I Built A Bridge!

[ItalyChickie]

Stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark September 25 in your calendars as an official holiday, because JAN LAID AN EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8.5 months after I brought her home, right now when life in the coop is more stressful than it's ever been and hens her age are molting, Jan decides to reproduce! Maybe she's jealous of the others having babies? Maybe it's the chickstarter? Or, maybe she's been counting combs and decided she had better shape up or ship out! I don't know, but yesterday morning, I noticed her comb was bright red and she was checking out the nest boxes. (The day before, I saw Desi checking them out, making chirping noises, so he must have known what was up with his girlfriend.) Then, when I brought treats out, there was no Jan!! I didn't bother her, went on a bike ride, where I fantasized about the egg and Jan Day, but came home to Jan out of the nest and only Bettina's egg inside of it (of which I was still grateful, given the current drought). But today, she also was in the nest at treat time, and I let myself get hopeful again, and behold!

Congratulations Liz!!!!!!!!!! That is the prettiest egg ever! (Even more special because of such a long wait.) GO JAN!!!

Goood morning Bridge Club

Hhhhm, it will probably be afternoon here by the time I finish composing this post between incoming Helpdesks.

IC congratulations on rehoming your boys so close!

I still do not have the ‘Beware of Broody’ name plate but I will take a snap shot when it arrives.

Good to hear that all is going well, no news is good news

Liz Oh wow! Wonderful, wonderful news .. way to go Jan!!!

Lols at counting combs .. maybe she was a bit worried that her meal ticket may be expiring and she had better lift her game

Beautiful egg!

I had a similar experience with Dusty and the molting. She lost so many feathers so quickly I picked her up to see if she was OK; I had no idea that it would hurt her. Poor little munchkin, Lesson Learnt.

Aaaaw the roost pictures are adorable! They look soo cute.

We had rain yesterday also .. actually, quite a big storm. I had to race outside and airlift the Jelly Beans and Tina off the ground and into their coop before the storm hit. Luckily Tina seemed to know something was coming and she stayed in the nest box with them. I was a little concerned that because it was not actually raining at that time, she would just wander back out again. Luckily I did not leave them to hide under the coop; when the storm had passed there were little swimming pools in the holes Tina had dug during scratching lessons, definitely deep enough for a chick to drown in.

Blondies new broody coop kept her nice and dry.

All good here .. no news of note.

Wooo hoo for Friday … hopefully it will be a nice weekend and I can get some updated pics of the Jelly Beans and Blondie’s new abode.

We had a very rainy, stormy day yesterday too - lots of wet chickens! (it's warm enough still, and they refuse to stay in the coop or under cover somewhere even when it rains)
Thankfully the broodies do stay under cover, I think that Tina also knows better than that.

Still no news here, which I suppose is good news. That said, I have been quite busy with work and maybe I simply missed some fun/quirky/weird events... Will see if I have anything to report over the weekend.

But now back to work for me.

 

[Teila]

Peek-A-Boo!

 

[16 paws]

Peek-A-Boo!

I think the chicks that have silky mamas are so lucky to have that powder puff of feathers to just hang out in. What a cute shot.Who wouldnt want that surrounding you all day?Talk about comfort! I have a white silkie and a white sultan and I named them powder and puff.

 

[lizgarf]

That is a lovely shot, Teila! Kind of the opposite of bald Rousseau and her babies! Actually, she's getting her feathers back now and may be close to normal within a month or so! (normal for her, that is)
Thanks for the congrats on Jan's egg!! I'm looking forward to more congrats when the others check in! Honestly, this was such a crazy unexpected turn of events! I had pretty much given up hope on her every laying, and figured you all had as well. No blue egg today, but a third egg in a row from Bettina! I have high hopes for tomorrow.

I don't know why I have to go and mess with things, but I do. I really didn't like that big crate taking up so much space in the coop and it needed cleaning, so I took it out tonight, and again it wrecked havoc for Rousseau and Co. I don't know what's wrong with the carrier I put in its place, or with the popular kids' carrier, which is still in there and being unused at the moment, but Rousseau ignored all of it and eventually got her bubbies to join her in the main nest. So, now there'll be a poopy main nest to clean every morning. Before she got everyone in the nest, I saw Rousseau looking up at everyone on the main roost, and I could tell she was trying to figure out if she should be bringing the bubbies up there, but luckily she didn't try. Integration is better than ever, but they still act a bit like the Sharks and the Jets. (And it even looks like those dance scenes sometimes, as all the boys are doing a lot of bouncy-sparring.) I almost couldn't get Rousseau's family back in the run from the backyard, because Grace & Co. had gone in first. I feel bad for everyone that it's so contentious and crowded, and I suspect Rousseau's babies want to go on the roost too and don't know how that'll go. Actually, there was one crazy moment where Frankie flew up the side of the coop, really high, like she was looking for a new roost or to get out or something. Chicken coops are a crazy place - no wonder most people don't spend a lot of time in them.

I'm thinking I should start looking for homes for the known boys in a couple weeks. Any advice from @tommysgirl and @Teila for where to look? Did you place ads on BYC, Teila? I'm not looking forward to this process!

 

[Teila]

Sitting outside watching the gals and taking some pics .. I will respond to posts later when I have a decent keyboard and have both eyes on the screen and not one on bubbies and the local Crows

Just thought I might as well spend the time uploading some photos

Blondie's new broody:



'Gloria':


'Gloria' (anyone else seeing Frizzle feathers?)



'Gloria' (again, ??? Frizzle feathers)







'Spot':

 

[lizgarf]

Sitting outside watching the gals and taking some pics .. I will respond to posts later when I have a decent keyboard and have both eyes on the screen and not one on bubbies and the local Crows

Just thought I might as well spend the time uploading some photos

'Gloria':


'Gloria' (anyone else seeing Frizzle feathers?)



'Gloria' (again, ??? Frizzle feathers)





'Spot':

They are gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beautiful pictures!
Can't tell what those couple feathers Gloria has are doing. I say it's too soon to tell if she's a frizzle. Spot looks like s/he might have a crest.
I love them!

 

[Teila]

Hello again

Much better, all the gals and bubs have gone to bed so I can concentrate on what I am typing

16 paws, yep it sure does look nice and cosy in there! I have heard though that sometimes chicks can get ‘tied up’ in those silkie soft feathers and sadly, strangled. One of the posters on the Aussie Thread unfortunately found one of her chicks like that

Liz In response to “Any advice from and for where to look? Did you place ads on BYC, Teila?

I am not looking forward to the rehoming process either; it is tough. I could have simply replied that I advertise mine on Gumtree which I am guessing you do not have in the States but it is similar to Craiglist maybe?

But, one of the reasons I wanted to wait until I was inside until I replied is that I wanted to add a little more than that as I know that this is not easy for you either. As you know, I only have room for one more and that obviously means that the others are going to have to be found homes. Definitely no more hatches for me after this unless things change; which, of course, they will for whatever reason.

Anyway, this isn’t about me, this is about finding homes for the little ones we cannot keep. Remembering that this is difficult to explain in text but basically I have to trust my belief that the littlies are going to a good home on the judgement I make of the people who come to see/take them. We have all heard the horror stories but while it may be living in denial or sticking my head in the sand, I need to think positive. For example, I know that Blondie’s brother Tommy went to a wonderful home and is very loved, the others I have not heard about but I believe that the people who took them will love them, just a judgement call. A couple of people who wanted to take them I did not entertain because they really did not ask any questions and one guy even said “I can take them off your hands, when shall I pick them up?” Hhhhm, I do not want them ‘taken off my hands” I want them to hopefully find nice homes. But, I also have to weigh up that what other option do I have other than to rehome them, I can’t keep them and I certainly could not entertain the alternative option to keeping them or rehoming them. Again, the above is why I am not having any more hatches until I have room regardless of who it is or how hard it is to break them.

As you know IC was lucky enough to find homes for her roosters close by and I truly believe if you go with your gut and good judgement of character I believe you have, you will also be able to find loving homes for your littlies also.

I am dreading having to part with my bubbies! I hate it! But, at least we both get to keep one or some of our hatches and give them great homes

I hope you didn’t mind me sharing that, I seemed to turn a simple question into a novella.

Anyways, getting back to cute bubbies … Thank you! They are pretty gorgeous! Spot does look a bit crested doesn’t he; might have a bit of Silkie in him or something else. It is going to fun seeing how they both feather out.

In other news, Blondie is down to 5 eggs. When she was off the nest today I had a peek and one of the eggs was chipped, not just cracked, an actual chip, similar to a pip except inwards. I checked them all very carefully before I gave them to her so somehow this one got damaged. I do not know when it was damaged; as you know, I do touch the eggs after I have given them to my broody so it could have been chipped soon after giving it to her and I am only seeing it now because she had turned it. Sadly, these things happen I guess.

Got 3 eggs today from 3 possibles so that was pretty good! LuLu and Dusty laid early and then Cilla was in the nest box for a while around lunch time. She came waddling out of the coop and I went to get her egg. No egg in the nest box and no egg in the coop; sometimes they get caught up in her skirts and drop on the coop floor when she hops out of the nest box. Thinking she had given up on laying an egg to help me eat my lunch, I did not worry about it. After they helped me eat lunch, Cilla waddled off down the path and that is when I spotted the egg, still caught up in her skirts

I thought she was waddling a little more than she usually does! lol

Anywho, it is getting towards dinner time and I am getting hungry, so I will wrap this one up.

Take care everyone and happy chickens!

 

[lizgarf]

Hi folks,
Did everyone have a great weekend? I can't believe it's over and there are no new posts in almost 2 days! I hope it's due to lots of fun being had.
Things here are fine. Integration continues to improve - sometimes I see the chicks mingling a bit, despite the broodzillas. One very sweet thing I've been noticing is that Auntie Marsha has been getting into the broody act a bit, by tidbitting for Rousseau's babies. She always hangs back with them and saves them some treats. Who knew she was a wanta-broody!
Sadly, Jan has not repeated her egg trick. Maybe her body decided she needed to lay one egg between molts, who knows. It's been three days since the one little 44-gram blue egg graced the nest with no repeat. She did check out the nests a bit today, so maybe I can keep hoping. Thank goodness for Bettina and her XL eggs in the meantime!

At 5 weeks, my count is 3 pretty-darn sure boys and 3 pretty-darn sure girls, with about 80% certainty that Norma is a girl, 55% certainty that Frankie is a girl, and 30% certainty that Lu is a girl. After looking at some pictures online, it looks like young Brahmas tend to look similar except overall body and comb size (and comb color), and that's what I'm seeing with Brian and Norma, with Norma also starting to get different neck feathers. Frankie continues to look like a girl with a relatively big, pink comb. (Smaller than the marans and the other known boys, but bigger than the other girls.) Let's hope that's what she is. Yesterday, I would have told you that both Lu and Cy were definitely boys, but today I noticed that Lu's big pink comb was substantially smaller and paler than Cy's huge pink comb, and Lu is getting some neck feathers and her legs might be shorter, so I'm calling too soon to tell on that pair.

Here are some pictures. Looking forward to hearing/seeing how you all are doing.

Norma on the left, Brian on the right (I mostly like Frida, here, but you can see the size difference).


Brian and Diego, definitely boys!:


Norma and Brian, see how Norma is looking away, unlike Brian or Diego above:


Team Rousseau:


Madeline:



By the way, Teila, your Beware of Broody sign, which I love, reminds me of a sign I made for Reggie, to put on my brand-new gate, which I also love, though the photo isn't the best. In case it's not legible, it says, "Caution, Overly-Protective Pooch":

 

[Teila]

Hey Liz and the Bridge Club

Yep, it has been quiet, I thought it was something I said!

Lots of fun being had here .. such beautiful weather at the moment and spending as much time as I can outside enjoying it.

That is so sweet of Marsha!

When Dusty came back from her molt she laid 1 egg and then took 2 days off.

That is a gorgeous photo of Frida; I love her expression. There definitely is a size difference between Norma and Brian.

Brian and Diego look like they mean business in that second photo; Boys will be boys!

What a wonderful explore-spot Team Rousseau have; they look like that are having a wonderful time! .. Frankie’s head is looking so much better!

I love Madeline’s chair, your gate and the sign! Your little ones have grown so much!

Blondie has just completed Day 5; egg loss is still at 1; leaving 5. She chased me around the garden a few times this afternoon trying to attack my toes .. cranky girl!

Cilla and LuLu contributed to the egg fund today and Dusty had the day off! Tina and the Jelly Beans are doing well also.

Not much news of note so I will close with a few more Jelly Bean pictures … I can’t help myself; ‘Gloria’ loves the camera!!

 

[MistyMountain]

Stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark September 25 in your calendars as an official holiday, because JAN LAID AN EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never lost hope for that girl!!! Yay!!! And a very pretty shade too!! The shape is similar to what my Darth Vader lays and hers are always smaller with super thick shells. She is also a digger. Always digging up something good!

Peek-A-Boo!

Love all the pics, Teila!

Hello to everyone else. Life is good here on the homestead. Super busy preparing for winter and school functions for the boys. Planting three pear trees this evening and probably stacking more firewood. Nothing much to report, though along with Wendy the Wellie, Elsa the splash cochin and Maude the naughty tree roosting orp are now squatting. It would be nice if they started chipping in… I have promised 6 dozen eggs in two weeks for a family reunion! More brown in the basket would be nice. Egg production is staying around a solid 5-6 per day even though a number of the hens have some obvious molting going on.

Have a great week all!