Hen, where is my egg??

My hens started molting the first part of October (2013). The Ghost Hens didn't molt last year, so it was their time. I've not had 1st year hens molt before so when the BJG went into molt that was a shocker for me. The amount of feathers in the pen one morning had me panicked that a massacre had happened (again)... nope, just molting, mom!

Ameracauna:  "Puff" (hen) and "Osprey" (roo)

I was getting 30-35 eggs a week late August/early September. The first week of October, I was down to 19 eggs a week, and still on the decline... by the first week of November, "Puff" (my Ameracauna hen) was the only trooper, laying 5-6 eggs a week for me! By the end of December, egg production was coming back around.

I integrated their layer feed 1:1 with an 18% "feather fixer" feed and added a 3rd fount with vitamins and electrolytes to help them thru this rough time. 200lbs of mixed feed lasted the entire molt (Oct-Jan). I've not been thru a mass molt like this before, so I'm not really sure if the food and/or water did any good, but I like to think it did. It kills me that molting takes place in the fall and winter months... don't they know it's friggin' cold out???

Icicles on Coop
(open run protected with plywood and greenhouse panels)

We had some wicked-cold weather the first week of December, with overnight temps in the low-teens and single digits for 5 straight nights. I normally don't put supplemental heat in my coop but with the poor hens molting, and the East wind kicking up, I thought it might be a good idea.

I've had my founts on heating elements as most nights were at or below freezing December & January - the
first part of February wasn't much better with a snow storm followed by freezing rain. I have a couple B9 submersible birdbath heaters that I put under my founts; they're on a timer most of the time but this winter they've been running nearly constantly. These are great little heaters - it keeps the

Not sure about the snow!

water from freezing, even during the single-digit nights!

Anyway, the hens have been troopers and have finally come out of molt - on Feb 19th I had my first "5 Egg" day of the season! (would have been 6, but a Cooper Hawk got one of my BJG late January).

PEAS OUT!
~GP