Summer is done and winter is arriving down here.
For some reason, none of my birds have ever shown starkly clear signs of moulting. Egg production has always slowed down a bit this time of the year, but never stopped.The amount of feathers on the run floor tends to be quite a bit. No one ends up looking odd, their feathering just renews. Most noticeable is their tail feathers fall out over a short space of time and new ones replace them.
My hen Goofy (Black Orpington, a year old), suddenly quit laying about two weeks ago. Since then, her beautiful plumage has become bedraggled, missing and skew feathers all over and now her whole backside is bald as a pea. Almost all the soft, fluffy feathers from under her tail downwards are gone! She doesn't seems distressed or unhappy. Going about life much as usual.
No sign of pests that I can see and no undue misbehavior in the flock. My lead hen, Henrietta is the only one inclined to be snippy and she and Goofy seem to get on fine. Is this likely to be one of those "hard moult" things, where chickens end up looking most unfortunate?
For some reason, none of my birds have ever shown starkly clear signs of moulting. Egg production has always slowed down a bit this time of the year, but never stopped.The amount of feathers on the run floor tends to be quite a bit. No one ends up looking odd, their feathering just renews. Most noticeable is their tail feathers fall out over a short space of time and new ones replace them.
My hen Goofy (Black Orpington, a year old), suddenly quit laying about two weeks ago. Since then, her beautiful plumage has become bedraggled, missing and skew feathers all over and now her whole backside is bald as a pea. Almost all the soft, fluffy feathers from under her tail downwards are gone! She doesn't seems distressed or unhappy. Going about life much as usual.
No sign of pests that I can see and no undue misbehavior in the flock. My lead hen, Henrietta is the only one inclined to be snippy and she and Goofy seem to get on fine. Is this likely to be one of those "hard moult" things, where chickens end up looking most unfortunate?
