She's Still a Tough Bird

Squawk.  Blackie, our Black Australorp chicken, is experiencing her first molting.  Molting is the process that most birds go through to refeather their bodies.  To do this they must first lose their old feathers.  A chicken's first molting usually occurs around eighteen months of age and in Autumn.  Miss Blackie is right on schedule!

If you look closely you can see bald patches on Blackie's tail and hind end.  There are little shoots of new feathers growing in all over her body.  I lovingly described her as looking like a roaster chicken with its head still on (Ross was none too happy about that description).  

Molting is supposedly a stressful time for a bird.  You can't tell with our little girl as she still is ruling her roost.  I guess you can say that all the other chickens aren't able to rustle her feathers (ha, ha, ha).