What did you do in the garden today?

[Sueby]

Morning. Had some big storms come thru yesterday afternoon. Power flickered just as DH started welding my car rim. Thankfully it came right back on. Had a little bit of hail & lots of rain. We haven't lost power as much as we used to, they have done a good job trimming all the dead trees from the caterpillars & ash borer damage.

Spent the day cleaning up more leaves. We probably have 1 more clean up & we're done but it's too wet out there now.

@Wee Farmer Sarah how are you testing your soil? Did you buy a test kit?

 

[Sueby]

So I have always had RSL chickens until last year - I have never experienced a 'real molt'. The reds lose a few feathers here & there, but that's it. OMG my barred rock EXPLODED yesterday! I opened the coop door & laughed so hard at the pile of feathers under her. The poor thing is naked. She looks so redic. We had a good gust of wind come thru & I swear she lost 20 feathers.

 

[Sally PB]

I opened the coop door & laughed so hard at the pile of feathers under her. The poor thing is naked. She looks so redic. We had a good gust of wind come thru & I swear she lost 20 feathers.

Poor girl! I have a hen that looks really rough. The other two hens didn't molt nearly so bad, and they've grown out feathers and look very nice now.

 

[jerryse]

Windy cloudy day here . 40-45 mph winds .

 

[Sueby]

Poor girl! I have a hen that looks really rough. The other two hens didn't molt nearly so bad, and they've grown out feathers and look very nice now.

I keep telling her she's going to be gorgeous when she's done!

 

[Ascholten]

Mine didn't really molt too hard this year. A few feathers here and there but no huge loss like they have done in the past. All of them are back to laying eggs again, so i will assume the molt is done and they are happy now.... shrug...... Hopefully at least, I don't need them nekkid when the weather is getting colder like it is beginning to.

Aaron

 

[WthrLady]

Don't you want to just tell them to stop moving. Every step, feathers, fall off. The coop looks like a teenage girl, slumber party, pillow fight gone wrong every morning.

 

[Elyrian1]

All anybody seems to sell around here are the red sexlinks, and they all look horrible. I don't know if the climate doesn't agree with them, or if they've all got mites, but they're always missing just enough feathers to look really rough.

 

[WthrLady]

That sounds like a feather mite issue.

 

[Sueby]

It does sound like mites. This is my RSL Green (she's named after the color of her leg band) in the middle of molting. She could stand to lose a couple tail feathers, we'll see, but I think she looks pretty good. She's still laying eggs & she is just about 3 years old, so not even a pullet.

I swore I wouldn't buy them again because I've had nothing but reproductive issues, they don't live past 3 or 3.5 - but man do I already miss the unbelievable egg production with only 2 of them left. They lay pretty much every day no matter what. My other birds are freeloaders compared, lol.