Induced molting practices in commercial laying hen flocks have significant welfare implications, and the industry is transitioning toward non-feed-withdrawal methods that cause less suffering while resetting production cycles.
Forced molting is a practice designed to extend the economic productivity of laying hens by inducing a second or third laying cycle, but traditional feed withdrawal methods achieve this by causing a period of acute physiological and psychological stress. Starved hens show heightened aggression, behavioral desperation, and significant weight loss. The transition away from feed withdrawal toward non-starvation dietary molt methods represents a meaningful welfare improvement that has been adopted widely in the United States and increasingly internationally. However, even dietary molt methods involve some degree of nutritional stress. The most welfare-positive approaches avoid induced molting entirely and replace flocks when production naturally declines, accepting higher costs in exchange for eliminating molt-related suffering from the production system.