There are plenty of places in the run to dust bath but Butterscotch has suddenly decided to squeeze between my boot scraper and the wooden block. This is the fourth time we have found her trying to dust bath here.
Apart from this being a very small space the ground is rock hard with only a thin layer of dust over it. There are plenty of deep dust filled holes in the run. Why on earth does she want to try to dust bath in this spot?
This is a crazy spot for a dust bath
I think Barley and Honey are wondering what on earth she is doing here.
Barley is very curious about this
What a squeeze
Butterscotch is looking a bit shabby
Butterscotch is moulting at the moment and this is the most shabby she has looked so far. She laid yesterday but not today and has been laying for three weeks now so I think she may be about to take her next break.
It would be good if she just took a break and let her feathers grow in but I expect instead she will go broody. This time I will just have to leave her to be broody as I can no longer close the nest boxes as four other girls are laying.
There is enough fuss over the nest boxes as it is without one of them being perpetually occupied so it will be interesting to see how this goes.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Oh, they are so goofy. I have a big dust bathing area for my girls. But they stopped using it. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. So on a whim, I sprinkled it with just a little water to dampen it and WOO HOO, now it’s the best thing in the whole wide world.
On a sad note, Pickles ripped her comb badly yesterday evening. I’m guessing she was sticking her head someplace she shouldn’t and snagged it and ripped it. She had dried blood all over her face this morning. She seems fine. And I tried to clean her up and put ointment on it. But I feel awful for her. It looks like it smarts. Sigh. Always something w/ these hens. I should have photographed it.
They are funny, the spot Butterscotch was in is as dry as dust.
Poor Pickles. You are right, there always seems to be something. I hope she heals quickly. They do seem to recover quite well from these sort of injuries.