early and finish lately .
Molting start in previous summer to other downfall , when a decrease in daylight signals a volaille to reincarnate her feathers before the onset of winter . Molting is part of a chicken ’s instinctive life sentence cycle and allows her to reconstruct and replenish not only her pelage , but also her nourishing reserves .
During a ecdysis , all of a poulet ’s energy goes into regrow thousands of feathers over a period of two to four months . Such a protein - intensive process intend a volaille often slows or even stops repose whole while all of her available protein is utilized for feather production . After a molt , her vigour is restored but the seasonal duty period means her hormone have n’t kick into gear yet — and wo n’t , until the long Day of spring goad her reproductive rhythm .
By stick in increased daytime , a chicken - custodian can short-circuit those four or more month of non - laying or sporadic lay by simulating an other start to spring . The key is supplementing light only in the good morning hour before the sun rises , and step by step increasing the hours of light over a few weeks ( once your chickens finish up molting ) to stimulate the pituitary gland into releasing more hormone . When a chicken has been off place for a while , it may take a month or more for her to start laying again with auxiliary sparkle .
But , I feel that ’s asking a luck of your flock when your chicken have worked so firmly the rest of the year to give you eggs almost daily . After such a physically and mentally draining molt , I let the seasons take over so my chicken can slow rebuild their free energy and productive entrepot .
I do n’t bear in mind the waiting if it mean they can last as natural a life as potential — waking with the sunshine , foraging in a pastureland , roosting before darkness . They rust , they exercise , and amount February , I begin to find slight surprisal in the eggs boxwood again — which for me , is one more affair to search forwards to in leaping .
