One of our hens has chosen the late run of warmish autumnal weather to moult. I first noted a bare patch on her neck last weekend. Yesterday, when I went to collect the eggs, I found her in a more profound staet of nakedness:
Moulting at this time of year is quite normal, and I wasn’t too worried. Unfortunately, when I went back in today, she was not looking quite so perky. A Good half of her bare patch looked raw, and even bloodied towards the rear. As I stood and observed, the other chickens would intermittently run over and have a peck. She reacted in various ways. Typically, a lot of cowering went on (this is the chickens’ first and most often used line of defence), and some running away. However, there was also quite a lot of pained noise coming from her when the raw areas were attacked. It seemed clear to me that she was not going to last amongst the other chickens.
Tonight she is in the “isolation wing”, a converted guinea pig hutch. She is fine, and I think just needs to alone to have her moult and grow some new feathers.
I’m catching up on my blogs
My Ladies are molting too, but none of them are as naked as your poor liitle baby! The closest one would be my black chicken, who is normally the biggest, fluffiest of them after my cochin – right now she is a skinny-minnie. All her nekidness is perfectly hidden under her wings and hackle feathers … it really funny seeing her bare skin when she flaps a bit