Monday, April 20, 2015

Fuss and Feathers

   Once a year, chickens molt. This is when chickens loose all their feathers, then grow them back. This doesn't happen all at once, but the chickens do end up looking scruffy.


   This week, Sleepy started molting.

  
   One thing that goes along with molting is pinfeathers. When the chickens are growing feathers, pinfeathers form. They are kind of hard to explain, but they look terrible. Imagine porcupine quills. 

   On Sleepy's neck, right where that gap in her feathers, are pinfeathers. You can only see this if she moves a certain way, which made it hard to get a good picture. 


You can see them pretty well here...

Here is a zoomed in version. 

   I know... Really gross looking...

   It is going to get worse before it gets better. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however. After chickens molt and their feathers are all new, they are just gorgeous! 

   See you next week!



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