Oh, Amber!

Amber has been improving day by day. Her swollen face was returning back to normal and her feathers were growing back in. Her face and comb were red again.

I know that pin feathers are very tempting to the girls and sometimes get pulled out. When the girls moult as Emerald and Toffee are at the moment the new pin feathers push the old feathers out. This means that by the time the old feathers have fallen out the new ones are already in underneath and they never actually have bare patches.

Because Amber was plucked it is rather different and the pin feathers are on show and are a temptation. My husband saw Honey attempt to take a pin feather from Amber’s neck but Amber pecked Honey twice on the comb and Honey backed off. This was a good sign I thought.

But then there was a change that I have been dreading. Amber had become much more vocal over the last few days, her comb was bright red and she was looking in the nest box. I knew she was ready to start laying again.

I dreaded it because this is always the cause of a problem for Amber and I have been enjoying her good health while not laying.

Sure enough she went into her usual decline and looked unwell for a day which I knew meant an egg was coming. The awful part of this story is that while unwell and vulnerable she no longer resisted Honey and very quickly her neck was plucked bare again.

I felt so frustrated as the pin feathers had just started opening, looking like little paddles, so nearly there.

Amber has pin feathers on her neck

This was a few days ago and since then the feathers had started to open.

Amber’s neck is bare again

This is such a shame and she may now have to stay like this until she moults. At least she still has her head feathers though and her face has returned to normal. She actually looks really good now despite her bare neck.

I was a bit panicked about the feather plucking returning but I have been reading that pin feathers can be really tempting to flock mates and hope it’s just the combination of that and Amber being under the weather.

During the bedtime routine as the girls were beginning to take their positions I checked in several times as usual. Amber was on the top of the store cabinet with Topaz and Sparkle.

Then I noticed a broken soft shelled egg on the patio below the store cabinet. I quickly cleaned it up and Amber was instantly back to normal and headed off to the food dish.

Another egg safely passed and everything back to normal for now. I think my next move is to talk to the vet about the possibility of an injection to stop her laying.

While she wasn’t laying she was happy and healthy and even growing feathers but as soon as she starts laying the problems start again. It is such a shame. We were enjoying her not laying. Seeing how well she has been while not laying really makes me consider what our options are to make her life better.