The new rescue hens are growing their new feathers, just in time for the cold winter months. I guess this is a good excuse to reveal how they’re looking now.
Pumpkin has completed a dramatic make over, growing all her feathers quickly not long after rescue. She’s a tall hen with mid-brown feathers and a white tail, her neck feathers have a white pattern. She was a very nervous hen a few months ago, now she’s confident and relaxed. She’s bottom hen of the trio, I only know that from watching the pecking order being sorted, otherwise you’d never really know. They’re a peaceful little group, unlike my other flock of ‘posh’ hybrids who still insist on inflicting the occasional peck.
Bramble is taking her time to change into her new clothes, she still looks a bit scruffy. Her new feathers suggest she’ll be a darker brown hen overall and her face and comb have a nice pink color too (although I’m failing miserably at capturing her face color in photographs, so you’ll just have to take my word for it).
I’ve kept many rescue hens over the years and they’re always pale and sickly looking from being kept in the caged farms, ‘colouring up’ after a little TLC. Bramble has been the palest hen I’ve ever seen, her face and comb almost white when she first arrived.
Honey’s feathers are a lovely honey-blonde with white patterning over her neck and back. Her new tail feathers haven’t come through yet, so she looks a bit stumpy. She’s a confident hen and very friendly. Every morning she jumps up on top of the hen-house as I lean over to clean it of overnight droppings, placing herself alongside me and straining her neck to see what I’m doing. This little routine always ends up with her jumping down inside the hen-house, straight into the plastic bag stuffed with yucky stuff! Every morning is the same, every morning I giggle at her silly antics.
This looks like a good place to lay an egg, much nicer than the cage I used to live in
I recommend keeping some rescue hens for comedy value if nothing else!
Filed under: Chickens Tagged: Chickens, ex battery hens, rescue hens