Portraits and an update on the feather pulling

Since all the girls have been moulting they have regrown their feathers and are looking better than they have looked all summer.

Due to the feather plucking habit Pepper and Dotty both had bare bottoms. Bluebell had a bare neck and had lost her head crest. Poor Dotty looked the worse with a bare neck and a completely bare head as well as a partly bare bottom and the little girls also had bare necks and partly bare heads.

I have always felt that the stress of losing Treacle (top hen) back in February was the trigger for this behaviour and then it became a habit they enjoyed and nothing I tried stopped them doing it.

They seem to enjoy pulling feathers from each other as part of the dust bathing ritual and also as part of the bedtime ritual.

Pepper as top hen was the only one not to have her neck or head plucked but instead Dotty and Bluebell would sneak up behind her and pluck her bottom so she always had the most bare bottom. Pepper would pluck Bluebell’s neck but when cuddling up to Dotty in the evening on the coop roof she would pluck Dotty’s neck and head. These two have always been really close and it seemed to have become a bonding process between them.

I added the bantys at the end of April in the hope that more flock members might improve the situation as I had tried everything else. The little girls soon got their necks plucked as part of the acceptance ritual.

It didn’t bother the girls but it bothered me as it spoiled their appearance. Then came the moult and at last new feathers. I really hoped that they wouldn’t pull them again. Pepper had pin feathers coming in on her bottom. Bluebell got her crest back. Best of all Dotty got her head feathers back (much improving her looks) and her neck feathers started to come through. The bantys also looked smart again with their neck feathers growing back and their lovely black head feathers regrowing.

I hoped and hoped they wouldn’t pluck each other again. I wasn’t sure if Bluebells neck feathers had started to regrow and been pulled out again as there was never a noticeable change in her neck. Her missing neck feathers have never been as obvious as the other girls and they seem to have stayed like that. I’m not sure if they have been pulled again as soon as they started to emerge.

I then realised that Peppers bottom was still bare so the pin feathers that had started to come through must have been pulled out again. The next thing I noticed was that Dotty’s neck was being plucked again as below the pin feathers coming in on her neck are fluffy under feathers where some of the outer neck feathers have disappeared.

After that I noticed that Amber had started to lose her neck feathers again and yet Honey still has hers. Amber is the more feisty of the two little girls and Honey is firmly bottom hen. I have caught Bluebell pulling feathers from Amber’s neck and think it’s part of the bullying that Bluebell does to show Amber that she is below her in the pecking order.

Before we had the bantys Bluebell was bottom hen and has bullied the bantys, especially Amber, to show them that they are firmly below her. She doesn’t want to be bottom hen any more.

Bluebell is still missing neck feathers

Just below her wattle Bluebell is missing neck feathers. Because of her variable colouring it doesn’t really show too much and she is getting her crest back just behind her comb.

Bluebell’s missing neck feathers

This photo shows a little more clearly the missing feathers in a V shape just below her wattle. Luckily it doesn’t spoil her appearance because it doesn’t show up much. This is why it’s tricky to know if they started coming back in or not.

Honey still has her neck feathers

Maybe there is an advantage to being bottom hen as Honey hasn’t had any feathers plucked again so far. The white flecks in her black collar are the remaining bits of the keratin sheaf on the new quills. At first the little girls were a mass of these white flecks but they are gradually getting rubbed off.

Amber’s neck feathers have been freshly plucked

Amber’s neck feathers have been plucked just below her black collar.

Dotty has her fluffy bottom back again

Bluebell never lost her fluffy bottom. It is so lovely to see Dotty with a fluffy bottom again and her tail regrowing.

Pepper still has a bare patch on her bottom

These are the only feathers that Pepper has ever had missing so it’s not too bad but I do wonder if it’s a bit draughty  in winter though.

Overall if they end up missing neck feathers but don’t get their heads plucked again I will be happy with that. They look a lot better than they did in summer.

Amber on the log

The bantys can often be found on this log, it’s a favourite spot

This is the look that says that Amber is about to jump into the apple tree

Amber is in the tree

Dotty decides she must join Amber in the tree causing Amber to jump down

Dotty’s neck feathers have been plucked again

This shows where Dotty’s feathers have been plucked, lower down than before.

Dotty joins Pepper on the big perch

Now it’s the little girls turn on the big perch

Honey has lost the peacock like spot from her back since the moult. Honey is on the left and Amber on the right. I can only tell them apart now as I know them so well. They are slightly different in shape (have different personalities) and have slightly different combs as Amber has a peck out of hers from the integration days.

I don’t think the feather pulling problem is ever going to go away completely but if it gets no worse than this then it is an improvement. Only time will tell.