I so dislike molting season

I really dislike molting season.  Mostly because of the way Coco molts.  Coco does the "Ugly Molt" meaning she sheds so many feathers, you can see bare skin covered in rows and rows of pin feathers. And she looks MISERABLE!!!  I mean, who wouldn't.  This year has been her worst molt yet.

She started molting on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  The coop and run were covered with her beautiful black feathers.  By Saturday, she looked like the two photos below, bare back and sides.

Thursday, a week after she started to molt, she lost nearly every feather on her.  She's got a few new long wing feathers which she's using to try and keep her sides covered.

She also had a pin feather pulled out.  I don't know if she did it or if one of the other hens did it.  I have caught them pecking at her.  Probably out of curiosity to see what those pin feather things all over her are.  Anyway, that wound looks like it really smarts. I've been trying to put Vet RX and Neosporin on it but she wants nothing to do with me so I have to sneak out to the coop at night to treat her.

I did catch her shivering a few times so I've put a heat lamp out in the run for her.  She doesn't want to stand under it.  But if I put treats under it, she has to stand under it to eat which warms up her just a touch. 

I've closed up every window on the coop to try and keep it as warm as possible in there at night.  And it's surprisingly warm in there.  I'm sure the Buff Orpingtons don't appreciate it but I'm hoping it's temporary.

Below is what my beautiful Coco will look like in just a few short weeks.  I can't fast forward fast enough to get her at least covered in feathers.

Happy Birthday Coco

You Tube of Coco's Bday party

My sweet Coco Bean, the last of my original flock, is 4 years old.  And what better way to celebrate a milestone than with a cricket themed party with your best friends.  Well, unless you are the cricket.

Here's Coco with my three Buff Orpington's (Penny, Peaches and Pickles) enjoying their cricket party.  Here's to another 4 years with you Coco.  You make me laugh every day.

Goodbye sweet Penny - Goodbye sweet Poppy

I just can't seem to get a break.  I lost two more hens this summer.  It's so devastating.

Selfie with my sweet Penny.  Penny loved to sit in my lap and talk.

We lost sweet Penny, one of my baby peeps, about a month ago.  I went out at bright and early one morning, I knew the hens had only been up for about 10 minutes, and she was dead in the run.  The only thing I can think of is that one of the others jumped on her and snapped her neck.

The peeps were a tight pack of four and did EVERYTHING together.  If Coco got near or if anything spooked them, they all tried to jump on each other.  She was still warm and soft and I was simply devastated.  

The last photo I have of the four peeps.  I believe Penny is in the upper left of the photo.

And then last week, we lost my sweet blue Poppy Loo.  I wasn't quite sure what was wrong but she was clearly not right.  Turns out, she was egg bound.

Last photo of Poppy and Coco together.

The saddest part about losing Poppy is watching Coco mourn.  Poppy and Coco made for quite the odd couple.  But they were tight.  They did everything together.  The funniest thing was watching the two side by side on the roost at night.  Coco tipping the scales at nearly 9lbs was just a beast next to Poppy who was just a raisin over 3lbs.

Coco has bellowed for Poppy all week.  She even started crowing like a rooster.  Coco seems to be getting better.  But she lost her best buddy.  And while she's got the three peeps out there with her, they are tight bunch and breaking one off to pair up with Coco is going to be a tough sell.

The last photo of Poppy at the vet's office.  Those sad eyes simply begged me to do something to make her pain go away.

Up until we lost Poppy, the peeps were sleeping in their own coop and refused to roost.  I thought it was odd that they were 17 weeks old and still sleeping in a big pile.  But I figured if that was what made them comfortable, then what harm was it causing.

So after we lost Poppy, I started putting the peeps in the big coop with Coco.  They were quite frightened at first.  But it's been nearly a week now and things are beginning to settle down.  Coco hasn't crowed in two days.  And the peeps are letting her get closer to them and even hang out with them while they preen.  And Coco has been very good and not pecked or spooked them.

I think she understands that Poppy is not coming back and these three are all she has so she'd better make nice.

Hopefully, one of my sweet peeps will go broody this fall or next spring and will raise more babies for me.  I'd love to have a flock of eight.  And honestly, I'd just love for a few of my hens to live to be old ladies.

Project Flock Integration has Commenced - Code Name: Peepers

The babies are almost 6 weeks old and I felt it was time to fully integrate them with Coco and Poppy.

I've had the Peeps out in the garden free ranging with the big girls since they they were two weeks old.  And that was going great.  I evicted them from the garage two and a half weeks ago to the big girls run, but separated by fence panels, so they couldn't get at each other.  But they were getting frustrated by being penned up and clearly want more real estate to roam.

Coco is very chill.  She welcomed the Peeps almost from the beginning.  Poppy is a bit more high strung and I was more worried about how she would react.  But I couldn't have been more pleased.

I started the day by letting everyone out into the big garden while I cleaned both coops, scrubbed all the waterers, filled the feeders and turned over some of the soil in their run.  I also moved some logs around to make things seem different and interesting to everyone to hopefully keep them distracted.

As soon as I put everyone into the run, they all set about having a big dust bath.

Coco and Poppy taking a big dust bath together.  They must have been in there for nearly an hour.

The babies found their own corner to have a nice dust bath.

Here's a wider shot of the run.  I did leave up a few fence panels just to give the babies something to hide behind in case Coco or Poppy decided to chase or stalk them.  But I really didn't see any of that going on today.

I put out every waterer and feeder I have to give everyone a place to eat and drink with out having to be near someone that might want to peck at them.

I found it interesting how Coco and Poppy spent much of the day hanging in the area that was sectioned off for the Peeps. And the Peeps spent their time exploring the big girls side of the run. 

We checked up on them often to make sure everyone was doing okay.  The Peeps love getting tummy tickles.

Peaches loved napping in the sun up on a cinder block.  I don't know what's going on with her feathers but her bustle feathers are growing in straight up in the air.  We've started calling her Peach Fuzz.

The Peeps do EVERYTHING together.  They move around the run like one giant chicken.  I guess it's true what they say, safety in numbers.

Coco and Poppy INSIST on eating from the Peeps feeder no matter how many times I tell them, "It's the same feed silly hens!"

All in all I'd say today was a huge success.  I'm not going to relax just yet.  It's almost bedtime and I'll go make sure everyone goes to sleep in the right coop.  And tomorrow is yet another day.  But if all goes as well as today did, I should be able to start to relax a bit.

The Peeps are 4 weeks old

The Peeps just need to grow a tad larger so they don't fit through the fencing you see behind Penny.  Then we can move them out into the run with the big hens and know they will be safely separated from the adults. 

Guess what?

Poppy and Coco sharing some chopped spinach for a snack.

My garden is beginning to take off.  I'm growing a variety of radishes this year and the hens love the radish tops.

And finally, then hens have stopped eating my roses.

I love their cute little tails.

Pearl was tired from playing in the garden.  She hopped up on hubby's ankle and  wandered up to his elbow where she decided it was a nice place to take a rest.  Hubby tried to 

And all four together.  They grow up SOOOOOO quickly!