Pipd's Peeps!

Soon2BChixMom said:

Good news and bad news. Or maybe all good news?
Janet decided to keep her rooster. So, I continued my search and found a 7 month old blue Wyandotte near by.
He is doing great so far. We named him Boomer.

Click to expand...

Aw, well, sorry it didn't work out with Janet, but Boomer sure is a handsome guy!!

pipdzipdnreadytogo said:

Aw, well, sorry it didn't work out with Janet, but Boomer sure is a handsome guy!! View attachment 1522591

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Mr. Orange Band committed the cardinal sin of roosterdom tonight. I locked the little pullets in their crate for the night, then let the two Mottled Cochin boys out of their daytime pen to go to their nighttime pen. Mr. Orange Band rounded the fence, grabbed the top of my foot (partly my fault, I wore sandals out there tonight), and flogged. He broke skin, but no bleeding, thankfully. I was not expecting this after how well they have been behaving, though there was an instance this morning when I thought he was going to bite my hand and didn't, so maybe that was my warning sign.

So... New plan. The boys will be going a week from Tuesday (or later, depending on the scheduling and all). That puts the youngest at at least 16 weeks, which was the minimum people say for bantam Cochins. That means that, yes, Mr. Orange Band is going. It's very likely at this point that I will keep Mr. Purple Band as he is behaving, but I am watching him like a hawk (...which is probably bad wording, but y'all know what I mean). Orange band has always been the more dominant of the two and I'm aware that removing the more dominant bird can make the less dominant bird turn jerky, too. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Are you sure he just wasn't reacting to seeing something new that was moving and felt threatened?

If he's not acquainted with your sandles, it may just be the new item he was attacking.

He's definitely seen me wear them before, many times. The reason why I said it was partly my fault that he got a hold of me is because it seems like everyone says not to wear sandals out in the chicken yard, but I always have. ( ) The only time I don't wear sandals in the summertime is when it's muddy out there from rain. It's just been so hot lately that the muckers are miserable to wear, so I've been wearing the sandals a lot. I also was out there earlier than usual last night, so he doesn't even have the excuse of getting confused in the dark or something. Like I said, he was acting like he was going to bite my hand that morning when I was moving him to their daytime pen. I think that was a warning sign that he was amping up again. He's also gotten a lot more aggressive with Purple band lately, and now that I'm thinking of it, he was chest bumping with one of the hens through the fence yesterday, too... Something's definitely changed in that little pea brain of his.

Okay, for those who may not recall or are not aware, a (somewhat) brief explanation. Every time Elly molts, she ends up with crop problems. Her crop stops emptying, but it isn't really blocked as far as I can tell. I used to think she was eating her feathers and blocking herself up, but more recently I've observed her spitting out feathers as she preens them off and I've never actually seen her eat any despite ample supply, so I suspect it's not so much a blockage and more of a crop stasis related to the hormonal changes during her molt. Inevitably, she ends up with sour crop as a result, though, and sometimes spends the whole winter inside when she doesn't recover fast enough to get back out before it gets cold. So yeah, it's definitely cause for high alert! I have the supplies on hand (or so I thought, can't find her docusate at the moment but I'm still looking), so I'm ready if it happens again. This is earlier in the year than usual, so hopefully if it does happen she'll have plenty of time to recover before winter sets in.

My girl that always molts too late...to the naked point...when it's freezing cold outside.... is molting now instead of in 20-30f temps. I'm relieved.

My brahma was bare butted last winter and through most of the winter due to molting. I keep hoping she molts sooner this year. But, she did ok considering that last year she was in a prefab coop.

It does seem like a lot more of my girls started molting earlier than normal this year. Plus we have trees dropping leaves already, and the spiders have been out in force!! It's like everything's bracing for fall really early. Hopefully that means your Brahma will get with the program, too, S2BChixMom! I believe all the birds I've had in the past who have had bad molts late in the fall are gone now, coincidentally, though I do have a whole batch of hens and some fellas coming up on their first official adult molt. Here's hoping few (if any) go full-blown naked!

Hope fall comes soon. It's too hot. Walking to class has been killing me. Hoping Elda doesn't have too many difficulties this year.