Moulting season seems to be going on for ever. Three hens have lovely red combs, and we’re getting two or three eggs a day – so I suppose a paler comb means a hen isn’t currently laying. Nice of them to let us know which is which!
Verity is still moulting – but now looks a snowy white. Charity is a muddy yellow colour by comparison, and shows no sign of losing any more feathers. She’s a layer.
Delia is our faithful, one egg a day, girl. As a hybrid, she will lay throughout the winter, but her laying life will be much shorter than the others. For the sake of the eggs, I’m glad we have her! Her bright red comb looks good against her glossy black feathers, even if she is a bit of a skinny thing.
Bridget’s comb is like a beacon – she doesn’t lay every day, and her shells are paper thin (so I wish she’d stop), but she’s still with us, and at 3 1/2 years old, doing well for an ex-batt.
The Welsummers are uniformly pale of comb … they may not lay until Spring.
By then, our new addition will be out and about … Oscar the kitten is currently confined to the house. He’s still only 9 weeks old, so we won’t risk him getting out and getting lost, even if a break from all his kitten energies would be a relief! It will be nothing less than entertaining to watch his first encounter with my girls …
