Pipd's Peeps!

[pattyhen]

Pipds are you doing ok? We haven't heard from you for a while. I hope everything is fine.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oops, it has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted, hasn't it? We're all fine over here, I've just been busy working on finishing the semester, and various other distractions. I did lose a Red Dorking baby last week with all the signs of 'mushy chick disease', which luckily isn't contagious, but it is pretty uncommon in older chicks like that. Just my luck. :/ Everyone else is doing great, growing, and I'm starting to be able to tell who's a boy and who's a girl. My current prediction is 4, maybe 5 girls out of the 14 remaining; 2 each of both Dorking varieties, and the 'maybe' is a Black Copper Marans. I'm really hoping for at least one Marans pullet, as I really wanted more dark brown eggs, but I'm not holding my breath at this point. Still, I am glad it's looking like this many girls, as my luck usually is worse with that.

My last final (well, really my only final this semester...) is a week from tomorrow, but it's organic chem and it's cumulative over both semesters, not just this semester, so I'm going to be doing a lot of studying for that one. But once that's over, I'm sure I'll have a lot more pictures and stories to post!

 

[pattyhen]

Thanks for letting us know your doing ok. I was getting worried about you. I'm sorry for your loss of your little one. Good luck on your final I'm sure you will do great.

Have a nice day.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Just popping in to post that either Abra or Rowena has laid her first egg! Ro has been hormonal for longer, so I'm inclined to believe it was her, but Abra can't be too far off, either. I'll have to get pictures of them this weekend so y'all can see how much they've grown. My little feather dusters.

Funny story on the same topic. Back on April 1, for April Fool's day, I grabbed one of the fairy eggs I'd been keeping from the flock, took it with me to take care of Abie and Ro in their brooder, and then came out and showed my mom with my best stunned look on my face. She gave me this amazing look of horror and said, "Really?" and I couldn't help but crack up right then and there. Today, I come out, stunned and excited to find that egg for real this time, and tell her, "Okay, it's no longer April Fool's day!" Needless to say, she was still skeptical and I had to convince her this time it was the real deal. She says Ro was crowing a lot more than usual this morning, which further leads me to believe it was Ro who laid this egg. Not sure if I mentioned this or not because I've been so busy lately, but Rowena crows every morning. My late Golden Sebright hen, Rose, would crow after every egg she laid rather than sing the egg song, which is why I was thinking if Ro was crowing more than usual, maybe she prefers to crow, too. I have a strange flock.

Anyway, all I have left is my Organic Chem final tomorrow at 1 pm, so by tomorrow evening I should be a lot less busy. For now, it's back to studying!


Edited to fix wording.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Can't wait to see more pictures! That's so funny that your hens crow. I live in a neighborhood so if my hens crowed I'm sure the cops would be knocking on my door everyday haha. Hope your finals went well. I just finished mine yesterday (I came home today) and it's so relieving.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, yeah, they sure are something. Yep... something. Anyway, it definitely is a relief to have finals done and over with! Now fingers crossed we both did well!




So returning to the eggs, yesterday afternoon, I found a second egg in with Ro and Abra after I had posted, so I was thinking Ro must have laid her first egg the day before and her second egg yesterday. Well, today, just before leaving for my final, I found two more eggs in there! So it looks like either Ro and Abra began laying at the same time, or one has been laying a few days and the other has started now! Anyway, I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture of some eggs to show off their work. On the left is the fairy egg I used to fool mom with on April Fool's day, then the four eggs from the little girls, then an egg from their mom, Donna, and finally, a 'normal' brown egg. I took the picture at an angle because the shadow of my phone was in the picture otherwise, so they all look rounder than they are in actuality.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, I know I'm stuck on the eggs, but oh my goodness, they're just so small! They laid two more today, and I was thinking these tiny things almost had to be wind eggs or something, right? They're the same size as the wind eggs I get from the big girl flock, and much smaller than even Donna's eggs when she first started laying! Well, I finally cracked one open today, and oh my goodness, it had the most perfect little teeny tiny yolk in it! And that teeny tiny yolk even had a blastodisc on it, the spot where the egg is fertilized, meaning that if they had been with a rooster, it could have actually produced a teeny tiny chick! Now, they haven't been with a rooster and I have no plans on putting them with one any time soon, but can you even imagine how small that baby would be?!

Here's a better comparison shot of the teeny tiny eggs with a normal-sized brown egg from one of the big girls:

Tiny egg and tiny yolk:

A U.S. tablespoon with the yolk in it for comparison. The entire egg, yolk and white, was just one heaping tablespoon. I can't get over how small they are!!

Okay, I think I'm done posting about the teeny tiny eggs now.





Editing to add, I nearly forgot! Some of you might remember that I got a locket to wear with my beloved Frou-Frou's picture in it about a year and a half ago (see this post). Well, sadly, after being worn almost constantly for that long (and being dropped a couple times, oops), the locket was broken and falling apart, and I was pretty much holding it together with tape. During finals, my mom bought me a new locket to wear! The last one was just a simple round locket, but this one is gorgeous, kind of heart-shaped but made of wings. I love it and I've been wearing it since it arrived. I did have to go down to one picture because it only holds one rather than the two that the original locket held, so I picked my favorite picture I ever took of her, the same one as in my avatar.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Those eggs are adorable! I do wonder if you could hatch a tiny chick from them. Maybe it's something for you to try in the future

Also the new locket looks lovely. Looks like it could be a chicken's wings.

 

[pattyhen]

shadow rabbit don't ever get a golden sebright if you can't have hens that crow. I too had 2 golden sebrights and they both crowed. They didn't do it until they got older but they defiantly crowed.

Pip those eggs are tiny. I just wonder if that is the size they are going to lay. I hope you did well in your finals.

The locket is gorgeous. The wings on the front are so pretty.

Have a great day everyone we finally have a day without rain.

I almost forgot to tell you Mary Jane the guinea hen has now went broody full time. I have her due date as May 20th so wish me luck that I only get 2 babies. She is setting on 25 eggs.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

shadow rabbit don't ever get a golden sebright if you can't have hens that crow. I too had 2 golden sebrights and they both crowed. They didn't do it until they got older but they defiantly crowed.

Pip those eggs are tiny. I just wonder if that is the size they are going to lay. I hope you did well in your finals.

The locket is gorgeous. The wings on the front are so pretty.

Have a great day everyone we finally have a day without rain.

I almost forgot to tell you Mary Jane the guinea hen has now went broody full time. I have her due date as May 20th so wish me luck that I only get 2 babies. She is setting on 25 eggs.

Funny that you say that about the Sebrights. A few years ago I wanted a golden Sebright so bad and I almost got one... Guess it's best that didn't happen then, haha.
Have a great day too. Unfortunately it's still raining here in New Jersey.