chickens molting out of season?

I'm in Appalachia. It's been a crazy wet year. Some of my chickens thought that during the latest cold snap it was the perfect time to molt.

I've had chicken molt during the depth of winter, during the hottest time of the year. I think they may have a little clock in them based on when they hatched, that if at a certain point they didn't molt based on environmental situation, they are just going to molt anyways. To hell with seasons.  

I do let my chicken have babies any time of year, all of them are now hen hatched, and some were even born during some of the coldest weather i've seen. ( I've been raising chicken for 10 years).  You have spark my interest in seeing if birth weather temperature will effect molting, I'm going to add that to my chicken journal for the next few years.  Thanks...  

I know this doesn't answer your question completely.  So I thought I would share my story just to assure you're chicken are crazy.

Cheers

Justyn

The one thing that stands out is that your chooks are 12 months old, that means their feathers are too.
Chicken molt is their way of getting fresh feathers to protect their bodies, so they normally do that around the time the old feathers are getting tattered.
The molt is based on feather condition and age not season of the year or anything else.

Redhawk