Three and a half hours today. It hit 20C and dropped to a very easy going 16C late afternoon. 18C and sunny will do me these days. Honestly, I'm turning into such a wimp in my senior years.
Carbon was better today than yesterday but she's moulting, so is Mow.
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If I was to hazzard a guess these are stress related moults. Fret is behaving like she's entered a harpy competition. Carbon ate some feed today and took a couple of blueberries but she looks completely miserable when she's resting. Been here before with Carbon and I'm really not sure what if anything I can do for her. If she'll eat I can get some quility protein into her but if she goes off her food completely... With luck Carbon won't lay and moult as she did last time.
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I'm digging back a few days into posts; hadn't taken the time to post in a while.
It's interesting that we're seeing some early molting here, too, possibly due to a 4-week stretch of record heat.
The roosters usually kick off molting season by dropping tail feathers...in August. But the ground has been peppered with feathers for the past couple weeks already. Some hens are coming up with pre-molt malaise, slower off the roost in the mornings, though it's not been too bad yet.
With the molt comes the foul moods, so it was no surprise that yesterday was the 3rd Annual Battle of the Laying Hens.
Once a year, Unquestioned and Most Respected and Respectable Head Hen Brahma Donna ticks off her much bigger roommate, Bebe, and they fight half a day.
It happens when Donna and Bebe have to lay at the same time, and Bebe decides she's finally fed up about Donna not relinquishing the favorite nesting box.
Apparently, it takes Bebe a year to forget why nobirdy argues with Donna.
I actually missed the whole thing yesterday while on a work errand. So how do I know it occurred?
During our afternoon coffee break together, Bebe came up to show off the scratches on her face.
Even small injuries on the hens are notable, because they're rare. I was about to give her a thorough check when Donna, Consigliere Eula, and Rooster Stilton marched up. Bebe shot me a look and evaporated into the high weeds.
Then I saw Donna's face, with 2 fat cheeks and a purple earlobe, and knew what happened. Bebe's signature move is to drag her opposition around by the earlobe.
It appears Miss Donna took the worst of it, per usual. But at the end of the day, when Donna wanted my time, Bebe made like a tree and left, so we all know who the victor was.
Everything is peachy again this morning. Of course, while the group was good-morning pecking my clothing, Donna made a point to come stand by Bebe. Bebe froze while Donna pecked my shirt. Then Donna gave frozen Beebs a head peck (translation: "I'm Donna, head hen!") and toddled off to handle other Head Hen duties.
I'd worry more if the group didn't have a rooster they love. During the melee, Stilton must have repeatedly danced between them, giving them time to rest between rounds. If I'm there, I'll toss treats and even carry a hen around to try to make them forget they're beefing. It never works, but they do get to rest between kicking and pecking one another.
Fortunately, Bebe has no designs on being head hen. She's just a tall hen who can't see the point of being bossed around by a small hen, until Donna reminds her.
The amazing thing about Donna is she's no bully. I'll walk down shortly to see if they're laying at the same time again today. If so, it would be likely that Donna has already staked out the best nesting box. It would be just as likely she'd chase Bebe away from it once before grumpily pretending to prefer a different box to let Bebe sneak into the favorite box.
That's the kind of thing you'll see Donna do, if you watch. She's a powerfully worthy little leader.
