What do you do when the chicken struts up to you soaking wet but happy and you don’t have your phone to take a picture? Hold her up to the video camera in the runs. Twilight looked more like a cactus than a chicken! It boggles the mind that she doesn’t mind the rain.
I thought my chickens looked quite hen pecked when they lost their beards and muffs to molting. Now that their body feathers are going through the same process, they look worse; little ragamuffins, in moth-eaten disarray, feathers ragged and tuffs hanging out. Maybe by the time winter rolls around they will be back to their feathered finest. The molting process can take up to five months, according to a quick internet search. I noticed this molt start back in May. They may yet look worse.
Some of my chickens are finally getting their beard and muff feathers back. Jade’s face is particularly spectacular. Some of the other girls are sporting nice fluffy feet.l as well. Others are still experiencing the ravages of the molt.
I really thought that putting down the “salad bars” (hardware cloth covered frames), would allow a lush patch of grass to grow and the chickens would keep it trimmed, but not be able to dig up the roots. They can’t scratch up the roots, but I think they pull the sprouts up with the roots. The wheat grass slowly disappears, and I’ve had to add seed about once a week. Now, there are definitely positives. The chickens can’t get to the sprouts until they are a few inches high, and the wild birds don’t come in and steal seed (and potentially infect my chickens with birdie diseases). My chickens are definitely interested in the bars, and regularly check them for available sprouts.
It could be that the wheat grass is not growing well because it is hot here. So very hot. It has been 100 degrees in the coop on several occasions. I water, but it is just hot. The girls gather in the deepest shade of the side run and enjoy the breeze way and iced foot baths in the late afternoons. Egg production is very low, but not, at least, at zero. Did I mention that it is hot?
My chickens look like they stuck their heads into a prickly pear, but that is just the muff and beard feathers growing back in!
Critters and Craft 