Guidelines

All birds go through molting where they shed feathers, lose weight, and go through an egg production rejuvenation process. Some egg farmers induce molting, rather than waiting for the natural molt to occur, so all their chickens experience this process at the same time. Factors such as light and temperature are modified to influence the changes of the chickens.

Molting primarily increases egg production and improves egg quality. However, for the caring egg farmer, molting means longer life spans for their chickens.

UEP guidelines for molting require that water should be provided to the chickens at all times; chickens must receive food; lighting can only be justified for a limited amount of time, weight loss should not compromise hen welfare and the mortality rate must not increase during molting.