Pipd's Peeps!

Sorry to hear about Indigo

pipdzipdnreadytogo said:

Sigh... So, we all know that chickening can be a rollercoaster, right? I had one of those sudden dips this morning that nearly floored me. Indigo has passed away. She was perfectly fine yesterday in the wing off of the coop that's currently serving as the broody buster. I suspect, since I've been seeing raccoon prints around the coop, that she got spooked and flew into the wall or ceiling, since it's lower in that section of the coop. And I was just thinking last night that she was about ready to come out of the broody buster. I'm kicking myself for not just letting her out last night. She was only 3 years old. My beautiful girl...

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Even though chickens can live to be 10 or so, it is not very common. They can start passing at 2 years old. After 4 years old they are on borrowed time.

so sorry

Thank you all for the condolences. Indigo has been laid to rest, and life goes on. It's hard to dwell on these things with a whole flock of demanding birds vying for your attention all the time. But I wouldn't change them for the world.


It is picture day for the younger babies, so I'll have those taken and uploaded by tonight. I did miss the 9-week pictures for the OEGBs, but they're at the age where not a whole lot of change is occurring on a weekly basis anymore, so I may switch to monthlies for them instead. Right now, I'm up to a whopping 7 broodies (with more on the way judging by some behavior) and nowhere to put them, so Acher, Toli, and Rigel are running with the broody crowd in the mini-yard for now. They're learning quickly not to mess too much with bigger chickens.

Oh, and I did inadvertently take pictures of all of last year's girls yesterday, so I'll get them posted later as well. To explain a bit, Father's Day is coming up, and my dad is pre-diabetic, so I can't very well bake him a desert like I do for my mom every Mother's Day. Well, he loves the chickens, but he can't tell a lot of them apart (actually, I think I may be the only one able to tell everyone apart easily ), so I thought I would put together a binder for him with pictures and names of all my birds as a sort of guidebook for him. In other words, I was getting updated pictures of all of the birds who needed them for that gift, and it just so happens all of last year's girls made my 'update' list. Anyway, I missed their first hatchday, of course, but this is close enough, right? I'll be looking into the ingredients to make their hatchday 'cake' soon, though I may wait until hotter days for their party so that the watermelon and veggies can serve as a nice, refreshing snack for the flock as well.

ronott1 said:

After 4 years old they are on borrowed time.

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I don't know, this hasn't really been my experience... My laying hybrids (mostly red sexlinks) pretty much all passed at 3 years of age or younger with a couple exceptions, but since I stopped adding them to my flock, most of my birds have lived past 4 years. To me, Indi was pretty young.

pipdzipdnreadytogo said:

Thank you all for the condolences. Indigo has been laid to rest, and life goes on. It's hard to dwell on these things with a whole flock of demanding birds vying for your attention all the time. But I wouldn't change them for the world.


It is picture day for the younger babies, so I'll have those taken and uploaded by tonight. I did miss the 9-week pictures for the OEGBs, but they're at the age where not a whole lot of change is occurring on a weekly basis anymore, so I may switch to monthlies for them instead. Right now, I'm up to a whopping 7 broodies (with more on the way judging by some behavior) and nowhere to put them, so Acher, Toli, and Rigel are running with the broody crowd in the mini-yard for now. They're learning quickly not to mess too much with bigger chickens.

Oh, and I did inadvertently take pictures of all of last year's girls yesterday, so I'll get them posted later as well. To explain a bit, Father's Day is coming up, and my dad is pre-diabetic, so I can't very well bake him a desert like I do for my mom every Mother's Day. Well, he loves the chickens, but he can't tell a lot of them apart (actually, I think I may be the only one able to tell everyone apart easily ), so I thought I would put together a binder for him with pictures and names of all my birds as a sort of guidebook for him. In other words, I was getting updated pictures of all of the birds who needed them for that gift, and it just so happens all of last year's girls made my 'update' list. Anyway, I missed their first hatchday, of course, but this is close enough, right? I'll be looking into the ingredients to make their hatchday 'cake' soon, though I may wait until hotter days for their party so that the watermelon and veggies can serve as a nice, refreshing snack for the flock as well.







I don't know, this hasn't really been my experience... My laying hybrids (mostly red sexlinks) pretty much all passed at 3 years of age or younger with a couple exceptions, but since I stopped adding them to my flock, most of my birds have passed 4 years. To me, Indi was pretty young.

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Some do go longer and the hybrids and breeds that lay a lot of eggs go much more quickly

ronott1 said:

Some do go longer and the hybrids and breeds that lay a lot of eggs go much more quickly

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Definitely! And it's heartbreaking to see those high-production layers burn out.




Anyway, oops, I may have forgotten to post the 6-weekers' pictures earlier... But not to worry, I did remember to take them this time! I'm just going to post them real quick because it's super late and I'm tired. Names are on the pictures. Here we go!

Home hatch babies:





And the Meyer babies:





...Wait, what about Puck? Well...



...As it turns out, he's impossible to get a good picture of in the pen I had him and Charon in outside. I'll try again tomorrow before they go outside.


Anyway, last year's girls! I neglected to put their names in their pictures, so I'll have to put them above each. Starting with Roxanne the Silkied Cochin bantam:




The Mottled Cochin bantams:

Bryony:




Ida:




Sylvie:




And Vira:




And lastly, the young Silver Gray Dorking girlies:

Kita:




And Myrna, with her buzzed comb




Hey, it's approaching midnight here, so I think I'll go to bed now! Good night, all!





EDIT because I must have been tired last night! Those babies are 6 weeks old, not 5 weeks.

Oh, and here's Puck in the paper towel studio:

Indigo was beautiful - so sad

She was. I'm sad I never got the chance to hatch any babies from her. She would have made the cutest li'l Silkie-Cochin mixes with Jasper or Roscoe, or even Gus if he hadn't left us way too young.

More bad news, I'm afraid. I noticed old Iddy Biddy being awfully quiet tonight on the deck. She let me walk right over and pick her up, which is very unlike her. She's quite thin and has a bloated crop, with bad breath to boot. Sour crop. I've started her on the regimen I've used for Elly when she's had crop troubles in the past. Biddy's awfully old and thin, but I've just got to hope she can pull through this like Elly has.

Iddy Biddy was breathing very loud this morning and struggling with each breath. She passed away about 8:30 my time, shortly after I noticed her breathing and reached into the pen to stroke her feathers. By that point, there really wasn't anything I could do but comfort her. I suspect, because she drank so much water yesterday before I had set up her hospital pen, that when she hunched down to sleep, she regurgitated and aspirated. That was so fast... She was completely fine 3 days ago, when I took this picture of her for the binder I was talking about for my dad's Father's Day gift.



She was a tough old gal. She lived through so much. She had the deck stacked against her from the start, struggling for her life the day I brought her home. Her toes grew crooked, and she never grew as big as she was supposed to. And yet, she persevered and outlived even her more 'normal' sister, Pogonip. I guess I took for granted that she would be around for much longer.