Emerald has been moulting big time. Whereas Toffee is losing a steady stream of feathers and not actually looking any different Emerald is dropping masses of feathers and looking really tatty. I am picking up more feathers than poop at the moment.
The good news is the pins are coming in quickly. While preening I could see loads of pins on her behind when she lifted her wings. She has long pins on her wings and she has pins on her neck where Topaz had plucked her.
Emerald preening
You can see pins by her beak and also Toffee looking quite good in comparison.
She is tatty
Emerald and Toffee sit together or perch together a lot at the moment. Maybe they feel sympathetic towards each other.
She has pins on her wings
She has white tips to her under feathers
She is having a stretch in this photo. We think she is going grey because her under feathers are getting more white patches on them with each moult.
She has no tail
Pins on her neck
This is a bit too close because I had to hold a dandelion leaf in one hand to get her to stretch her neck and click the camera with the other hand but it does show the pins on her neck.
Emerald will soon be looking beautiful again whereas I wonder if Butterscotch will ever get all her feathers back again.
Butterscotch’s neck
She has such a tatty head
It is so sad that she had these feathers back in before she went broody. As soon as she goes broody she moults again and it is odd that she has moulted her new feathers. There are some pins but I am never sure if she will be fully feathered.
Butterscotch’s head
Unfortunately once more her head pins have proved irresistible to Barley and I have caught Barley pulling them. I despair of Butterscotch ever getting back to normal.
Butterscotch has only stopped being broody for the last couple of days. Today I saw Barley have a go at her several times. She chased her and grabbed her by the back of the neck. I broke them up and then later saw Barley chase her again and hang on to a feather on her back until it came out. It seems as if Barley is trying to move up the pecking order.
I wonder if this attempt to move up is spurred on by Butterscotch having been broody. I read recently on the Down The Lane chicken forum of some people saying their broody girls were being bullied. At the time I said that I was lucky this had never happened with my girls.
I spoke too soon because today I saw it happening. I think Barley is just trying to move up the pecking order though. I will keep an eye on this. Nothing stays the same for long.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Poor babies. I do hate the molt. I have a few more months before I have to deal with it on my end. I’d better enjoy this time now.
The game girls always moult earlier than the rest of the girls but at least it means they don’t all moult at once.
It is such a shame that they will not let Butterscotches feathers grow back. I do think Speackles look cute in the pictures you were taking.
It is just Barley that is obsessed with Butterscotch and not in a good way. I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing more I can do about this.
I too thought speckles looked really cute in the photos. She appears to be watching Toffee and Emerald in the first photos then there is one with her head sideways looking in the opposite direction of Emerald stretching. You can tell because of her wattles that she is looking away. She is a cutie.