Sugar is the last girl to moult. She always moults around October. There have been flurries of white feathers in the chicken shed and run. The last three days there have been long tail feathers too. Yesterday Sugar had one last long tail feather remaining. Today she has dropped that last tail feather leaving her with short new tail feathers.
Sugar looks quite cute with her short tail. It will soon be back to it’s normal length.
Snow has also been dropping tail feathers. It’s easy to tell them apart because Sugar’s tail feathers are white and Snow’s tail feathers are black. Snow’s tail doesn’t look any different though. She must have had the new ones already grown in. It’s unusual for a first year girl to moult much. I wonder if this is why Snow has stopped laying. Her comb is also paler than it was. It’s three weeks now since she stopped laying.
Red on the other hand has now got a red face and comb. I noticed on my last post that her comb had finally matured. I am still having to put Mango, Cloud, Snow and Red in at night. They settle on top of the nest box and wait for me to put them in.
Red is always the most keen to be put in and as soon as I go through the gate she stands up and moves to the edge of the nest box, towards me, ready for me to pick her up. It makes me question why she doesn’t go in herself but that’s another matter! Anyway for the last three nights when I have reached to pick her up she has dropped into a squat. I have tried putting my hand behind her during the day but she doesn’t squat, it is only at the end of the day when I go to pick her up.
Despite that Red hasn’t shown any interest in the nest boxes and I still don’t think she will lay until spring. I think it’s too late in the year now and the days are too short.
The other thing I have noticed is that Autumn hasn’t moulted and it’s her second year. I wonder if it’s to do with the fact that she hasn’t laid all summer, her last egg being the first of February. She is such an anomaly. She still goes and sits in the nest box each day but doesn’t lay and she still squats. I have never come across this before.
We do seem to get our share of oddities but as long as the girls are healthy that’s okay. After the lack of Wyandotte eggs this year I am hopeful that they will both lay in the spring.