That time of Year Again!

Molting time is a headache, the chickens have as many feathers as they have eggs, which is the grand sun of None! Although I have had chickens for a few years now, I always forget about molting until it is slapping me in the face. Therefore, I do not notice until there are no eggs, and the chickens look like they are ready to go in the oven.

This is also the time of year when it is considered the best time to "get rid" of the non laying chickens. Now this is where I stumble, due to the fact that I rescued many of these birds from the battery farm, how do I then go on to wring their necks. Well this year the process was removed from my hands, they just seemed to pop their clogs all by their selves.

Every day I have gone out and stepped over dead chickens as I have walked in to the chicken area, to the point it begun to worry me. I made a call to the chicken man and expressed my concerns, now he thinks I am crazy at the best of times, and questions everything I do. So the latest call made him laugh as usual, as he explained this was normal, nature playing its part and not allowing the weaker chickens to survive the harsh autumn molt.

So, not only do we have no feathers, no eggs, but at this rate we will have no bloody chickens either! I suppose as usual it is natures way of dealing with things...... and my task to clean up feathers for weeks and weeks before the new batch of chickens arrive.