A feather garden

It's that time of the year again:

...when walking through the chicken run:

or the chicken coop:

or, basically, any place my chickens have been "hanging out", I see feathers. It's molting season on Critter Farm:

Chickens generally molt in the fall, when the days become shorter than the nights. They lose many of their feathers and new ones grow in their place:

At first, it was mostly small feathers, but then I started to find bigger feathers here and there:

Soon, they were everywhere. I had a hard time just leaving them lying there, all over the ground. They're so pretty:

Before I knew it, I had gathered quite a few:

Then it rained and they took on a whole new look:

Now there are a lot (can you see Roopert the rooster's curly tail feathers on each side?):

I may need another pot:

Pete thinks they're pretty and likes to sniff them:

My poor chickens. Many of my girls are looking like they've had rather invasive bikini waxes. Not an attractive look, if you ask me. :-)