Yesterday Butterscotch went broody again or at least I thought she was going broody from the previous afternoon. Because Peaches and Barley had both laid their egg the day before and only lay two or three days a week I closed the nest boxes in the hope of breaking Butterscotch from being broody again.
We went out at half past eight in the morning as we were meeting friends for breakfast because they were paying a flying visit from France. We returned home at lunch time.
When we left Butterscotch had a feathered head and when we returned Butterscotch had an almost bald head once more. I was shocked. This time I really felt she would keep her head feathers and I am totally puzzled as to what is happening here.
Butterscotch yesterday morning
Butterscotch yesterday afternoon
I have no idea if her feathers are falling out or being plucked out. This is really weird and puzzling.
For the last seven months now this has happened every month when she goes broody. Last month on the first day that she went broody she had an almost fully feathered head and spent her first broody day in the nest box. At the end of the day she had lost her head feathers. I wasn’t sure if another girl “possibly Barley” had gone into the nest box with her and plucked her head or if being broody again had caused her to moult her head feathers.
This time I had closed the nest boxes and we went out for the morning. I don’t know if she has sat in the run and had her head plucked or has moulted her head feathers. I am not seeing this happening so I just don’t know what is actually happening here.
Before when feather plucking was occurring we saw it happening and knew what was going on. We are not seeing any of the girls doing this and the girls often sit in the sun and don’t get plucked so why should this be happening? On the other hand why would she keep moulting her head feathers?
I just can’t work this out. I don’t think her feathers would just drop out again on her first broody day and yet we are not seeing any plucking or attention around her either. I am feeling so upset that this has happened again and yet so puzzled by it too. What on earth is going on here?
My research sheds no light on this. Is she destined to have a bare head forever? That in itself upsets me. I know it probably doesn’t bother her but it bothers me big time. I don’t want to keep chickens permanently without feathers especially on their head which I think is the worst place to have no feathers. I thought this time she would be back to normal and now have to consider that she may never be back to normal within my flock.
I am so upset that I am having to think about the way forward here. This can’t be right or normal.
I am wondering if she would be better off away from my flock. This is really painful to think about as I don’t want to seem to keep moving my girls on but I don’t want to be the cause of keeping a girl in less than the condition she should be in.
Moira at the farm said she will always take any of my girls if I need her help and I now need to think about where Butterscotch would be better off. Could she live on the farm with head feathers or stay with me and never have head feathers? This is her seventh month with my flock of losing her head feathers. I need to take some time to reflect and think this through.
I feel very heavy at heart about this right now. I just don’t know what I should do for the best.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
My advice ..for what it’s worth is I know it is not always stress free with chickens but this has gone on for too long . I think she is being plucked . I’ve never seen a chicken lose feathers so quickly and in the same place . Are the feathers there? If they are not then I would assume they are eaten .
I would take her to the farm and replace with 2 others as you can’t really get one .( 5 is an odd number …oh dear so is 7)
I have been thinking about this today and I think you are right that she is being plucked. Because I have shut her out of the nest boxes she is just sitting in the run. I think because she just sits all day, either in the nest box like last time or in the run this time, She is getting plucked. It’s odd though that we are not seeing this happen. I didn’t find any of her feathers in the run so have to assume that they are eaten.
If I take her to the farm I would get two more a little later. I don’t think an odd number matters at all. I think seven would be quite a good number.
7 is a lucky number.
Oh, I’m so sorry. I can totally feel your frustration. Is it at all possible to set up a webcam so you can see what is actually happening to her?
I know some hens can’t resist those pin feathers. I have one of those and I have such a sense of dread going into the molt this year. But I also have a fence dividing my run so if I catch her pulling pins out, she’ll go into the side all by herself.
Our run is way too big for a webcam plus it would be so expensive and then could miss the moment. I know pins are tempting but this wasn’t pins. Butterscotch had long head feathers that were almost her full crest and the lot was gone in the short time that we were out. I didn’t know it was about to happen or which girl did it so separating wasn’t an option.
I am so frustrated by this. I even considered separating Butterscotch herself but that seems so mean. The trouble is that the damage has been done before we knew anything about it and it will take such a long time for her feathers to come back in again.
This is really upsetting, I will miss her if you let her go to the farm, I do hope it dont come to that, but know you allways put your girls first.She is such a lovely girl.
I am so upset that this has happened again just when I thought she would keep her feathers. I am feeling really upset by this once more. I have just been looking back at photos of her when she first came to us and she looked so different. I am wrestling with the best decision right now.
You know what need to do , the more you worry about it the worse it will get .
I didn’t want to let my girls go but once the decision was made I had to ” bite the bullet”
You are quite right and the decision has been made. Watch this space.
It sounds as though it’s happening when she’s sedentary, brooding in the nest box. So very frustrating; she’ll be a huge miss to your readers, so it’s hard to imaginne what you must be going through.
I believe you are right that it is happening when she is just sitting. I am gutted about this but after all the problems in the past with feather plucking I just felt that this is the one thing that I can’t bare. I can’t bare to see her with no head feathers or crest and it can’t be good for her. I felt I had to do what was best for her future.