My favorite hen is Lucy.
Sweet Lucy.
Lucy Goosey.
Recently Lucy has gotten a bald back.
Originally it was caused by too many roosters in our flock and Lucy is the friendliest, sweetest hen in the world - everyone loves her.
But then, after her back was naked, we caught sweet Lucy picking out her own feathers!
I believe it's because when the feather shafts begin to grown in they poke her naked skin and make her uncomfortable. And so she plucks out the new feather shaft, continually keeping her back bald.
And so, she now wears a chicken apron to protect her from the roosters and from herself. She doesn't seem to mind the apron much.
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| RC is for Razzberry Corner! |
Can you tell she loves to pose for the camera?
She always runs to me an wants to be held. She's a sweetie. She knows her name and always comes when called. I walk around the chicken pen calling "Lucy! Luuucy!" and within seconds she's by my feet, waiting for me to pick her up, no matter if she was in the nest box or whatever else she was involved in when I called.
I don't think she really went through the yearly winter molt, I don't know why. If she did molt, her feathers didn't come in as nice as some of the other hens.
I'm hoping that in a few weeks her back isn't naked anymore. Until then, she's wearing the apron.
Good Luck, Lucy!
I'm hoping that in a few weeks her back isn't naked anymore. Until then, she's wearing the apron.
Good Luck, Lucy!
14 comments:
Good thing there's such a thing as an apron! I never knew chickens could be self-destructive like some domestic parrots will often be.
I have a "Lucy", her name is Sunny (Buff Orpington). She loves to sit in my lap and will leave anything she's doing to be with me.
I sure wish I would have thought of this years ago when we kept chickens. My MaryJane was the most beautiful Buff Orpington and much (MUCH!!!) loved by Duke. Many Many times a day. Needless to say, she had not one feather left on her back. This would have been a good thing for her to have!
:D
She has her "superwoman" cape on!
She is SO pretty! And Chicky is jealous of the monogrammed saddle. :) Hope both of our little silly girls get growing feathers very soon.
i have never found these useful
WHEN all else fails..the cockerels are removed to their own pen!
Such a lovely fashion statement Lucy Goosy!
CeeCee - I never knew chickens could be so friendly and sweet!
Sue - They think of new things every day, it seems. I just need to get better at sewing and it'd be easy to make these saddles. Or, even better, I need to sweet talk my Mom into making them! Now that's an idea - I can sell them online to make a couple dollars for Mom! Dont be surprised if you see them for sale!! :D
Toni - Yes, it does look like a superwoman cape! Go, Lucy, Go!
Knatolee - I hope they both start doing better real soon. You know, this afternoon I picked up my hen Ethel. She's become a lover recently. I noticed she was alittle bald on her back and picked her up for an inspection, and saw her chest is also bald! I though of Chicky, since you mentioned about Chicky's chest being bald. Ethel isn't totally bald, but has lost alot of chest feathers. Hmmm... What's going on here??? Lucy and Ethel are sisters... She will be watched closely now. Poor Ethel.
John Gray - We break out the aprons whenever we find ourselves with TOO MANY roosters. And we definitely have too many boys now. We are taking care of this very soon. More to follow on this topic in future posts.
~Lynn
CA Grammy - Lucy thinks she's styling it! She's the only hen in the house with a coat on!
That Lucy is a doll. Between her and Knatolee's Chicky, I think I want chickens. At the very least, so I could dress them up in funky chicken aprons. Oh, and the eggs...
My brother had a chicken with Lucy's personality. Her name was Lucky Linda - she had fallen off a poultry truck and he rescued her. She was a real love.
You know I had a hen like that and she was bald in places and her head was too, and I would catch her standing so the hens would pick the feathers out. I started buy feed with more protein in it and I noticed that she stopped it after her molt and now she is completely feathered in I wonder if when they do that it is sort of a imbalance somewhere? None of my other hens looked like that just her. I looked and looked in my books but never really found much of anything. I have also have been giving them chickweed that is growing all over and that seems to help. I hope it works because if It happens again I am getting a apron too. Though I think she needed a bonnet.
That is the cutest dang thing I have ever seen.....love it.
Your hen is more accepting then any of mine. I have several aprons/saddles here, but have never had a hen that would accept it. I have tried several times in the past and the girls just seem to freak out and take off running. After several minutes they are so exhausted and stressed I have to chase them down and remove the attacking piece of cloth.
~~Matt~~
Lynn, great idea! She actually looks like she's happily modeling it for us. Very cute.
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