Our Daisy Belle chicken has been in moult; the lass is clogging on a bit in years, here she is in her youth in 2007
She can’t mange such a resplendent plumage these days. But she is working on this seasons feathers right now.
Chickens stop laying when they moult and general act ‘out of sorts’ not quite hanging out with the rest of the flock, first in the hen house at night, last out in a morning, having a bad feather day I suppose. They moult once a year, they don’t loose all the feathers at once (I’m not even sure how often some feathers are replaced, not every year I think).
Here she is with her new feathers emerging. Bless.
.
The quill grows first, and then the feather emerges from the tip of the quill,
it looks like she’s covered in little paint brushes.
Reader Charles is concerned for Spuds the dogs welfare, as he has been absent of late. I can report he is fine, muddy and wet, but that’s Springers for you… He’ll be along soon.
Uphilldowndale 
Oh my, that moulting process looks unpleasant. Hope her feathers come in nice & fluffy soon!
Oh wow!
I have a lot of fellow feeling for the old bird.
It looks painful, like growing new teeth. Hopefully her new ‘do comes in quickly.
Can’t blame her for being out of sorts. It looks pretty miserable. Poor dear.
Great picture of molting chickens. Mine have have always acted embarrassed when they are are in the midst of it. Like having a bad hair day.
Thanks…now I know how they get their new feathers! xx
It must be chilly for her without all her feathers at this time of year. She needs a scarf.
Having never had chickens, I was interested in learning more which I found here:
http://hencam.com/faq/the-molt
Each chicken has about 8500 feathers! Wow, that’s a lot of molting. I hope Daisy Belle will look quite elegant with her new feathers.
Blog visiting is so broadening. I never knew this–and my grandmother kept chickens! I was not, apparently, a very noticing child. And then I suspect my grandmother’s chickens died young and, er, dramatically. That I did notice.
Bless Daisy Belle indeed. She is one lucky hen.
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