Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, yup! This weather can't make up its mind! I hear that the groundhog is predicting more winter. I had to chuckle at that, because for the most part this winter hasn't been very wintery anyway, so... I suspect, as always, that he's going to be wrong on that.

Glad Autumn is back with her flock! I'll bet she's happy! Hope her leg gets to feeling better!

I'm definitely loving the eggs! Miss Mako has come into lay again, and it looks like Rooska may have laid her first egg on the 31st. I'm not sure, but I think Cazzie may have started laying, too. I got a bantam-sized egg the same day that was an unusual color for the bantams... But no confirmation on that. At the very least, Cazzie is being very needy and squatting a lot. She comes over to me while up on the hutches, presses her chest against me like she usually does for hugs, but then she squats like that. Poor girl doesn't know what to do with her hormones right now!







On the topic of the babies, they are 4 weeks old today! I have lots of pictures, mainly because I should have been doing homework, so naturally I was spending time with them instead. Here are individual pictures of them. I have all of them named now except for Omega. I'm having the hardest time coming up with a name for the little guy!

Here's Abra, my little beauty

Alphie, who is now named Rowena, or Ro for short

Lucky, who will be keeping that as his name

Ramsay the Rascal, just like his father

And little Omega, such a sweetheart he is (...even if he is up on the waterer )

A portrait of Ro:

Abra's a bit more sassy with her portrait

Omega standing tall and proud:

Omega is such a cutie! He was in my hand in this picture:

Ramsay, with his 'wing men' Omega and Rowena:

Omega is ready for take off!

At the food dish. I must remind them of food, because it seems like this is what they do for two-thirds of the time I'm in there with them. Rowena and Ramsay's faces in the back made this shot worth sharing, though!

A close-up of Lucky. I love his eyes right now--too bad they don't stay this color!

Here are the three boys together; Ramsay in back, Omega, and Lucky looking right at the camera:

And my girls, Abra and Rowena:

A few 'out takes' because they make me laugh. Right after the picture of the three boys together:

I don't know what the deal is with the look on Omega's face here

And finally, Ramsay trying and failing to perch on the EcoGlow:

They are so sweet and soft, and when I hold my hand out in the brooder, they love to perch on me. I had four of them perched along my arms earlier, and I just buried my face in their soft fuzziness. They're just so cute!!

 

[pattyhen]

Precious babies. They just keep getting cuter and cuter if that is possible I know I love the blue eyes to bad they have to change. Do you think then you have 3 boys and 2 girls? You can sure tell the boys from the girls early. Thats cute you have perching on your arm at one time. Your so lucky to have little ones. I will have to stay away from the feed stores pretty soon. They will have all the chicks out to sell. It just breaks my heart to see all of those chicks and not bring at least a few home.

It was only in the 30s today on the temp so the guineas wanted to come inside real bad. I really think Spiderman would love to be a house guinea. Mary Jane just comes in with Spiderman because she has to be by his side at all times. They are so much tamer then my ducks. My ducks won't let me get close to them but the guineas love to sit on my lap or sit on the arm of the chair. Everybody is always talking about the guineas loving mealworms and mullet or millet whatever it's called. They won't touch either one. They are very finkity on what they eat.

I hope you have a nice evening and thanks so much for sharing the pics I love all the babies.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yup, 3 boys and 2 girls. I'm just happy I got more than one girl! Feed stores are my bane this time of year, although I still have 19 more chicks I'm expecting in about a month, so I guess the temptation will not be as strong this year. ...Holy cow, it's only about a month until more chicks are coming!

Been frigid here, too! And it got down to about 10 degrees last night. BRR! The girls are enjoying the warming effect of the sunlight coming through the clear plastic on the walls of their deck. So glad we did that, even if we haven't had very much cold this winter! Your Guineas are so strange for Guineas, it's like they're the opposite of what Guinea fowl should be! They're definitely the opposite of my Guinea fowl, anyway, haha!







Editing to add: So.... I've been thinking about what to officially name Omega, and came across a name I think I like for him: Bailey. Only thing is, I like Bailey for him now, but the name in my brain seems more fitting on a light-colored bird, the way his chick down is now. The way he's feathering in, I believe he's going to be dark red like Roscoe is, and I'm not sure I will like the name Bailey on him if he's dark-colored like that in the end. Any thoughts? I know it's kind of silly to spend this much time and effort naming a chicken, but what can I say, it's important to me.

 

[pattyhen]

Our weather is like a rollercoaster. Each day we go up ten degrees then another 3 days we go back down. Today will be in the 50s and tomorrow the 60s.

I know I have guineas that don't know their guineas. I have a turtle too that doesn't think she's a turtle. She doesn't like worms and she has a fit if she is outside when it rains. Most turtles love worms and they love the rain. She also when she realized the baby turtle I put in with her was real she hugged him. She laid her head across his shell and left it there for a couple of minutes. Last week I had to seperate them because the baby was hiding in the habitat and I couldn't find him I had to take half the substrate out to find him. I then put him in a smaller tub so he could have more humidity and heat and I could actually find him. When I put them togeather to soak in their water pan she hugged him again. She hadn't seen him for about 3 days. Turtles are suppose to be loners and don't care if they have company.

Your a month away from getting new babies. That is so exciting. What kind did you order again I know you told me before.

I think Bailey is a cute name but if you don't see it as a name for a dark chicken. Maybe a name that would go with his beautiful red color. Fred , Red or Woody or Coach. I'm not good with names.

Have a great day.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yes, we're getting the weather rollercoaster up here, too--frigid one day, mild the next! Although, I must say, the girls and I are enjoying the weather as it is right now, not quite warm enough to thaw the ground into a muddy mess, but not so cold that my fingers are numb when I come in. No complaints here!

That is so funny about that turtle! Sounds like you have a lot of misfits over there, haha! No offense meant, of course.



No worries, I think it's been a while since I even mentioned them! I'm getting 6 Colored Dorkings, 5 Red Dorkings, 4 Wheaten Marans, and 4 Black Copper Marans. Or, at least those are the breeds--I'm not sure I got the numbers right, though! Anyway, unfortunately they are straight run, so I'm only keeping the girls and maybe one or two boys at most. It depends on the boys I already have, of course, but I definitely want to keep a Red Dorking rooster because then I can hatch sexlinked Dorking babies from him and the three Dorkings I already have.

In light of that, I may have to make some hard choices about some of my current boys, more specifically about Umru and Ben. Umru's attitude has been bad lately, between him giving me threatening poses and grabbing onto the girls every chance he gets. He is WAY too big of a rooster for that kind of behavior! If he attacks me even once, that's the end--he's out. I can't have a gigantic rooster whose temperament is like that with my niece and nephew around, and I won't tolerate a rooster I can't trust to turn my back on. Ben, on the other hand, is good with people, but too rough with the girls. His first birthday is coming up soon and I'll give him another chance with the girls to see if he's calmed down, but if he can't behave, he'll have to go, too. I will not have a rooster that mistreats my girls! It's an unfortunate fact that roosters hatch out in roughly equal amounts to hens. I just can't keep them all. :/

I do plan to keep all three of the boys in the brooder only because they are very rare and so I want to have them around in case something happens and I lose their dad or any of the girls. They're little bitty bantams, so they won't be as difficult to keep as Ben and Umru can be due to their space needs.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Bad news this morning. I think I mentioned that my red sexlink hen, Skua, had not been herself a few months ago, around the time I was worrying over Cordelia? Well, as of last night it has become evident why that is. She's exhibiting symptoms of either internal laying or ovarian cancer. These completely devastating diagnoses are exactly why she is my last red sexlink. About three-quarters of the red sexlinks I've owned have been lost to one of these two ailments, and the worst part is nothing can be done to help her. If allowed to, they essentially waste away in so much pain that they don't even want to move, instead huddling with eyes closed, unable to do much more than waddle around due to the growth or accumulation in their abdomen. I'll be keeping a close eye on her, and as soon as it becomes evident her quality of life has gone, we will euthanize her. I hate to have to make that choice, but I won't let her waste away like that. I'm terribly heartbroken that Skua won't be able to live out her life and pass gently of old age, but for a red sexlink, she has had quite a long life. She'll be 7 years old in the spring if she makes it that long.

 

[pattyhen]

I'm sorry to hear about Skua I hope she gets to feeling better. That is very old for a sex link she has had a long life. Its horrible that they are bred to lay eggs even when they are so weak they shouldn't be laying. I have one isa brown she will be 3 in March. She is a little sweetheart and I've told her many times she never has to lay another egg. They don't listen tho.

I'm sorry to hear about Ben and Umru too. You can't have roosters mistreating the girls plus Umru if he turned on a human he could really do some damage.

This stupid weather we are having it's freezing out today we got a few flurries last night. My husband fell trying to get up the back steps this morning. They are solid ice. I think he is going to be ok I just pray he didn't break anything. I had to go out the front door to feed the chickens and ducks. Now tomorrow it's suppose to be in the 50s.

I can't wait until you get the new chicks. Thats great you are getting more dorkings. I know they are very sweet chickens from what you have described. I have never seen one in person but those little legs are so cute on the big bodies.

Take care and have a great day.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They sure don't listen! Especially when you tell them 'stop' or 'don't'. As in, 'stop pecking me' or 'don't eat that'. Yep, not the greatest listeners...

Interesting event today, speaking of Ben. He got out of his hutch while I was getting things set up for him to go outside, so I thought, what the heck, I'll see what he does. Almost immediately, he started a fight with She Who the Partridge Rock, and Reuben heard this and raced in to break them up. He and Ben got into it, and I figured I'd let them have their spat and establish who would be big man of the flock, figuring Reuby would win out in no time. But they just kept going and going and going until finally I stepped in just to make sure they didn't hurt each other. Roosters!


It was downright frigid today, brrr! Lots of ice here, too! My brother actually slid off the road heading to work, and my niece's school was called off for the day. Hope your husband is okay! Yikes!



I'm excited for the new chicks, too! But also quite in love with the chicks I already have. They are so precious! They're 5 weeks old today, so I took some pictures! I've also finally decided on Omega's name, after all that searching!! But first...

Here is lovely Abra:

Sweet Rowena:

Rambunctious Lucky:

Ramsay, who did NOT want to pose for pictures so I had to catch him at the waterer:

And finally, Omega, who will now be known as... Rigby!

So now I have three little red roosters named Roscoe, Ramsay, and Rigby! Lucky kind of sticks out among them, but his name has a story, so I don't feel too bad.

Anyway, some more pictures! Here's Rowena putting on her best cutie face:

Rigby, perched. Doesn't he look so serious?

Seeeerioooous!

Meanwhile, Abra climbed up my arms so that she could be up on the edge of the tub with me. Ain't she cute?

She was playing with my phone when I happened to sit it down there. They're starting earlier and earlier...

What can I say, I still adore her in spite of her phone addiction.

Rowena and Abra are lookin' for trouble! I'm on to you, girls!!

Rigby trying to look manly

Abra just being cute

Rowena being stately and ladylike

Abra strikes back with her best "stinkin' adorable"!

The last one is more of an 'outtake'. Rowena says, "Comin' through!!" That's Ramsay's head she's stepping over.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Hey Pipd.Yes, I haven't been on here for months, but I have been reading your posts.Congrats on Ramsay, Rigby, Lucky, Abra and Rowena!(I know tended a R theme!)Im so sorry About Skua!I was also showing my mom your page about your flock the other day and she told me to tell you she ABSOLUTLY ADOREs The namd Wynne!

It's been freezing here to!Within the hole day we got about a foot of snow!Plus, Saterday, Sunday and Monday are supposed to snow so we are going to get about 3 feet of snow!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hey, Cluckcluck! Thanks for the congrats, and glad your mom liked Wynne. Good luck with all that snow, double yikes! We've been fortunate not to have more than a few inches at a time so far this winter!

I take it from the subtle hints in your signature and under your avatar that you're still trying to get permission for chicks, haha! Fingers crossed!!





I've unfortunately had a lousy day for a hand full of reasons, but the cherry on top of it all was that I've discovered the mites are back. Ben and Rooska both had live mites on them, but only a few, and thankfully I haven't seen any on anyone else yet, so hopefully it's just a mild infestation this time. I checked Donna and Roscoe thoroughly and they have absolutely no traces of them on them. Since they are inside and isolated from the flock, AND they had the exact same treatment as everyone else because they had mites the last time, that kind of tells me that I probably had gotten rid of them the last time and the darned sparrows that are always hanging around gave the outside flock a new infestation. Guess I'll be spending the weekend dusting the girls and the coop. We went with the dust this time because I really didn't want to spray the girls down in the cold weather we've been having. Hopefully it works just as well!

Now if only there was an anti-sparrow spray.