Now it’s Dotty’s turn to lose her tail

This morning I picked up lots of feathers from the coop once more but when I went back into the run mid morning I picked up five long tail feathers. It’s Dotty’s turn to lose her tail and she only had a couple of tail feathers remaining and looked quite ridiculous.

The bantys had new tail feathers growing in behind the tail feathers that fell out but Dotty doesn’t. I had read that even chickens of the same breed can moult in quite a different pattern and this is certainly true of Pepper and Dotty. When I pick up Pepper, I can feel the pin feathers coming through but there are no obvious missing feathers and she doesn’t appear to have lost any tail feathers. Maybe Pepper will lose her tail later.

Dotty in comparison is noticeably losing feathers and her tail has fallen out as quickly as the bantys did.

For comparison this is Pepper who still has her tail

Dotty only has a few tail feathers left

What a sorry sight Dotty is and when I went back in at lunch time she had only one remaining tail feather, just like Honey before her.

Dotty now has only one tail feather left

You can see Amber in the background with her tail already regrowing whereas Dotty just has fluffy feathers.

Poor Dotty, without her tail, she has an oven ready chicken shape. It’s amazing what a difference their tail makes to their shape. I do hope it grows back soon.