Sometimes after the moult the girl’s feather patterns change. Last year after the moult Amber’s feathers came back in with a lot more black speckles on her back. This year Honey’s feathers have come back in with black speckles on her breast where there were none before.
Honey now has speckles on her breast
I quite like seeing their feather patterns change and find the speckles quite pretty.
Meanwhile Amber’s neck feathers have very nearly filled in.
Amber’s neck is almost filled in
This is the best Amber has looked for a long time and I am hopeful she will be fully feathered at last. Even if she doesn’t get any better than this at least she no longer has patches of bare skin showing.
Finally Sparkle has got her fluffy bottom back.
Sparkle has a fluffy bottom
Topaz is two toned
Topaz now has light and dark gold feathers. I am not sure if she will stay two toned or if the dark ones will gradually drop out. I don’t mind either way as looks pretty like this.
Emerald has a white tipped feather
Emerald now has a white tipped wing feather. She has such glossy black feathers shimmering with green and purple but this is the first time she has had a bit of white.
It is always a lovely surprise to see how their new feathers look and I am so pleased to see them all feathered again.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
I have no comment to make except that I adopted a lovely beige/ cream / grey feathered girl with no neck feathers and her new feathers have come through ginger…….I want my money back. 🙂
All I can say is …. it’s a good job no money was involved! Don’t you just love it! x
Yes, they do give us surprises. My two ‘chocolates’ – a pekin and an orpington – have both re-feathered much darker, almost black. I suppose that they were bred from blacks crossed with whatever else initially, so perhaps I shouldn;t be too surprised. It’s the first moult for both of them. For me looking at your flock, the most striking and delightful change is Sparkle’s fluffy rear – always so lovely to see them re-feather here!
My friend Jackie and I have discussed this change in feather colours. She adopted my Bluebell now Blossom and she has now moulted in her second winter and come back ginger! I wonder if they come back with colours from where they were originally bred from.
I don’t mind what colours they get next as it has no importance to me as long as they are healthy and happy. Any colour changes are a happy surprise.
I agree with you that seeing Sparkle with a fluffy bottom is most welcome.