Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

It is definitely the 'moulting' season amongst the poultry at the moment: we have cockerels without tails, hens without wing feathers and ducks that seem to have lost their 'shine'!! But look at our Indian Game here. The left hand photo is the one from the 31st August. Now look at the second photo from today: what a difference!! The pin feathers looked more like thin paintbrushes a week ago and now we have beautifully black and brown fan shapes growing from each one. In another week or so, this bird is going to look stunning!!
She is not laying eggs at the moment which is good as she needs all her energies to go into growing feathers.
The weather is warm and dry which is good as with all these bare birds, we don't want it to be too cold and wet!! With any luck, as so many are moulting now, we should go into the winter with a well-prepared flock - all feathered up and able to keep warm...
And now for an Onion update: the good news is that once again the test results on her lump have all come back negative, although as more tests were done this time, it is disappointing to still have no idea what is causing it. BUT, the other good news is that without any kind of medication, the lump does seem to have reduced in size. It appears to have drained itself, possibly through the small hole that was made when the pus sample was taken three weeks ago. As before, Onion has shown no signs of ill-health at all and so we will simply continue to check her but otherwise treat her as normal (and yes Onion, that does mean telling you off if you are sneaky and get into the poultry area...)!!!