Last Saturday we visited my eldest son and his wife for the day, in Cambridge. Before we left I gave the girls some corn cobs to keep them occupied while we were out, along with apples and some spinach. The corn cobs were in a pack of four and were on offer.
Emerald and Barley were the first to investigate the corn
Barley, Peaches and Toffee peck the corn
Speckles wants to find a way in
I only had time for a few photos as we left at half past eight. We got back at six o’clock and the corn cobs were completely stripped.
This Saturday I suddenly remembered that there were still the other two corn cobs in the fridge. I had to trim them down to fit in the square feeders as they were fatter than the first two.
Emerald and Toffee were the first to the corn this time
Peaches joins in
Because I had trimmed one side I couldn’t turn them round as there was no corn on the other side so I decided to put them on the patio for the girls to finish them.
Four girls pecking at the corn
Five girls pecking at the corn
Butterscotch is missing because she was having such a lovely dust bath that she couldn’t leave it even for a treat.
Butterscotch in her dust bath
Headless chicken
I think the girls enjoyed the corn and Butterscotch enjoyed her dust bath.
The not so good news is that I have caught Barley pulling pins from Butterscotch’s head again. She has now lost the pins from her head and has a triangular bare patch.
A bare patch once more on Butterscotch’s head
I am so disappointed at this as her head was filling in nicely. She does still seem to have some new tiny white pins, see the tiny white dots, so she may still get some head feathers.
I have come to the conclusion that I can’t keep fretting over this. Whatever will be will be. I remember how awful Honey and Amber used to look and think to myself that this is nothing in comparison. It would be good to see her with feathers on her head though.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Corn on the cob is my girls absolute favourite
They do love it don’t they, at the end of the day it is just a husk.
I must get some.
It’s a shame about butterscotch but I don’t think there is anything left to do. Is there anything you can rub on her head that is off putting for barley? Just a thought.
I don’t think there is anything I can do. I can’t put a hat on her and purple spray is no good because that is the colour her head is anyway. I think those little white specks just look like specks that need helpfully removing. It’s because they are in open space and stand out. I just hope she gets some feathers through but as you say there is nothing else I can do.
It Is such a shame if her lovely fluffy head do not come back,
but you have done your very best.They are such luckey girls
I do not think many hens get such loving treatment.
It is a shame but hopefully next year she will be back to normal. You never know she may get a bit more on her head this year. Jackie sent me a picture of a chicken in a hat. I will forward it to you.