So something really weird happened to this cutie pie, Cuddles, one of our Easter Eggers.  This past spring she turned one and went through her very first fall molt. She’ll be two in June. She lost all of her feathers and looked really mangy but finally come this January her molt was complete. She looks absolutely gorgeous, fluffy and silky. But the strange thing is that her tail never grew back in.  We now have a tail-less Easter Egger in the coop.

We will have had Easter Eggers for two years come June.  They have been a terrific addition to the flock. They are friendly, curious, silly, and very sweet. They love interacting with our family and they lay the most beautiful colored eggs. The cool thing is that you never know what color egg they are going to lay until they actually do.

Easter Eggers are capable of laying blue, green or pink eggs.

But I digress, back to the tail. My first thought was that someone pecked it out. We haven’t had any pecking issues in quite a while, but it was worth a look. However upon closer inspection, that is not the case. I’m not really sure what happened. I know that sometimes after molts, chicken feathers can grow in differently. I’m wondering if this is just a case of genetics at work.

You see, Easter Eggers are not a pure breed. Instead the are a mixed breed- a mutt of the chicken world if you will.  Most likely her parents were at least one Ameraucanas or Araucanas that was bred with a different breed. I’m thinking that it is a good possibility that she is part Araucana, because those chickens do not have tails. I’m not really sure to be honest what is going on and that is okay. She’s happy, healthy and part of our flock, just the way she is!