It sometimes seems that when ever I think things are going smoothly there is always another problem round the corner to throw a spanner in the works.
Every morning when I poop pick the chicken shed I always do a quick inspection of the perches and the walls of the shed just to check that there are no dreaded red mite.
For the last couple of mornings I have spotted little splashes of blood on the back of the shed, chicken head height, behind the perch. I know there is some pecking at bedtime (sometimes it seems quite brutal) and I inspected all the girls combs to see if they had been pecked. I couldn’t see any peck marks and was perplexed as to what was going on here.
Yesterday I thought that Butterscotch was having a bad hair day and put out this photo.
Butterscotch is having a bad hair day (yesterday)
This afternoon I realised this wasn’t just a bad hair day after all. Butterscotch is missing some head feathers and there is a spot of blood on her comb where the feathers have gone but with her comb being black it’s very very difficult to see. Yesterday her feathers looked swept back by the wind (and it was very windy yesterday) but I now think that the missing feathers in front of the swept back ones gave this appearance.
Today more feathers have gone and it has become more noticeable.
Butterscotch is missing head feathers
From a different angle
I have looked back at the recent photos of the bedtime line up and the blood spots are in the middle of the shed which is where Butterscotch perches and she is next to Honey in the last few photos.
I have watched the girls whenever I could today and haven’t seen any plucking. I am coming to the conclusion that it is probably Honey plucking her head feathers at bedtime and that has caused the blood spots.
I am so horrified by this. I have had this sort of problem in the past and can’t bare the thought of it happening again. I also know how impossible it can be to stop this behaviour.
I decided that tonight if Butterscotch was perched next to Honey that I would pick her up and move her to another spot on the perch. However Butterscotch solved the problem for now by perching between Topaz and Speckles so no action needed.
Tomorrow morning I will clean away the blood spots in the shed. I need to do this in the morning so that any damp patches have the day to dry. I will then be able to tell if there are any new spots.
I am hoping this is a phase (Butterscotch’s hair do may be irresistible) and that it will pass. I can’t bring myself to contemplate what it would mean if it develops in to full scale feather plucking. This is actually my biggest worry amongst my flock because of the past history. Honey was the only member that was part of the flock during that time and I hope this isn’t a behaviour that she is remembering and continuing.
I have to just hope this will pass because otherwise I don’t know what I could do next. I will be watching the situation very closely.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Oh no!
Hopefully Honey was just in a mood for a while, and stops the feather picking. She’s supposed to be the “sweet little old lady”, not the “cranky old bat”! 😉
I know what you mean. I hate to think she could be doing this. I will be watching very closely.
That’s a shame.. As you say always something! I wonder why now?
I too wondered why now. I just don’t know why she should suddenly start doing this.
Hopefully it will just be a short term thing. My Bernie has a small bit of dried blood on her comb which I think is also bedtime pecking, but blood only seems to have been drawn once. Hopefully it’ll be the same for Butterscotch.
I think this is a similar thing. Watch this space, I have kept a close eye today and tonight and will post again tomorrow. I also think this as you say a bedtime pecking thing and hopefully will pass quickly.