Or even two if you have them. Poor Gerry can’t even do that anymore. Her and Margot started the annual moult around two weeks ago that, unbelievably, chickens go through, too. Similar to the way that cats and dogs lose fur, the feathered moult consists of losing, well, feathers. And this year seems to be much worse for our two oldest birds. While some of the younger members of our eight-strong flock are doing the same, it’s to a lesser degree, and so fewer ginger feathers litter the floor of the coop.
But for Gerry and Margot it’s a different (and no doubt colder) story. Both of them look old, scraggy and lose feathers at the merest hint of movement. Gerry now has no feathers left at all at her tail end, so now waggles a pink, pimply stump. Margot looks bald around her face (she’s not, but appears to be), and both of them feel hard and almost scaly to the touch due to the small amount of feathers left of them and the tubes left from the missing ones. It could be worse, though; it’s not quite winter proper yet.
