Molting in Poultry

Broadly speaking Molting is a tecnique of resting a birds production cycle to rejuvenate it for a extended period. Aged birds which have exhausted their laying period, or the birds whose over sized Eggs size or  poor Egg shell becomes a problem or the birds who can't compete the market in terms of Egg rate though their  production % age is satisfactory or sometime when the bird comes under severe viral attack, are put to Molting. The bird is off fed for 5-7 days so that the protein profile of the bird is reset and the weight is reduced. The bird is put to restricted  and specialised feeding for some days so that it get rejuvenated in terms of its Mineral deposits. The ovaries also get rejuvenated after a rest. When the bird restarts the laying, % age production increases by 10-15%., problem of oversized egg is minimised and the egg shell quality also improves.
There are different schools of thought regarding practicability of Molting. Some find it useful and some find it wastage of time and money when they don't get desired results. A path in between of limited Molting may be the best answer.