if you have chickens, you will notice by now that you are getting more and more eggs everyday. the girls are back! so you will notice in the fall/winter that you dont get many or any eggs at all, for me it was 0-2 eggs out of my 7 chickens a day-which is not nearly enough for our family. you will also notice that the girls will lose their feathers on their neck, sides, tail, and underneath. this is called molting. hens wont lay when they are molting. you may also notice that they look a little thinner (which is fine because they dont have an egg in them, and they are not eating as much during this time), and just plain ugly-and they know it! they wont be as freindly or want to be held, they get very self conscience of their appearance. and this is fine, dont force them to do anything they dont want to, because it will only increase their stress level. they will look like this a couple months out of the year. the younger hens-or pullets- may not molt at all or have an extreme molt that lasts very long or short. so expect the first year to be...abnormal. the reason the chickens molt is so they lose their old feathers and get new ones, like a reptile shedding its skin.
but when they get their new feathers, they are so pretty and super soft! and slowly you will notice that you will be getting more and more eggs a day. i am getting between 4-7 eggs a day now which is really good. we have so many extras! so our neighbors get happy too when the girls start laying again :)
so depending on if you and/or your family are big egg eaters you may or may not need to buy eggs from the store when the chooks are molting. you should realize that getting eggs from the store isnt part of the natural process of growing your own food. the chickens who lay these eggs are starved and forcefully treated to molt quickly and then continue to lay eggs which is very stressful for them. animals, like plants are seasonal, so its okay to not eat eggs for a couple months.
