My head hen and her two enforcers do this. Last year they picked on my big buff brahma. Poor Sass looked terrible until after her molt ended. It is interesting but now that Zoro reigns in the back yard, Precious and her cronies are not doing this at all. Sass tolerates Zoro's attention because it is way better than being jumped three times in a row by the other girls.
Adorable!Spring is coming!
One of our Mini Nubian does had a beautiful doeling yesterday. So excited for this year's kidding season! We've got more does waiting.
Amy, are you coming to the party in May at Karen's? I have a 10 year old daughter as well. She was getting a kick out of the pics of your girls and their chickens. My daughter Autumn is a crazy chicken lover like her Mom and will be at the get-together.[COLOR=000000]I think maybe I've got someone pretending to be a rooster...[/COLOR] Quiche has a not-bald ('tis fuzzy, but the outer feathers are gone--I know it looks like skin in the photo, but she moved) spot at the top of her neck, just under her skull, and Curry's back feathers are just fluff. They are the only 2 that have any broken feathers--then again, 2 out of 5 is 40%... The 3rd photo is to show that she used to have feathers all the way back...
Oh! I have that book...it is really nice and she does have some pretty good ideas in there.. I met the author at the SF Flower and Garden Show. She is a landscape architect and you summed up her premise perfectly! Your garden will flourish with chickens if your ratio is right...I obviously haven't found the right ratio! LOL! But I recommend the book as well!
Should I try to watch and see who it is? I'd have to be sneaky, though--they come running when they see me, because I might just have snacks! Heck, if the garage door opens when they're out and about, they're guaranteed to get a handful of BOSS flung into the driveway... Anyway, are there likely to be any problems other than fuzzy areas on some hens? Egg production definitely isn't affected--I'm getting between 30 and 34 eggs a week from my 5 girls! Curry's back's been like that for a couple of months, I think, and I first noticed Quiche's thin spot 2-3 weeks ago, maybe longer.
Actually, it might be Souffle--her former name was Spurs, for self-explanatory reasons, and her comb's the biggest.
Edited because I can never remember how to spell "Souffle" until after I hit "Submit"
It's just a bit too far for me--I'm in Crescent City, which is on the coast, only 19 miles from Oregon, and the party's over 8 hours away.
