Posts Tagged moulting

Sweetpea and Daisy at 3 months.

We’ve had our six hens since they were three days old. Like our own children, their personalities have pretty much stayed the same since they were born, or rather, hatched. Daisy, the Buff Orpington, remains sweet and tame. She is the first to jump onto our laps when we sit with the hens in the evenings. Sweetpea, a Barred Rock, is the snuggler. Sweetpea is going through her first moult and is a little “touchy”. Her cluck, has become a bit of a whine which I hope is a result of her moulting and only temporary. I’m looking forward to her feathers returning and  her snuggly personality revealing itself again.

Daisy and Sweetpea have always been close. They lay together in the sunshine. They dust bathe in the same hole. They are both gentle birds, rarely pecking the other girls and never one another. While Sweetpeas moults,  her personality has become somewhat introverted. Daisy is as confused as I am over the recent change in our dear Sweetpea.

Hens are big birds.

I’ve been working on setting up this website on chickens. I’m not proud of its structure. I’ve never been someone who can do something half-way. I’m all in or not at all. I’ve struggled a month to make the site look right. Imagine my husband (who swore he wouldn’t have anything to do with creating a website) and I, squinting over a code, holding our breath and fooling around with it! When we go back to the website and nothing has changed! What frustration!

Yesterday, I was out in the garden readying for a rainy weekend (rare in these parts), and working off website frustration. The hens were in their pen going about their business while I was going about mine, digging nearby. I listened to their “hen talk”. The contented babel that they carry on as they scratch and bathe in the dust sounded like friends over a cup of coffee. There is a throaty Rrrrrrrr……. that one of them makes when a hawk flies overhead. Even a blue jay or crow will trigger that warning sound.

And then, there is always an occasional unpleasant squawk when one of the crankier hens pecks another because she doesn’t want the other to be “in her space”. Sweetpea was getting her share of pecks yesterday as I gardened nearby. I could just hear them saying, “Gads, you’re ugly. Get away!” Sweetpea is moulting, has no tail feathers and her comb and wattles are a pale pink. Someone once described moulting as “hen menopause”. Poor thing! As least she will get over it!

Ameruacana Hen Has Muffler & Beard

Tulip is a beautiful Ameraucana hen. Her long, dark legs and neck make her stand out. She has what is called a “muffler and beard” (fluffy feathers that surround her face). We are glad to say that she is back from her moulting experience.

Hen Stops Laying When Moulting

She has been the first hen to go through a moult and become a real “ugly duckling”. What a sight! No feathers on her neck, no wing feathers, and no tail feathers. Knowing she was not her pretty self, she became even shyer.

We’re glad to say that Tulip has become her old self again. Her tail feathers have grown back. Her wings have sufficient feathers to allow her to fly to the second ladder level, and her appetite for treats has returned. Best of all, she’s laying those beautiful green eggs again! Welcome back, Tulip.