White Hen, Kitty and Anne are molting.
This time of year the hens lose their feathers and grow healthy new feathers just in in time for winter. Similar to how the donkeys will soon be shaggy with their winter coats.
Different because the hens look pretty awful as they lose their feathers. They’re scrawny with patches of skin showing where the new feathers are growing in. They don’t lay eggs when they’re molting, all their energy goes into growing feathers.
And those feathers that are falling out, they’re all over the farm. The small soft downy ones, along with the white and black ones, big enough to make a quill from.
Pillows and pens. I don’t see myself collecting the feathers to stuff a pillow, but I like the idea of make a feather pen.
