Unfortunately we now have a feather pecking problem, which I discovered today. Andy and I had been away for a couple of days and on our return I noticed Shirley had lost all her lovely new feathers on her back. I didn't think much of it as assumed there had been a bit of a squabble due to them being confined to the run, and that now they were back free-ranging they would be fine.
Alas, today I noticed Ivy (the boss hen) with a broken, bloody wing feather. I kept an eye on the girls and quickly discovered that Bett was the culprit. Funnily enough, Bett currently has the best plumage. She then proceeded to have a peck at Shirley (her former best friend). Shirley also appeared to have quite a bald, sore looking wing (though no blood) which I hadn't noticed before. I shot off to our local feed merchant and forked out for some anti peck spray, came home and doused Ivy and Shirley in the stuff. This made me very unpopular, so I was less than impressed when Bett immediately walked up to Shirley, pulled out a feather and ate it. Hopefully it was a particularly unpleasant-tasting one and that will be the end of that. I fear that this may go on for a while, but fingers crossed it is resolved as soon as possible!
It was the girls' 1 month Henniversary on the 6th, so here are some before and after pix.
Bett, the most changed of the trio, barely recognisable from a month ago!
Shirley was in the best condition of the 3, and also due to the feather pecking she currently looks unchanged from her 'before' photo (right)
Not a lot to say about Ivy, except wow!
