The moult continues

I suppose having eight girls this winter as opposed to five last winter the moult seems to be going on for a lot longer.

I am picking up feathers from the coop each morning and from the run three times a day and there seems to be no slowing. I am picking up as many from Sparkle as I was from Topaz but like Topaz she has no really bare patches just rather tatty and a few thin patches. Unlike Topaz she is dropping feathers all over the run whereas Topaz seemed to drop most of hers overnight in the coop.

I am also finding smaller amounts of feathers from the rest of the girls too.

My main concern has been Amber. I was so looking forward to Amber and Honey getting their neck and head feathers back in for the first time in a year. Honey’s pins opened quite quickly and she is now fully feathered on her head and neck.

Honey’s head and neck is fully feathered

But Amber’s pins have been taking forever to open. I think of her as a bit of “the runt of the litter” with her egg laying problems and her smaller size. This also seems to be noticeable with her moult. Her tail feathers dropped out before Honey’s but her pin feathers are taking a lot longer to open than Honey’s.

Then we began to think that some of her pins on her neck were disappearing. I was really worried that she was being plucked again and my biggest worry was that perhaps the habit had continued with Honey and Amber and all my efforts re-homing were in vain if this was to continue happening and worse of all if the habit spread in my current flock. We hadn’t seen Honey or Amber pluck any feathers though.

Before long we spotted the culprit. On three occasions we saw Topaz pull a pin feather from Amber’s neck. I think it’s a case of Topaz being top hen and long standing pins being irresistible plus Topaz is also grumpy during her own moult. All the girls seem to have a loss of confidence during the moult and look more quiet and miserable than usual. Topaz though is grumpy like she was when broody. She doesn’t chase or bully but she is quick to give a warning peck to any girl that gets in her space.

Topaz doesn’t tolerate any of the girls getting too near her. I hope this means it isn’t a habit but just an unfortunate instance. It’s such a shame because I feel that if Amber’s pins had opened as quickly as Honey’s she would have got all her neck feathers back and then next year with no bare patches there would be no tempting pins on show. The bare patches always seem to make the pins more tempting. I also think she may have lost some from her head.

Amber still has a gap in her head feathers

Amber is still missing neck feathers

It’s the ones lowest down that are disappearing. My husband and son, Steve, both say that she still looks a lot better than she has done before but I can’t help feeling sad that she may not be finally completely feathered.

I am still picking up tail feathers from Emerald

I thought Emerald was done with the moult but I am still picking up feathers from her and can still feel pins when I pick her up at bedtime. She is looking pretty good though.

Sparkle’s feathers on her bottom are filling in

You can see the quills on Sparkle’s wing feathers

Sparkle has an almost bare patch on her front

Toffee looks the most complete although I still find the odd feather from her too

Topaz doesn’t look bad but some of her feathers stick out further than others

Peaches and Barley look really good

I liked this photo because although the girls are not together they are all in shot

It’s funny how they are all doing their own thing and all looking in different directions and yet are all still in the picture.

Overall I am really pleased with how their feathers are coming in, it’s just that I worry that Amber will still end up with missing neck feathers. I suppose I will just have to wait and see how she will end up looking. It is taking her the longest time of all. Time will tell.