Pipd's Peeps 2014!

[itspebbl]

Ooh I hope that you get a chick out of sweet Po. He was great

 

[lightchick]

Hi! I got my new chicks! I got them from a hobby farm with hundreds of chicks and almost all of them are mixes. I wanted a chick that would be mostly white and another one that would lay blue eggs. With all the chicks together it was hard to find what I wanted. Then the guy said that he had a couple chicks that had just hatched in the incubator and so I looked at the and one was white/yellowish and the other had a stripe down it's back and had a beard and (i think) a pea comb!
So yeah, ones a mix of something and the other is a Ameraucana mix. They were still damp when I got them. Here's some pics!

Still damp from hatching.





One day old now!

































Now I know what you mean when you talk about your chicks giving you the look when you disturb their cuddle time! These chicks are so sweet! Very friendly! I think it's because I got them very early in life and I have only two of them. Does the white chick look like it has Ameraucana in her too? I feather sexed them and am hoping that their girls! Anyway just wanted to show you them.
I wish you good luck with your eggs! I can't wait to see the next updates on the chickies!

 

[itspebbl]

Those are adorable!!!

I wonder what they will look like as they grow up?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, y'all, here's the flock update for the time being.

The babies had some sod yesterday, so they are ready to go outside at last! I hate that it has had to be put off for so long, but I suppose what's done is done and with everything going on here, I can't see how it could be avoided. Anyway, assuming the weather is good tomorrow and they don't fall deathly ill between now and then from their sod, they will have their 7 week pictures taken outside!

They are officially off heat as well. They haven't really used the EcoGlow in a while, and they have long since outgrown it, so I unplugged it. I left it in the brooder, though, because they so enjoy perching on it. Next thing is to replace the EcoGlow with a perch and get them ready for the coop.

On the eggs Marge is sitting on, I candled at day 18 (last Wednesday) and there was only one that looked promising. Today is day 21, and I'm not going to let Margie sit longer than day 25 (next Wednesday) for her health, so I am on chick watch for the next few days! Come on little eggy!! I'll be sure to post here as soon as something happens, if anything happens!

We also got a fence up a few days ago to let Tilde, the Swedish Flower Hen mentioned toward the beginning of this thread, have some area to forage and graze. She's now in an area where there is thick undergrowth to peck through and plenty of trees for shade and cover. I think she's happy. She usually disappears into the undergrowth for much of the day.

In less happy news, since I have few other places in which to share this, my flock feels a lot smaller this morning. One of my oldest hens at 7 years old, Pace, had been slowing down significantly over the past few days. Last night, she died in her sleep. I think it was simply her time, though it doesn't make it any easier to think that I won't see her in the coop after all these years. She is survived only by one sister, Olive, who I hope to have a few more years out of yet.


And, well, that's about it here. Tomorrow is picture day, so I'll be posting again then!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hi! I got my new chicks! I got them from a hobby farm with hundreds of chicks and almost all of them are mixes. I wanted a chick that would be mostly white and another one that would lay blue eggs. With all the chicks together it was hard to find what I wanted. Then the guy said that he had a couple chicks that had just hatched in the incubator and so I looked at the and one was white/yellowish and the other had a stripe down it's back and had a beard and (i think) a pea comb! So yeah, ones a mix of something and the other is a Ameraucana mix. They were still damp when I got them. Here's some pics! Now I know what you mean when you talk about your chicks giving you the look when you disturb their cuddle time! These chicks are so sweet! Very friendly! I think it's because I got them very early in life and I have only two of them. Does the white chick look like it has Ameraucana in her too? I feather sexed them and am hoping that their girls! Anyway just wanted to show you them. I wish you good luck with your eggs! I can't wait to see the next updates on the chickies!

AGH, they are too cute! Were my babies ever this small? I can't believe what a difference 7 weeks makes! I think both of your babies are Easter-eggers, which is the common term for Ameraucana mixes and non-standard Ameraucanas. I see little beards on both of them! I hope they're both girls for you, too! I am in total agreement on you about getting them so early in life. I have noticed a few things over the years as far as chick friendliness goes. First off, breed makes a big difference. With that taken into account, my friendliest birds have always been the ones I got as early as possible. The birds I've gotten as adults have always been the shyest, though with some work they have all tamed down to an extent. My feed store chicks are always curious about me, but flee when I try to pet them. The ones that I have gotten as day-olds directly from he hatchery have been the friendliest, as evidenced by these babies, as well as the ones from last year and the year before. Before then, I was getting chicks from feed stores, and at this point I doubt I'll ever go back to that. As much as I have tamed down my birds, they are never as friendly as the direct from hatchery chicks. The same, I'm sure, can be said for chicks that are hatched at home. I have no experience with that, though, so I'm just reporting what I know.

 

[itspebbl]

We got our chicks when they were about three days old. They would hold still mostly but never were anything like Elda and Kit are

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, today was a nice day, so I got everything set up and took the babies out for their first trip outside! Them being older than usual for their first trip, I think it went quite well.

At first, though, they didn't want to come out of the box I carried them out in:

Louise didn't like the looks of this...

When they finally did come out, they didn't want to touch the ground at all. Here we have Elda on my left leg, Kit and Mabel on my feet, and Poppy, Georgie, Louise, and Violet on my right leg. And yes, someone pooped on my lap.

Finally, they were convinced. Here's Kit thinking this isn't so bad after all! Or maybe she's thinking 'Derp?'. Yeah, I think that second one is more accurate.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

So, without further ado, here are the littles' 7 week pictures, taken outside as promised!

Elda Cuddles! She was so busy with all the new stuff to look at that we didn't get many cuddles in!

Kit-Kit! She spend the entire time peeping about this or tha, as if she had a complaint about everything.

Georgie the oaf! She jumped right from the box into my lap, scratching my knee with her razor claws until she got her balance!

Sweet, quiet Louise! She stood back and just observed, right up until someone found a bug! Then, she was definitely in on it!

Mabey Mabel the worrier! Whenever there was something to be worried about, Mabel was the first to let it be known with a 'cheee...'

And the bigger girls at 8 weeks old!

Poppy the supermodel! She was posing at every turn, though many of the pictures I took of her didn't turn out very well because of the lighting. :/

And Violet! Oh, Violet! She was pulling out all the stops today! You'll see in her pictures.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Today was a day for cuddles! Perhaps because they needed comfort from the shock they experienced!

Here's Elda's cuddle time:

Kit-kit took a turn:

Then, to my surprise, Violet came up for cuddles! She was really being a ham today!

She tucked herself right up against me!

Unfortunately, I think it's a cover. Violet is clearly planning for world domination...

...And she's got Georgie in on it, too!

Elda... Nah, there's nothing sinister in this little head.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

And to finish up, here's a shiny Marans named Louise.

A curious Bielefelder named Violet.

A sweetie face from my Mabel.

A dramatic over-the-shoulder pose from the wannabe model, Poppy.

Bright-eyes from Violet!

And finally, here's the view from the pen. They were in a wooded area, so not much sky visible, but I feel safer about them being under cover like this.