Every time Butterscotch takes a break from egg laying she starts to lose feathers. Each time this happens I am convinced that she won’t start laying again but each time so far she has.
I have been picking up a hand full of feathers each morning from beneath her roost spot. There are feathers in the spots where she takes a dust bath.
She doesn’t usually look any different but yesterday morning she had a loose tail feather. I gave it a gentle tweak to see if it would come out but it wasn’t ready yet.
Butterscotch has a loose tail feather
As the morning went on the tail feather remained sticking out
This is the first time Butterscotch has had a feather noticeably out of place
It does look odd but it is staying put for now.
We went out at lunch time and her tail feather was still hanging in there. We returned in time for the bedtime corn. Her tail feather had finally fallen out.
Butterscotch has lost her tail feather
Butterscotch has a drink of water
Butterscotch from a different angle
It took all day but Butterscotch is now back to her pristine feathered self once again.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I have two hens who just this year, molted, stopped and then molted again. I’ve not seen this before. And I think I would notice. I’m pretty in tune with the four girls.
I wonder if it has something to do w/ the weather? It just seems odd to me.
Some of my girls have been moulting for a long time. Emerald was the first to start moulting and even now I am finding just an odd feather from her. She looks fully feathered though.
Butterscotch is quite different though. She was hatched late last year and this is her first winter with me so it’s all new to me. Her pattern is that she lays for three weeks then goes broody and stops for two weeks. During this two week break she loses some feathers each time. I always think that because she is losing feathers she won’t lay again but each time after two weeks she does.
This is now her fourth break and today it was exactly two weeks since she stopped laying and she laid her first egg again. After dropping feathers I was once again surprised to find an egg today. I haven’t ever come across this before. Butterscotch is an amazing girl and as regular as clock work. Despite going broody every three weeks she is a really good layer in between.
Hi Carol,
How long does she stay broody for?
Christian
I have only had Butterscotch with me since July. In that time she has laid eggs for three weeks then gone broody. Because it was at a time that the other girls were moulting and she was the only girl laying I was able to shut the nest boxes. This meant she spent about three days looking for the nest box and clucking but then gave up. After two weeks each time she started laying again. She has followed this pattern four times so far. In the summer when all the girls are laying I won’t be able to shut the nest boxes off so the pattern may well change considerably. I have no idea how that will work out and she may well be broody for much longer periods. It’s just been luck that so far as she was the only girl laying I could shut the nest boxes and therefore brake her of broodiness very quickly. It is a learn it as it goes along process and as spring approaches and the rest of the flock start laying it will have to adapt to a different routine. It is a case of wait and see how it progresses when other girls are laying and I will react as it goes along and have no idea at the moment how that will pan out. Watch this space as I will learn how to deal with her a we go along.
As you know I only had one broody hen.. Stunning and beautiful but she was more broody than not and sadly I had to rehome her as it upset the others because of my layout .
Luckily Butterscotch is a good egg layer in between and she is also full of personality. Of course her broodiness may be a bit more problematic in the summer when lots of girls want the nest boxes but we shall cross that bridge when we come to it.