Now I know this is the moult!

I’ve found it a little difficult up until now to tell if the girls were moulting because of the feathers plucked out and some feathers regrowing. Over the last few days I have seen the difference when they really are moulting.

The last two mornings when I have gone through the gate to the girls, Dotty has jumped on my back as usual then on to the coop roof. With her movement each morning a long tail feather drifted from her to the ground.

I opened up the coop to do my morning  pick up (yesterday and today) and found about twenty or more dominique feathers in the pine shavings. As I have read on other chicken blogs it looked like a pillow fight had taken place.

During the day there were more feathers in the run and sometimes when Dotty would shake herself a few more drifted from her.

I can also see pin feathers coming in on their bottoms and on Dotty’s neck.

Again I have my own theory of another difference between hybrids and pure breeds. Treacle and Bluebell (hybrids) both had a baby molt and lost their tail before they matured to lay eggs. Their tails then grew back very quickly. Pepper and Dotty (pure breeds) didn’t lose their tails.

A year later Bluebell doesn’t appear to be molting and her tail still looks quite good but Pepper and Dotty’s tails look ragged and tatty. I think this is why they are molting to replace their tattered feathers whereas Bluebell doesn’t need to do this at the moment. It will be interesting to see what happens to Bluebell next year.

Ragged Dotty

I think I am noticing more feathers falling form Dotty because she is losing feathers from under her wings but Pepper’s tail is more ragged than Dotty’s.

Pepper’s ragged tail

Bluebell still looks quite pristine

Bluebell’s tail feathers don’t look bad

It would be lovely to see the girls with new feathers but I just hope they don’t pull them out again.

The other difference is the fall off of eggs. I know it’s a double thing of moulting and shorter days but the egg fall has also been different between the girls.

Pepper is laying one egg a week and Dotty is laying about four eggs a week (Dotty always has laid more than Pepper). Bluebell is still laying between five and six eggs a week. Bluebell in summer would take one day off in about two months. That dropped to one day off a month and now to one day off a week. She is still a prolific egg layer. Again it’s because she is a hybrid but probably also because she isn’t moulting.

The bantys never were so good at the egg laying. Honey has gone from laying every other day to not laying for a week now and Amber has gone from laying about two eggs a week to not having laid for three weeks now. I wonder if they have stopped for winter. They are only in their first year so are not moulting.

The big girls laid all last winter which was their first year. It’s interesting to see these differences between them.