The hens are molting. Being their second year to molt, I thought I knew what to expect. Unlike last year, this year the hens are really, really molting.
Molting as is one day they are loosing a few feathers on their breasts to the next day their tail feathers have thinned to one or two snarky remains.
Molting as in a week later the hens have looked like they have been attacked. Some hens are worse than others with the three Amerucanas (Abe, Abe, and Abe) looking the worst. Others like the Barred Rocks hardly look affected but as the egg production has gone from seven to nine eggs daily to one or two eggs, I believe all original stock of hens are in full molt.
Not wanting to be left out the experience, the rooster is molting too. I keep watching to see if the hens are pecking at him but they all seem content. There has not been any abnormal clucking or fighting in the coop/run when locked up, so it not boredom. It is the roosters version of males who suffer from sympathetic pregnancy. Did you know there is an actual word to describe this symptom? In men that is, not chickens? Couvade.
While there has not been a murder among the chickens, there is going to a slaughtered chicken if she does not stop roosting in the tree. This the same chicken that flew the pullet run and nested on the window ledge the first day she was brought home, this the same chicken who does not flock with the flock but goes her own way, this the same chicken who is the only white egg layer yet has not laid an egg in weeks and weeks. Ears, as the Kid refers to her, has taken to roosting in the same exact location that B.U. (Nurple the Rooster) roosted. If her rebel attitude continues, she will have to go as bad attitudes are contagious. Then there really will be feathers.