Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Six weeks into the molt

Today, marks six weeks since my sweet Coco started to molt.  She spent the first three weeks of her molt nearly naked.  And while those feathers came in so quickly, she still has a long ways to go.

She's fully covered and has a nice layer of down to keep her warm.  But she's still off her game.  So I picked her up tonight, which she so dislikes.  I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something obviously wrong with her.  And she's fine.  She's just covered in pin feathers.  It's like she's got a second wave of feathers coming in all over.

So I gave her some meal worms to show her how much I love her.  And she appreciated the gesture.  But she still watched me with a very cautious eye for the rest of the evening.  Just to be sure I didn't get close enough to touch her again.

I will say, of all the breed chickens I've had, a freshly molted Jersey Giant is the softest thing in the whole wide world.  I really wish she liked more attention than she does because it's so tough keeping my hands off of her.










Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Coco 3 weeks into her molt

Today is 3 weeks to the day that Coco started to molt.

As you can see by the photos below, she's once again fully covered and no longer has any bare skin showing.  Even her bottom has fluffy feathers covering her.

Those feathers still have a long way to grow out.  And you can can see the pin feathers on her head and back of her neck that she's not able to nibble on to open up.  But I'm SOOOOO happy that she's covered and no longer shivering.  Poor thing.  What a rough three weeks.

I did catch her covered in dust yesterday and I think that was her first dust bath in about 3- 4 weeks.  Which had to have felt so good.

And I LOVE the beautiful sheen on those new glossy black feathers.