Pipd's Peeps 2014!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Love your new roo! Paints are so cool. Haha. Once one goes broody, they whole gang joins in.

That's what it feels like, anyway! I think one of my Easter-eggers, Cressida, may be going, too. She's crazy. She can't decide if she wants to be a rooster or a hen. She lays eggs and all, but she's also the one that mounts the other hens, so... The year before last, she went broody, quit within a couple days, and then went into molt, all within a couple weeks time in June. Crazy!

Wow.  You have a lot of broodies!   I sort wish she'd stay broody so I could hatch something under her.  How many roosters do you have?

Reuben makes two. My other rooster is a little more than 10 years old and I think he's infertile at this point. He's actually with the ducks, though, because he kind of bonded with them while they were all in quarantine. Trudi still likes to eat her breakfast with him. It's really sweet.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, y'all, I did a bad thing. I put 6 eggs from Trudi and Malcolm in the incubator. Due around the 29th. Yes, I'm crazy.

Editing to add--I could have put them under a broody, I suppose, but Georgie and Margaret have given up already and the Sebrights are a little too flighty for my liking.



I'm also officially out of class as of today, so yaaay! e We're a little less than 2 weeks from the babies' first hatchday--time to start planning the party!

 

[lightchick]

That's great! I'm probably going to try and order some Coturnix quail eggs to put under either some of my pigeons to hatch or a broody hen if I can get one of my hens to actually stay broody more then a couple hours a day! I'm not sure about the pigeons because the pigeons eggs will hatch before the quail eggs and I don't know if the pigeons will be OK with having both eggs and squabs under them.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

LOOK LOOK LOOK!!! e BABY DUCKIES!! Please meet Left Bottom, Right Center, and Right Top:

Left Top and Left Center are developing beautifully as well, I just didn't want to keep the incubator open any longer. Are they not the most beautiful thing? ARG, I'm so excited!!

Editing to add, these were taken last night, day 5.




Sadly, it isn't all good news, though. Right Bottom appears to be a blood ring, which means that the embryo has died. Still, 5 out of 6 is much better than last time, as long as the rest of the babies keep going. They're all wiggly and active and strong, so I'm optimistic!

Here is what I'm pretty sure is a blood ring. Poor little baby. This was the first one I candled, of course, so I immediately felt my heart sink when I saw it. Fortunately, this is the only one.

 

[lightchick]

Awesome! 5 out of 6 is really good still.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Yay! Hoping the rest hatch! Are they call ducks?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yup, little call duckies, offspring of my butterscotch pair, Malcolm and Trudi. The other 5 are still going strong and growing fast!

Speaking of li'l duckies, here is miss Trudi-patooti up on the shelf in the duck coop where she isn't really supposed to be. She's got a good innocent look going on, must be the hens are teaching her a thing or two. (Apologies for the picture quality, it was taken with my phone.)

And in other news, we have a surprise joiner of the broody brigade. Young miss Kit-kit is getting a broody attitude going! I can't tell if Elda is thinking of joining her, or if she just happened to be in the nest at the same time. It would figure, though, that those two would go broody at the same time! And I don't remember if I've mentioned her here before or not, but one of the older Partridge Plymouth Rocks, She Who Sleeps Standing Up, is going broody again, too. The broody count is back up to 4 definites and 1 maybe. UGH!

 

[autumnhearth]

Yup, little call duckies, offspring of my butterscotch pair, Malcolm and Trudi.

The other 5 are still going strong and growing fast!

Speaking of li'l duckies, here is miss Trudi-patooti up on the shelf in the duck coop where she isn't really supposed to be.

She's got a good innocent look going on, must be the hens are teaching her a thing or two. (Apologies for the picture quality, it was taken with my phone.)


And in other news, we have a surprise joiner of the broody brigade. Young miss Kit-kit is getting a broody attitude going!

I can't tell if Elda is thinking of joining her, or if she just happened to be in the nest at the same time. It would figure, though, that those two would go broody at the same time! And I don't remember if I've mentioned her here before or not, but one of the older Partridge Plymouth Rocks, She Who Sleeps Standing Up, is going broody again, too. The broody count is back up to 4 definites and 1 maybe. UGH!

Trudi's a cutie! Oh it would be so cute if Kit-Kit and Elda were tandem broody mommas! Maybe you could give the ducklings to one or more of your broodies. Victoria's been showing signs of broodiness. She puffs up, flares her hackles and makes this whinnying sound at me. The one thing stopping her is that she's a bit of a push over and gives up her spot for the other girls. Clara the EE took her nest box then Victoria went back in, laid and stayed put. I took the eggs from her and started to nudge her out, Baby was standing there watching and waiting and to her credit didn't peck Victoria but she did push in behind her and Victoria left the coop and sang a very loud egg song until I gave them some scratch. Long story short, none of girls have been very determined, persistent broodies, but they are young.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I'm so jealous! I love call ducks. Yours is adorable. And I feel your pain, my silkie, Raven just also joined my broody brigade... that makes three (half of my flock)

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Youngsters with no commitment, that's what they are! Kit's over it already, and Elly quit before she started. AND, the Sebrights finally decided to call it quits, so we're down to She Who Might Be Broody. So that's the good news.

Also in the good news section, I candled the five eggs last night. Five little duckies greeted me. They're growing beautifully and staying active!



Now for the bad news.

For those of you not keeping up with the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreak, it came out yesterday that H5N8 was found in my county here in Indiana. So that's what I'm dealing with at the moment. No free ranging right now, and I may have to postpone the babies' first hatchday party until I feel safer about it. I'm working on containing the girls better so there is less of a chance of wild birds getting in with them. No one's going to be happy about that, naturally, but I can't lose these girls. I'm apparently not in the quarantined portion of the county, though I'm still on high alert as anyone should be. It's worrying, but I'm trying not to panic.