Pipd's Peeps!

[shadow rabbit10]

Haha that's funny. Maybe you can start a frog farm! Aw poor Crashie...Molts can be rough.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sounds like fun! We had something like that going on for a few years because the driveway had this huge puddle alongside it and we would count upwards of 40 frogs in it some summers! My parents redid the driveway this year and the puddle got filled in, so the frogs had to find a new home. I guess the duck pool was that guy's choice!





Today, the chickens had a major freakout, and I couldn't see anything out there that could have been spooking them, so I took one of the dogs out to run around and hopefully scare anything off. Tulio impressed me a bit by placing himself between the flock and the dog, and keeping a close eye on her. Of course, he's still a youngin, so when the dog trotted along too close by the fence, he freaked out and ran for it.

I've been discussing things with my family and I think I've come to a decision on the roosters. I've given Ramsay too many chances, and no matter what I've done with him, he still acts aggressively toward me. Lucky is not as bad, but still gives me reason to think he will continue to be a problem. I plan on hatching more silkied Cochins anyway, and as a result, there will certainly be more cockerels to choose from, hopefully with better temperaments. As difficult as it is, I think that Ramsay and Lucky need to go. This leaves me space to keep all four of Dorking boys that I was having a hard time choosing between. Now, there's still the chance that they'll do something to make me change my mind on this, but for now, Tulio, Theo, Dante, and Darwin are all going on my keepers list, along with Reuben, Winter, Ben, Roscoe, Rigby, and most likely Vander, too. That's a lot of roosters. But I think we've figured out housing for them and everything, so it should work out. Now, we've just got to finish all the building before the semester starts!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Whoops, has it really been almost 2 weeks since I last posted here? Well, not a lot has been going on lately here. My semester starts on August 21 (yup, the very same day as the big eclipse, although I don't think we're going to see very much of it up here), so mostly we're scrambling to get things like the rooster pens done before then. Mom and I fixed up the roofs of the Guinea coop and the deck for the winter, since both were leaking horribly, and we've finally moved the first rooster pen to where it will stay from now on. The lumber and hardware for the second is all set, just need to buy more hardware cloth. Once everything is built and in place, then I'll be filling the bases with sand, using heavier fence to make a skirt to prevent digging predators, and getting a small fenced area set up so that the boys can come out and stretch their wings occasionally. Hopefully, this will all be finished before winter if it can't be finished before the semester starts! I want to have all the keeper boys set up in their new homes by then, and the non-keeper boys out of here before that.

Other than that, not much is going on. Just getting my last couple weeks of rest and relaxation before the stress starts up! Actually, this semester shouldn't be bad because none of the classes I need were available, so I'm just taking two classes that I guess could be called relevant for my degree, but aren't really what I was hoping for. I get the feeling the semester will be boring more than anything. Oh, well. I should be taking the last classes I need in the spring, though!

Anyway, I'll see about getting out there for pictures at least one last time before the semester starts. I want to try and get some entries for the calendar before then, anyway.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, so I haven't gotten those pictures yet... This past week, I got a new phone and laptop for the semester, since my old ones were dying. Well, one feature that I discovered on the new phone was the ability to take slow motion videos on it, a feature that I, of course, tested out on the girls! It's been done before (we've all seen the slow motion Brahma rooster, right?), but I just thought this was really cool! Here are a few of the better ones that I've gotten (hopefully this works):

Callette eating:

Jumping for treats (pieces of whole wheat bread in this case). I took a ton of these, but here are the better ones. Merlin got it in this one:

Wing flapping motions in these two were just awesome. The girls who get the bread are Merlin again in the first one, then Rooska in the second one:

Elda dust bathing. This one is a bit long, but I couldn't stop watching the dirt moving as she kicked and pecked it around:

There were a couple others, but I guess you can only do five at a time here, so here are my favorite five. Still hoping to get good recordings of a few more actions, like flying, the egg song, shaking out feathers, roosters crowing, etc. Anyway, I hope y'all find these as weirdly fascinating as I did.




Edit: Oh yeah, and this new phone takes much better pictures than the last. For example, here is the green duck really committing to his disguise... That's a molted feather on his head.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

One more video from this morning. This is either Tessa or Echo flying off the deck after I opened the door this morning. Those two are hard to tell apart when standing perfectly still, so I really have no clue with whoever this is flying. Based on their personalities, my best guess is it's Echo. Anyway, slow motion chicken flight:

I'm thinking of making a new thread just for this, because I have tons and tons of slow motion videos now. It's addicting, but so cool!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Time for a breath of life here! I have a metric ton of pictures to post (and can only do 20 at a time unless that has changed, so I will have to do two posts), so I'll get right to it after a bit of flock news.

To start off, Tilde left us about a week ago. She had suddenly fallen ill and was soon unable to walk. She struggled with flock integration from the get go, and so considering that she would have to be kept isolated to be nursed back to health when it seemed quite unlikely there was anything I could do, only to then struggle again with integration, we decided it was probably for the best to let her go. Not long before that, one of the Guinea boys also passed away unexpectedly. He was my crooked legged boy, the one that wasn't supposed to survive for very long or be miserable the whole time because of his legs. Well, he sure seemed to live well up until he suddenly started breathing hard, and then he was gone.

Other than that, things have been mostly normal. The eight rooster boys are maturing and crowing, and starting to fight unfortunately. Darwin, Dante, and one of the non-keepers are getting the brunt of aggression from the others, while Tygo (previously Tulio, not sure when or how that changed ) and another of the non-keepers are causing most of the problems. We didn't finish the rooster pens before the semester started, so we're scrambling to finish those now so that I can get some of these boys separated. Most likely, I'll be keeping Darwin, Dante, and Theo together in the next completed pen, along with the non-keeper boy that's getting beat up on, and Tygo and the rest of the non-keepers will stay together with Roscoe until the last rooster pen is done. I still have to figure out who's going where in these pens, but hopefully Darwin, Dante, and Theo will get along well enough to be kept together, and then I should have plenty of pens for everyone.

Along with the boys fighting came skitterishness in some of them, particularly the one non-keeper boy who gets picked on, which has led to me not being able to free-range them anymore. Some of them get really skittish when I try to get them back into the coop for the afternoon, and I end up chasing them all over for hours just to catch them. So, until rooster pens are done and the skittish boys are moved, no more free-range for them. Oh, well.

We've decided that at some point in October is when the non-keeper boys will be going. I'm not sure that I have discussed this here, but the plan is to send them to process for meat. This is a huge step for me, and the closer we get to October, the more I question every little decision, especially about who should be kept. I really have no more room for any more roosters than the ones I have decided to keep. The one I keep going back and forth on is the one Black Copper Marans who is more of a golden color than copper. He did bite me, but he has been pretty even-tempered since... and he's SOOO handsome. It's tough, but I have to stick with who's going to be of better use for me, and since I want to hatch some Dorkings from my flock next year, the Dorkings take priority. But if any of them happen to do something to be taken off the keeper list, he's totally in!

Anyway, on to the pictures! We'll start off with the youngsters. Here is lovely Echo, working the runway walk.

And Tessa. Haven't these two just turned gorgeous? No regrets on the Dark Dorkings!

Tess and Perdita, giving me looks. "Who're you callin' chicken?"

Nadine, showing off some iridescence and her Black Copper-iness. I had a picture of Reinette that was similar to this, too, but it was all out of focus.

Tess again. "Whatcha doin'?"

I tell you what, Tess just knows how to pose.

This is one of the pictures I entered for the calendar:

Tess again, I think. She was really posing for the camera that day, I guess.

Getting some sun. That's Vander up front--starting to actually look like a rooster!

And just chillin'. Finally, a picture with Reinette in it! The Dorking in the background amuses me, too.

Here's a shot of Theodore Dorking, up on a tarp shelter I put up for the rooster boys. He's really been impressing me lately, this guy. I'm glad I decided to keep him for his rose comb, because he's got a personality worth keeping for sure!

And the creamy / golden Black Copper Marans boy.

On to the 'big birds'. Here's Freema the grumpy Barred Rock. She's not sure why I'm photographing her while she's bathing, but she's owning it.

Lydda and Roha were also in the bath house that day. Roha, of course, had to stand up to make sure no one else had my attention.

My sweet Elly. She's tailless right now because she broke off all her tail feathers in the nest box! She also may be molting.

Her Floofiness, queen of all the floofins, Madam Flury Floofle-Poofle! She probably has this look because I'm not taking her seriously. She also was starting into a molt at this point, and right now she's more of a pin cushion than a floofins, but she's still just as serious!

Callette, looking lovely. You can barely see it in this picture, but she somehow managed to color some of her head feathers bright pink. Must just be a phase.

Floofles again, with quite the grimace. She's had enough of the photo shoot!

And it looks like I actually can put everything in one post, so let the pictures continue!

I got a ton of pictures of just Abra, because she's just too stinking cute! I wanted to enter her for the calendar, too, but didn't end up getting anything I liked for an entry, so instead I got lots of cuteness to share here! Look at this precious fuzzy!

Is this the face of a bird who knows she's the cutest or what?

Working on her hypnotism. Wait for it...

BOOM! The hard stare! Now you are under her control and must obey her every whim!

A little bit of an autumnal background in this shot.

Yup, she knows she's the cutest.

And finally, some pictures of the 'other fowl'. I was going for more calendar entries, but neither the ducks nor the Guineas wanted to pose properly for a good calendar shot.

Oh, well. Here are some of my calendar rejects.

The classic Crashie smile:

Malcolm and Trudi giving me the cold shoulder after I harassed them to try and get them to pose nicely.

This is how the Guineas react to the same harassment.

He is handsome, in spite of his ear-splitting vocals...

Probably the only good shot I got of one of the Guinea boys. He only let be get this shot because he was hopeful I'd let him go back in from free-ranging. For some reason, the Guineas just hate free-ranging.

Aaaand then there's this. Bombs away?

Okay, that's all I got. Enjoy!

 

[TheChickenQueen]

The dark dorkings are gorgeous!

I just love silver birds, I feel like they are so pretty <3 I moved a couple months ago and had to sell all my adults then lost a lot of my chicks to stress So I've been going back and forth on keeping the ones I have but then I see pictures of everyone's birds and...

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aw, I'm so sorry to hear that! Good luck deciding! What breeds do you have right now?

Silver Gray / Silver Duckwing / Silver (or whatever you want to call it ) is probably my favorite coloration on hens. Then you add variations like the Dark Dorkings, or Fawn Silver Duckwing, and it just gets prettier!





To add to the above pictures, I grabbed a couple shots of Reinette with my cell phone while I was out there today, since she was a bit neglected among the pullets. She's so pretty, and her comb and wattles are getting bigger and bigger now! She may be the first to lay out of this year's pullets!

Absolutely love how this one turned out. Don't mind the background--that's where we started working to put the rooster pens up, so it's barricaded for now to keep chickens from escaping.

Then Rooska saw me crouched to take pictures and came running. Because obviously I was looking to give her my full attention. Look at this face!

 

[TheChickenQueen]

I have a big mix! lol
I've got 3 wheaten/blue ameraucanas, two are rooster though and I'm not terribly fond of them so they have an ad up, their sister on the other hand is gorgeous A pretty splash with a bit of red/gold leakage.
1 wheaten ameraucana cockerel(who will probably be paired with the pullet listed above for more wheatens, not a fan of red/gold birds but wheatens are something else)
1 mystery ameraucana, suspected to be a silver ameraucana cockerel, my weakness
1 cream legbar pullet, nothing special really but this is my first time owning one.
1 Black Copper Maran pullet, she is a bad example and tends to lead off the pullets above to places they shouldn't be(the driveway...).
1 frizzled bantam cochin cockerel, he is mostly silver with a bit of red on his neck. Handsome fellow with a funny personality that matches his looks
1 Blue copper maran pullet(?) who strangely lacks copper
Then 3 pretty mixes who were chicks from my last flock, I suspect that they are all pullets but the coloring on one might suggest otherwise.
I've also got 4 ducks but 3 are drakes so I'm going keep one and my hen who I suspect are Welsh Harlequins and get more ducklings next year.

So I'm left with 3 cockerels that I love so if I keep everyone I'm not sure if someone will go or if I will be forced to find more pullets.
I keep going back and forth on rebuilding to what I want since the numbers are small and I'll be leaving in a few years for school(unless I start out online) but I've got some mental issues and my birds are my therapy plus I love playing with genetics so it's a rough decision.
I'm also the one who pays for most everything when it comes to them because my parents know that I like to break out the incubator then go buy more chicks so I can only have them if they are somewhat of a business.

Right now if I end up rebuilding I'll probably get a bunch of phoenix those guys are just so pretty and people around here(me especially) tend to like them so I might place an order next year for a big box of phoenix chicks.
Then I've been trying to get a hold of a chocolate ameraucana cockerel, maybe some silver Welbars and possibly silkied ameraucanas since I've had some crazy projects stuck in my head for the past few years.

Okay that's a lot so I'll stop talking now

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, no worries about the talking! Sounds like you have a gorgeous variety. And we share a lot of the same taste in chickens--I LOVE silkied Ameraucanas and chocolate, well, anything, and I just found out about Welbars not too long ago, which were a definite instant add to my 'want list'! I totally get the therapy aspect of chickens. I have a lot of social anxiety and just general anxiety over everything, and they help a lot with that. I don't think I would have gotten through Organic Chemistry without my girls, honestly. I was so stressed during those two semesters, but the chickens always made me feel better. Especially my Dorkings, I love those gals so much!

So do you sell birds from your flock? That's my eventual goal, far in the future. I especially want to get more of the silkied Cochins out there, since they are so, so rare. But, I'm not there yet. All my hatching is for myself, which could probably easily get me in trouble if I get carried away.