Little girl’s combs and their journey to maturity

I decided to take some close up photos of the little girls to show their combs. Pebbles is over a year old and fully mature but hasn’t laid any eggs since we have had her. She seems to have been moulting quite a bit since she has been with us and has a head full of white quills that seem to have been taking ages to open.

Rusty and Freckles are now about five months old but silky feathered girls mature slower and whereas freckles has quite a mature comb Rusty’s comb is still tiny. The funny thing about Rusty’s comb is that it is the same ginger colour as her feathers instead of red like Pebbles and Freckles.

This makes it quite hard to see it but I think it’s quite cute. I wonder if it will stay this orange colour or if it will change to red as she matures. I like to think it might stay this cute orange colour.

This morning was a little bit frosty and the three little girls were gathered together on the wooden table giving me the ideal opportunity to photograph them. The bigger girls were all on the wooden perches. All the girls prefer to perch on wood when it’s cold as it is warmer than either the ground or the metal table which is popular on warmer days.

Three little girls on the wooden table

Cute little Rusty

Rusty is so curious about everything including my camera and has no fear or shyness at all. I thought this was cute and comical.

Freckles has a red comb

Pebbles has a red comb

What look like white feathers on pebbles head are white spiky quills which haven’t yet opened.

Rusty’s close up

Rusty is a beautiful little girl.

Rusty has a little ginger comb

Her little ginger comb barely shows up but it is just there.

They make a cute little trio

I find it hard to imagine these little girls laying eggs but I guess they will eventually.

As Rusty has started to mature she has had some spats with Freckles. She has chased her in the mornings when I am cleaning the shed and the first morning this happened I was quite shocked. They are so inseparable and yet Rusty was chasing Freckles and they were raising their ruffs at each other. At one point Rusty chased Freckles and forced her to run through the water dish. They were really going at each other.

I picked Rusty up and held her for a moment but as soon as I put her down they went at it again. I picked Freckles up for a moment and again they continued when I put her down. The next moment they were side by side at the water dish drinking together as if nothing had happened.

It seems that as they mature they must establish their pecking order even when they are a tight pair. I remember being surprised to see Amber and Honey do this and also to see Peaches and Barley do it too.

I think it surprised me even more with these two as Rusty often behaves as if she is Freckles chick. It was obvious that Rusty is top of these two and she was doing all the chasing, yet she she will still flutter under Freckles when they perch together and still touches her beak against Freckles beak like a chick at times.

This happened for three or four mornings then I haven’t seen it since. It is quite clear that Rusty is top of these two. Rusty is the more immature yet she is a feisty little girl. When Freckles and Rusty get chased from the treats by the bigger girls Freckles will retreat but Rusty will bounce around them and go back to where she was.  Rusty is quite a character and is friendly, fearless and constantly chattering away.

The chatter, or more aptly twittering, is also a sign that they haven’t reached maturity yet. Pebbles doesn’t make a sound unless she squeaks if she is chased by one of the bigger girls but Freckles and Rusty and more so Rusty twitter away all the time. I will miss this if they mature into quiet girls like Pebbles.

I am loving watching these little girls develop. There is so much that is so cute about seramas and I can’t wait to see what their little eggs are like but I just love the sweetness of them right now while they are still so chick like. I am in no hurry to have to have them grow up as they are so entertaining just as they are.