Topaz is going through a second stage of the moult

Topaz seemed to have half a moult and then stop. I thought that that was it and maybe she was done for this year. I was wrong.

This morning, at first light, I opened up the nest box and this was what I found.

A pile of Topaz’s feathers in the nest box

I took the nest box off and this was what was in the coop underneath the nest box.

An explosion of Topaz’s feathers

I think this is the most feathers I have seen in one go. The strange thing is that Topaz doesn’t look any different this morning.

Topaz doesn’t look like she has just dropped that many feathers

It is odd how they all moult so differently. I think Topaz must have had her new feathers underneath because the coop looks like there has been an explosion in there and yet Topaz looks as good as ever.

Sparkle hasn’t laid an egg for five days now so I think she has now stopped laying. I am finding just a few feathers each day from her. If she is going to lose as many feathers as Topaz she has a long way still to go but they do all seem to moult in their own unique way.