Hen Chronicles: The molt nears an end . . . well, almost

This year’s molt is about 66 percent complete in our tiny flock. What I mean by that is two of our three hens -- Snow, a Plymouth Rock, and Hope, a Rhode Island Red -- are almost fully feathered once again. But our third chicken — Nellie, a Rhode Island Red — still has a long way to go before she finishes doffing her old feathers and donning new ones.

Nellie was the last of the three to molt this year, and she only began doing so about two weeks ago. As a result, she now looks like she was assembled from scratch by a half-blind taxidermist using spare parts.

In some spots, all of Nellie's old feathers remain intact. In other places, some outer-layer red feathers have dropped off to reveal cream-colored feathers underneath that contrast sharply with her normal rusty coloring. Nellie has bare spots too, and areas where new pin feathers are coming in.

If Nellie were a jigsaw puzzle, you might wonder why some of the pieces are missing, and why other pieces appear to have been borrowed from an entirely different puzzle.

Fortunately for her, it has not been especially cold of late.

I spoke with a woman yesterday morning who keeps chickens. She said most of her hens have stopped molting, or are about to do so. They’re eating more now, and their mood has improved. When they’re molting, she said, “they get very cranky.”

Don't I know it. I can't blame them, though. I'd be damn cranky too if it took me a month or more to change my clothes.