As many of you have been following, Dolly has not quite been herself. As an older girl who was perpetually broody in her glory days, she has slowed down to a quiet, non-broody, little hen who naps most of her days in little patches of found sunshine. Her little Silkie Bantam body is old but still enjoys the thrill of scratching in the dirt for the morning’s scattered treats.
This past week we said goodbye to Autumn one of our Silkie Bantams. She died unexpectedly.
Early last Thursday morning, I opened up the coop and found all of the girls happy, giddy, and excited to greet the cool fresh morning air. Then later around 10 am. I saw Autumn laying in the corner of the run. She was not moving. Dolly was near, seemingly curious about her sister and friend.
Dolly has no head feathers. She has been bald above the eyes for a while now. It all started in the spring, when she had one of her broody bouts; mind you she goes broody about every three weeks. That is just how Dolly is. It is a vicious cycle. Two days ago, I noticed that Dolly’s head feathers were finally returning again. Beautiful dark pin feathers were filling in the bald vacancies. They were about a half an inch long. Was she finally going to have some poofy Silkie feathers? Alas it wasn’t meant to be.
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