I agonised over this decision yesterday and decided to call Moira at the farm for a chat to help me make up my mind.
I am not happy that Butterscotch hasn’t been able to keep her head feathers, let alone the crest that she should have, in almost her entire time with our flock. Below is a photo of when she first came to us and this is what she should look like.
Butterscotch in all her glory
I feel so saddened that it has been such a long time since she has looked like this. For many months now I clung on to the hope that she may just be moulting her head feathers every time she goes broody and that the next time she grows them she will keep them.
This time round I realised that this is not so. She simply must be getting plucked each time she goes broody which she does like clockwork. I looked back and realised that she only looked like this in the early months with our flock. For over half her time with us she hasn’t looked like this.
This is not fair. She shouldn’t be destined to live her life without her bouffant hair do and magnificent crest.
I talked to Moira and asked if she would take her and she said she would be happy to. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have Moira who I trust completely to take my girls. I think Butterscotch deserves a life with a flock that won’t leave her constantly with no head feathers.
Moira said that if she kept her until she got her head feathers back, I could always have her back again if I wanted to. I said that wouldn’t be fair. I wouldn’t want to keep unsettling both Butterscotch and my flock and I would always be afraid that the next time she went broody she would get plucked again. Once the decision is made I believe that it is best to stick by it.
It seems crazy to send the victim to a new home rather than the perpetrator but I believe that in this case it is the best course of action. I don’t know who the perpetrator is for sure but I would guess that it is Barley. I couldn’t separate Barley and Peaches plus I have had them from six weeks old and I have had them for more than twice as long as Butterscotch.
Butterscotch could live with Moira’s flock and grow back her head feathers in the first month or two and keep them. I am sure she will be happier not being plucked every time she goes broody. She has always been very much her own girl and not dependent on the flock.
Moira said that I could bring her straight away and as she was busy the next day and we are also really busy in the next few days it seemed best to jump right on to it and take her straight away. Moira said that as she is broody and just wants to sit she will keep her in the cat box that I took her in until dusk and then put her in the barn.
I know Moira is very well used to integrating new girls successfully and she says she loves taking in waifs and strays as it keeps her busy. She has just taken a mare and foal from a man who wanted to retire from horse keeping but wanted them to go to a good home.
I feel a bit choked and the flock feels a bit small but I also feel that I have made the right decision.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Very sad, But you allways do your best for your girls. I only see them on your blog , but will miss that little girl.
I will miss her too but I can’t bare to see her constantly plucked. It is very quiet in the run this morning.
As you know I think the right decision has been made.
Having decided she was having her feathers plucked she of course was being bullied because she was vulnerable , just like a child in a school playground.
Hopefully the bully will not find a new target .
I too am sure this was the right decision. My husband did say that he hopes another girl won’t become the next target but I think Butterscotch going broody all the time was what was making her the target. She must have been just sitting still and allowing it to happen and I hope that once none of the girls sits like this it will pass and be forgotten about.
At least the agonising is now over – and there is no doubt that she’ll be happy.
That’s how I feel this morning. The agonising is over now and although I have a lump in my throat writing this I know that she will be happy on a free range farm and will grow her feathers back and this time she should get to keep them.
Oh I’m so very sorry. That is so rough. But you made the right decision. Once a naughty hen gets it in her that she can peck and pull feathers, changing her tune is tough.
You are right. Once I realised that she had to be getting plucked and not moulting then I realised that that being the case it has been happening for seven months. That meant it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. It had become a habit and as we all know with chickens habits are near impossible to break.
Sad you had to make that decision. I have always enjoyed seeing the photos of her!
How can you be sure she wouldn’t be subject to the same treatment at the farm?
Were I you, I would keep your numbers as they are now. 5 seems a good amount, and less hens means more space and more chance to avoid boredom and bad habits when confined.
I think that at the farm there is so much space and they free range and therefore have a lot to interest them as well as being part of a larger flock, usually about twenty, that it is highly unlikely that any one girl would attract this sort of attention. Butterscotch being sedentary while brooding on such a regular basis is what was attracting this behaviour in my small flock. On the farm there is a huge barn full of perches and nest boxes and when broody she would be unlikely to attract any attention.
At the moment my five look small in their large run and big shed of which they take up only a tiny bit of the space. I am intending to let them settle for the moment although they seem to be a very small flock of little girls.