Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yup, her crop didn't empty overnight. Elly's bunking in my room for now where I can keep tabs on her. First crop treatment done, and her crop is already feeling a lot looser and even a little smaller, so hopefully it won't take much more to get things moving again.

Uh, and sorry about no pictures this weekend... Been fighting with downloading a program for one of my classes, and distracted with Elly. Hopefully we have nice weather for a while yet so I can get the camera out there some time this week!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. Elly has been inside since my last post, went through her usual treatment, and all was going well. Then last night I noticed her crop wasn't going down again. I think I may have moved too fast with her by letting her free-range with the rest of the flock the past few days, so I'm slowing down again, keeping her in for a few more days, and trying to get things moving again with crop massages and lots of water. She seems perky and energetic, so I'm not overly concerned yet, but will be keeping a closer eye on her.

Yesterday was the Central Indiana Poultry Show, which was fun as always. I actually took pictures this time, but I mean, I couldn't help it. There were three little Lemon blue Old English Game Bantam hens in cages side by side by side, and they were about the most adorable little birds I've ever seen, second only to my little munchkins here at home. They were SO TINY, they easily could have fit in my hand with space leftover. And they were so friendly, too! The three of them would come right up to the front of the cage, and look up at me like, "Oh, are you here to take us home?" and I was like, "YESSS," but I actually couldn't. Anyway, here are the pictures I took at the show, first the three Lemon Blues. Can you even handle the cute?!

I also took a picture of this handsome guy, a Fawn Silver Duckwing OEGB rooster. This is the variety I've always wanted of them, but it may be replaced by Lemon Blues, because those girls were absolutely the cutest

This guy was also very handsome, a Blue Golden Duckwing OEGB rooster:

And this Silver Duckwing OEGB hen just made me think of a miniature Dorking. By breeding the Fawn Silver Duckwings, I would end up with some of these girls anyway, another point in their favor...

I think I need some OEGBs now.

Anyway, the only other picture I took that wasn't out of focus or blurred from movement was of this handsome guy, a Grey Call Drake. Isn't he adorable?

I always feel awkward taking pictures of these birds while at a show, which is why I've never done so before. I don't know, they're not my birds, so it bothers me I guess. But everyone else does it, so I guess I'll try to do so more often. Unless something big comes up, we're also going to the Ohio National Poultry Show in November, so I'll try and take lots of pictures there, too.


Until then, I guess some pictures of my own flock from yesterday will have to do.

Here's the one and only queen of adorability, Abra, on an old straw bale the girls have been scratching through:

Echo, who isn't normally one to pose, but Tessa wouldn't pose today, so I guess they've decided to take turns on it.

Yup, she's fabulous. Thanks for noticing.

Rowena being fierce because she's molting and grumpy. Abra's in the background, too.

Just a random Guinea boy. I'm not honestly sure which one this is, though...

Murphy.

What a hunk! I couldn't decide which I liked better of the poses he did, so here are both:

Then I sat down in the driveway, and Rooska came racing over for attention like she usually does. And, as always, she wouldn't take no for an answer. Come to find out, she had walked through poop to get here. Doesn't she look so ashamed at the mess she made?

Once Rooska left, Perdita came over to rest her leg by leaning up against me. Isn't she sweet?

Then Elly finally found time out of her busy schedule of foraging to come over and sit in my lap. "You were holding someone else, weren't you?"

Of course, that was before I realized we'd gone too fast, so she's inside now.

But you can see she hadn't lost any attitude for it. Oh, well.

 

[biophiliac]

Hey Kristin . Thanks for those beautiful pics. I've never been to a poultry show but I sure would like to. Congratulations on your calendar duck Crash!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks! Crash is letting it be known throughout the state, quacking her little heart out! Of course, she's BEEN doing that since late September, so I guess it could be unrelated.

I was hesitant to go to poultry shows after the HPAI outbreak a couple years ago, but I just enjoy drooling over these gorgeous birds so much... : This year, we're going to the Ohio Nationals for the first time ever, so I'm pretty stoked! The Central Indiana show is the largest in Indiana, around 2700 birds entered if I remember correctly. The Ohio Nationals is nearly double that on average, so that'll be a lot of drooling!






So, for anyone terribly interested in this thread still, I apologize for the lack of activity on my part. It's been a horrible, stressful week with classes. It was the last week to withdraw from a class in order for it not to effect my GPA, and unfortunately, for the first time ever I had to withdraw from a class. Honestly, I should have just dropped the class at the beginning of the semester when it came to light that it was a COMPUTER class, of all things! But I stuck it out and tried my hardest, and all I've learned from it was that I'm not so great with computers, certainly not good enough with them to stake my GPA and graduation date on passing it. So, I'm in another class in the spring, and should still graduate at the end of that semester. I guess the stress at this point is coming from the incredible amount of guilt I'm feeling over it--especially the guilt that the professor for the class laid down when I told him I was withdrawing.


Anyway, to keep on topic with the chickenses, Elly is doing pretty well and finally seems to be on the road to recovery, knock on wood! I've been supplementing her food with Exact baby bird formula to help her gain some weight, which seems to be working so far. She's eating heartily, but only on her terms, and those terms seem to be NO PELLETS. She'll only eat if I grind up the pellets into more of a crumble or mash. Oh, well. At least she's eating well on her own! And her droppings have finally returned to normal, which is pretty exciting! File that under 'You know you're a chicken person when...'

Unfortunately, it's gotten cold all of the sudden, so it may be a long winter inside for sweet Elly. Fingers crossed for some mild weather once she's ready to go back outside!



In other news, Fancy the Partridge Rock, who molted way back during the summer, apparently didn't quite finish her molt then, because this morning she looks like this.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Sorry I've been following along but not replying, classes have been horribly stressful for me too. Good luck in school I had to drop a class at the beginning of the semester too (I took Calculus 1 and did fine, thought I could handle Calculus 2, failed the first quiz and dropped it lol). Was it a coding class you dropped? Hope everything else is well. Love seeing your pics.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No worries, I understand. Sorry about your Calc class, though. Yuck! I was glad that my school had an all-encompassing Calculus for Bio Majors class, so I only had one semester of Calc to suffer through.

No, it wasn't a coding class, it was a class over a particular type of computer program. I signed up for it in the spring, when the class was entitled 'Topics in Ecology'. I'm an Ecology major, so it seemed perfect, you know? Then all of the sudden, right before the semester began, they changed the title to 'GIS Methods'. Come to find out, 'Topics' classes serve as a catch-all title until an actual class is assigned to the time slot.

That would have been good to know BEFORE I invested in the class, but okay.

So, the class was over Geographic Information Systems, a type of computer program for capturing and analyzing spacial and geographical data, basically producing a map that adjusts to the screen as you move things around, a la Google Maps. I could see how that was relevant to Ecology, so I gave it a shot. I had problems immediately because we started off with basic map things, compasses, angles, etc. That stuff is just confusing. But, I got through it and kept trucking. Then I started having problems with the program itself, and it would work for a while, and then it wouldn't work, and there was nothing changing in between so I have no idea what or why this was caused.

Then, my partner for the final project that was worth, if I remember correctly, about a third of the grade dropped the class. She and I had both been struggling, but I get the feeling she was struggling even more than I was, so I understood needing to get out. I thought, okay, I did most of the planning for the project so I can probably keep going, despite struggling with the program... right?

The final straw, after all of this, was when the professor explained for about the sixth time how he wanted this final project to be done, and for the sixth time he explained it completely differently from the previous times, so I really have no idea what exactly it was that he wanted from us. On top of that, he pulls up the schedule and, tadaa, the project was due in two weeks from that day! So, not only did I have no idea what I was doing anymore (for the SIXTH TIME), but I had 2 weeks to figure it out! AND, to make things even better, the next test would be happening a week from then, where we would be using the GIS program to perform tasks to turn in, and the program was not working for me once again!

This happened last Monday, and the final day to withdraw from a class without it effecting your GPA was last Friday. I literally broke down crying on the way home because I just didn't think I could do it. As a matter of fact, I was pretty sure that I definitely couldn't do it. I needed to get out of that class before my GPA took a ding. I was going to have to take another class to graduate anyway, because there was no way I was passing that class and getting the credits for it, so it really didn't change much as far as scheduling. Of course, my advisor and the professor tried to encourage me to keep going, which led to a lot of guilt and stress for me, but at that point I had had it and I was already mentally checked out. I have never withdrawn from a class before, and it wasn't a decision I took lightly in any way. I think that most professors / advisors are used to the students who just give up and don't want to put in any effort, but I had fought my way that far through the class. I tried so hard. I wasn't making this decision spur of the moment because I couldn't be bothered. So, I withdrew from the class anyway.

So, uh, yeah. Sorry for the rant there. My two-class semester that wasn't supposed to be very stressful had turned into one of the most stressful semesters so far, probably only second to the semesters in which I was taking Organic Chem.

But, I'm out of the class now, so things should calm down hopefully. Good luck with the rest of your classes, too!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, seven rooster boys went to freezer camp today. That was... hard. Even though most of them went because they were aggressive toward me, I felt so, so, SO guilty all day. But I just couldn't handle all these boys and didn't feel right dumping them off on someone else. They will not go to waste.



Elly is improving still, though I'm keeping a close eye on her weight because she seems to have slowed down on gaining. I can tell she's getting better anyway, because she's gotten so ornery at feeding time!

Trying to get her baby bird formula in her is like trying to push water uphill anymore! But, I'm not complaining (much). The more she wrestles with me, the more hopeful I am that she's recovering well. She's definitely not weak, anyway.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, we have some new additions. I have not mentioned anything about this, but my niece, who has been in mini 4H, is now old enough for regular 4H. Now, my niece and nephew and their mother all live here with us, but it's usually MY mom (their grandmother) who does the 4H stuff, and I help where I can because I want to encourage my niece (and nephew when he gets to that point). First thing that I was asked (and, it wasn't a direct question, but there were definite undertones of it) is if she could use my chickens or get some of her own to add to my flock and use for 4H. That was a swift and effortless, "Heck no!" I would love for her to be able to do chickens for 4H, but I am absolutely not willing to compromise on my biosecurity rules in order for her to have any show birds in my flock. So, instead she joined the rabbit club and is going to try rabbits out in 4H.

Today, my niece, my mom, and I made the drive out to pick up her new rabbits, two black Mini Rex does. So, meet Willow and Sage! Their ears are tattooed with their names (which I guess is a requirement for 4H rabbitry?), likely a good thing because they're pretty hard to tell apart anyway. I have to say, I've had absolutely no interest in rabbits ever, honestly, but these two are quite adorable! We'll see how invested I get in them as time goes on.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

No worries, I understand. Sorry about your Calc class, though. Yuck! I was glad that my school had an all-encompassing Calculus for Bio Majors class, so I only had one semester of Calc to suffer through.

No, it wasn't a coding class, it was a class over a particular type of computer program. I signed up for it in the spring, when the class was entitled 'Topics in Ecology'. I'm an Ecology major, so it seemed perfect, you know? Then all of the sudden, right before the semester began, they changed the title to 'GIS Methods'. Come to find out, 'Topics' classes serve as a catch-all title until an actual class is assigned to the time slot. View attachment 1173835 That would have been good to know BEFORE I invested in the class, but okay.

So, the class was over Geographic Information Systems, a type of computer program for capturing and analyzing spacial and geographical data, basically producing a map that adjusts to the screen as you move things around, a la Google Maps. I could see how that was relevant to Ecology, so I gave it a shot. I had problems immediately because we started off with basic map things, compasses, angles, etc. That stuff is just confusing. But, I got through it and kept trucking. Then I started having problems with the program itself, and it would work for a while, and then it wouldn't work, and there was nothing changing in between so I have no idea what or why this was caused.
View attachment 1173882 But, I'm out of the class now, so things should calm down hopefully. Good luck with the rest of your classes, too!

Yeah I wasn't required to take Calc 2 but was going to do it anyways (it just looks good if you can do well in it) but I was not about to ruin my GPA over it so I dropped it. And actually, yes I am very familiar with GIS because I took a GIS class in high school, and did a little research project using GIS mapping and stats. You wouldn't happen to have been using ArcMap, were you? That's the software I'm familiar with and its a disaster. Crashes 24/7 and not user friendly at all . Gave me soooo many headaches. Your professor sounds like he made that class way less forgiving and way more stressful than it should have been. I honestly don't blame you for dropping it that is not worth ruining your GPA over. Advisors will always tell you to try and stay in these hard classes but in the end I believe the person you have to trust is yourself.
As for your roosters, I'm sure it wasn't easy to send them to the freezer, but you gotta do what you gotta do, unfortunately. Glad to hear Elly is doing better. Aw this mini exes are adorable! I showed rabbits in 4-H for 8 years. I got chickens 4 years after rabbits, and while I personally like chickens better rabbits are still fun. And yes while you do tattoo the ears typically you give them an assigned ear tag letter and/or number code that's shorter than the name and it's purpose is to tell them apart (rabbits are brought to tables at shows by the showman with other rabbits of the same breed, unlike chickens who stay in their cages, so you could have 10 black mini rexes potentially hence the need for ear ID). You better watch out, you say you're not into rabbits now but pretty soon you'll end up with 20! Just wait until she wants to breed them, lol. All jokes aside hope your niece has fun with them, and I wish you best of luck with classes and everything else. Sorry for the long reply.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

YES, it most certainly was ArcMap, and their whole line of other ArcGIS programs! It was HORRIBLE! Glad it wasn't just me! Actually, after I saw your comment, I mentioned it to some of the classmates I have who are in both that class and the one I'm still in, and it seems pretty unanymous that ArcGIS stinks! So glad I got out before I took a ding for that!

Thanks for the insight on the bunnies and tattooing! Haha, I'm not sure how well breeding the rabbits would go over with my parents! My niece seems only interested in the fun parts so far--cleaning out the hutch isn't as much fun as feeding them lettuce and letting them crawl all over you. She'll learn eventually that you have to do the not-so-fun parts in order to enjoy the fun parts!

No worries on your reply length--my post ranting about that class was worse, anyway!



Fun times this weekend! My mother and I went to the Ohio National Poultry Show yesterday, which was AMAZING, and totally blew the Central Indiana show out of the water in sheer number of birds! I regret not taking more pictures--all I got was a few pics of the true Araucanas that were in the show, and one where I tried and failed to capture the size of the building by holding my phone up over the cages at one corner and aiming for the opposite corner--and I wish I hadn't changed my mind about getting a T-shirt or something as a souvenir, but it was pretty spectacular anyway. We walked the whole thing, except for the few aisles that were roped off for judging the entire 3 hours we were there, and there were some gorgeous birds there to drool over! I think I'm falling more and more in love with OEGBs the more I see them. I was SO tempted to bring some home yesterday, as there was a vendor with an abundance of Fawn Silver Duckwing OEGB hens who was selling pairs and trios out of them, but darn if I don't have an iron will when it comes to not making spontaneous purchases! Oh, well, there's always next year.

Anyway, Elda continues to improve and is doing fabulously at this point! She's put on a lot of weight, no longer feels like just skin and bones when I pick her up, and her crop was pretty much empty this morning!! She just had a tiny bit of food and water in there, which she may have eaten before I got to her this morning. She seems to be mostly done with her molt, so hopefully this means she'll keep improving! I do think it's gotten too cold for her to integrate back into the flock and stay outside, so I'll be taking her outside on the warmest days through the winter so that the flock can hopefully remember her come spring, but she'll have to stay inside for the coldest weather. I have a homework project that needs to be done by Tuesday, so it depends on how fast it uploads, but I got a super cute video of Elly purring while I was holding her that I'll see if I can get uploaded at some point.



P.S. I'm so overly excited to see the little hoppy chick smiley is back in the roster!! Yay!!