Are they moulting

There are a lot more feathers on the ground and the floor of the coop in the last week or so. Mostly barnevelders and lots of big long ones. One barney has no long tail feathers.. Egg production is down. Could it be they are moulting? We have never experienced this before. Our birds are just over a year old.

This would be an unusual time for chickens to moult. I would be more inclined to think they are losing feathers from breeding or fighting at this time of year.

Or.....could be something lacking in their diet......most likely protein. What are you feeding them?

I had some moulting silkies and houdans last month.

My birds are moulting right now. They had access to the greenhouse all winter and seem to need a break.

I am feeding them organic lay mash and they are free ranging. We just added on to the coop. All that sawing and banging and changing their roost around may have stressed them out. Can stress cause it? I have not noticed any fighting . There was alittle too much young rooster attention. One of the roos went to a new home a few days ago and the one that is left doesn't seem overly active.