Pipd's Peeps 2014!

[lightchick]

Awww she's so cute! What breed is she?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

She's a splash Marans from Meyer Hatchery. Here's a few pictures of her yelling at me today. And trying to swim in her water dish or something.

"HONK!"

"I'm mad at you."

Drink, drink...

GLUB!

Thinking REALLY hard about something...

And some pretty feather close-ups.

I'll get back to our regularly scheduled baby pictures if the weather breaks like it's supposed to this weekend. Come on, spring!

 

[lightchick]

I'm hoping to get a Maran sometime. Are you getting more chicks this year?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No, unfortunately, I have no room. And with the test for MG coming back positive, I'm not sure if I want to bring in any new birds anyway. So this year will be a year in appreciation of the girls that are already here.

My three Marans are all sweethearts, so you should have no problems with their personalities if you get one. If you're looking for a dark egg color, though, I'd suggest you try for a Black Copper Marans. Frou-Frou lays a pretty normal colored brown egg, no darker than my red sexlinks' eggs. Georgie, one of my two Black Coppers, lays a beautiful, dark brown egg, though. Her sister Louise hasn't laid yet, so I don't know what her egg color will be, but judging by Georgie's eggs, it should be nice!

 

[lightchick]

Maybe I could squeeze in a Maran.....chicken math and living in town are kind of restrictive!

 

[autumnhearth]

The girls refused to pose for their 9 month pictures yesterday, and I didn't have the time to make them cooperate before I had to get going to class, so I only got a hand full of pictures. Will get better ones tomorrow, since we're not only supposed to have a slight warmup, but I don't have class to get ready for in the morning!

For now, here are most of the littles giving me dirty looks, because obviously it's my fault it's been cold.

Kit standing awkwardly because she wanted to squat.

Georgie, poor Georgie, she lost every single one of her comb points.

Mabel, who in spite of the cold still must look her best:

Oh my goodness, Cubby! I had not heard about her. I forget you have so many chickens, because I only see your Meyer girls. I didn't know you had your own thread over here Love your Dorkings, as always. Interesting to see their combs. Victoria's shrunk down when she was molting and I just noticed it was getting bigger yesterday, then she laid her first egg (since December) today. How are they laying this winter? Poor Georgie, honestly she looks better than Morgaine who has a lot of black on her comb, I'm surprised the tips haven't fallen off yet. Did you do anything special for them? I've just been slathering her with Green Goo. I <3 Mabel!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hehe, yeah, I try to start a new thread for all of my babies to keep their growing up pictures together. Since I may or may not be getting chicks this year, though, I'm thinking of switching over to a 'picture dumping site' type of thread after these babies are a year old. Just a place to toss any pictures I don't have anywhere else to post. We'll see on that, though.

To answer your questions: I think the Dorkings have both been laying pretty steadily since they began laying in December. Kit-kit's comb shrunk down a bit for a short while, but it has since come back in full force. She has a comb that just won't quit! On Georgie's poor comb, I had been reading conflicting reports on everything advised for use on frostbite, so I kind of played it by ear and adjusted the ventilation on the coop as needed. It seemed to work out pretty well!





I'm sad to say I must also add a bit of misfortune to my post. On Saturday, we had our first loss to a hawk in the nearly 10 years I have had chickens. My precious little Sebright, Vespa, stood no chance.

The morning after the hawk attack, I noticed that Violet was blue in the face and breathing hard. I brought her in, gave her a warm soak (I at first suspected egg binding), gave her some aspirin, and kept her comfortable and warm. Sadly, she passed away yesterday, I believe of some sort of heart failure. Thinking back on her behavior, she always did seem a bit slow compared to the other girls, and I suspect she may have had a heart defect. The stress of the attack was just too much.

Losing Vespa was crushing, but my sweet Violet, the big-boned and grumpy-faced German Bielefelder who was never too busy for a hug... I'm still weepy over losing her, and so young, too...

Vespa on the left, and Violet on the right. Rest in peace, my precious babies...

...The rest of the babies will be 10 months old around the 19th (I never remember if it's the 18th or the 19th for sure... ). I'll try to take lots of pictures to make up for the small number last time. I'm also on spring break next week, so maybe I'll take some time to take pictures of the other girls. I would hate to have them feel neglected.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, and before I go, here's Frou-Frou's latest antics. Peeking over the edge of my bed:

"Are you awake yet?"

"Good! Now, about breakfast..."

And coming back into the room after taking care of the girls outside, I found this. Yes, that's my bed. The look on her face, though. She's looking at me like, "I missed you..."

 

[autumnhearth]

Aww I'm so sorry for your loss! Such beautiful girls. I know Violet was a special surprise breed for you. Oh Frou-Frou. That's what chicken diapers are made for! I still haven't gotten any myself, but need to.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, sweet Violet, she was supposed to be a Legbar. Little did I know she would turn out to be a new-found favorite breed. I may be getting more Bielefelders this summer, depending on a few things. I know I've been saying I won't get more chicks, but I'm really missing Violet at this point.


Frou-frou, her goofiness is keeping me going some days. Much as I complain, I do really love that hen.