Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hello! It's going okay. Im taking 5 classes (18 credits) so I'm very busy. One of those classes is organic chemistry and I must admit I'm struggling a bit (partially due to my professor). My other classes are going okay though, I just hope I can get through organic chemistry. Along with it I'm taking statistics, microbiology, animal reproductive physiology, and a general education class. Hard to believe I'll be halfway done with undergrad soon. How is your semester going?
Also the babies are very cute! Love all the pictures of them. Ugh I've been itching to get new chickens/chicks for a while. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until I'm out of my parents' house.

Dang, that's a lot!! I have some study guides for Organic that I can PM some practice questions from if you'd like? It's a tough class to get through, so good luck!

My semester's going pretty well, but I think that's only because I moved Physics to the summer, to be honest. It's been pretty calm so far. I have a lot of stuff to get done in this half of the semester, though, so I'm feeling the pressure a bit now! Especially looking at Senior Seminar with the essay, presentation, and poster symposium I have to finish / be ready for in April.

Sorry you can't get any chickies right now, though. Any feed stores nearby for you to get some peep therapy in until later?







Editing to add, oh yes, speaking of peepers, not much really to report on them--but I've been busy with classes again (primarily preparing for a midterm / lab practical thing tomorrow) so I haven't spent much time with them. They got to their EcoGlow just fine last night, which was the first of the two late nights per week I have, so I'm feeling a bit better about that. Trois's comb shot up a day or two ago, so I'm thinking she's a little cockerel as well. They're only a week and a half old, so I'm trying not to drive myself nuts about it. Even though the little silkied Cochins were already pretty obvious by now, you know, just saying.

 

[Leahs Mom]

You 2 make me glad that my college days are over.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Stopping by to see how the little ones are doing.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

You 2 make me glad that my college days are over.

Haha, well, I'm pretty close to being able to say the same! You know, until I decide to go back for grad school. I mean, it's a lot of work, but once you get past the yucky classes like O Chem and Physics, it can be fun. I had a class where every week we went out to a nature preserve and took surveys of different classes of vertebrates, so one week we were fishing, then we were netting amphibians, then looking for reptiles, then bird watching, etc. That was a great class.

Stopping by to see how the little ones are doing.

The kiddos are doing great! Growing fast despite me expressly telling them not to! I have a lot to do this weekend, but I'll definitely make time to take their weekly pictures tomorrow. For now, here's the set of dinosaurs this morning:

Their legs have gotten a bit too big for the bands I had on them while said bands were doubled-over, but they're still too small for those bands when not doubled over, if that makes any sense? Anyway, I took their leg bands off and instead put them over their wings, so they're harder to see, but they are still there. You can kind of see the yellow wing band on Quatre in the lower left corner in this pic. It sits between their shoulder and the feathers on their wings, so they haven't been able to pull them off, but they're still nice and loose. Hopefully before they grow too big for those, they'll be big enough for the bands to go on their legs again. Or maybe I'll be able to tell them apart without them by then!

P.S. That's Trois on the EcoGlow, of course. Little troublemaker!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I didn't forget! Here are the kiddos today! I didn't take pictures of them in the brooder, but I got individual shots, as well as 'jailer style' front view and side view close-ups of their faces. At this point I'm sure Un and Quatre are cockerels. Quatre beyond a doubt because his comb is getting some color to it already. Un, well, also probably beyond a doubt because that's a beefy comb on that little guy, and he's a chunk compared to the other babies! Deux and Cinq seem to be pullets--but I know things can change pretty quick on these babies. Trois and Six are kind of in the middle. I lean toward cockerels on them, especially Six, but Trois *could* turn out to be a pullet still. Maybe. Interestingly, if Trois turns out to be a pullet and Six a cockerel, that means that wing sexing was accurate on these guys. Which is pretty cool for future hatches.

Anyway, pictures away! The pictures have the chick's number on them. Those wing bands are not visible in any of the pictures, I don't think, so y'all will just have to trust me.

And bonus, because I can't help myself... Yep, I did it again! Trois with the chicken statues:

Trois threw me a curve ball, though, and took a ride on the hen's back! Hey, there's her wing band!

And that's all. Now, I have some homework to finish...

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hi, all! I've been busy, busy, busy working on essays this week, but my lab was cancelled this afternoon, so I had a bit of spare time to use. So, since it's been such a lovely day, I figured it would be a good time to take the kiddos outside for the first time! They spent about 20 minutes playing in the area where the garden will go up. None of the girls payed us a visit, but the Guineas were ranging around there, and boy did the babies learn a thing or two about how loud they can be! Anyway, I brought my camera with us out there, of course, so here are some pictures of their adventure!

Like with every group, they were not convinced of the wonders of the great outdoors at first.

...So I tipped the box over and made them come out. Take a wild guess who ran out to perch on my boot here.

Quatre was very confused...

After a bit, they realized they could peck things. Mmmm, dirt!

That lasted until the Guineas started making noise. Then, of course, they had to hide in terror!

A little extra reassurance for Un.

At this point, they realized that my lap (AKA their favorite perch) was there. First, Cinq came up to check out the world.

Soon I had 6 gawky chicks fighting for space on me! The odds were not in my favor with that many little rear ends--the rain of droppings began shortly afterward.

...So, I booted them to the ground again.

They only spent about 20 minutes out there because of, well, the rain of droppings I mentioned. It's supposed to be pretty nice this weekend, though, and I should have less to do, so they should get more time to play then!




In other news... The day before yesterday, I started noticing Darwin and Theodore squaring off more than is usual for them. Then, yesterday they set into an all-out brawl! I figured they would duke it out, but after a while, they were looking pretty battered and showing no signs of stopping. Finally, I thought, okay, I can put Tygo out with the other boys and lock Theo in the extra pen so that Teeg wasn't chasing him around. Tygo was only locked away because he kept harassing Theo, so switching them out should work, right? NOPE, because suddenly Murphy couldn't handle Tygo being out with the others! So, I had to get in there and break those two up because they were practically blue in the face going at each other. Now I have Theo and Murph separated out, and Tygo, Darwin, and Dante together in a flock. UGH, ROOSTERS! They got along perfectly well last fall, but all of the sudden this year they are just going nuts! I'm really hoping it's just spring hormones or something and they chill out once everything balances out again. Darn boys!

 

[Leahs Mom]

It's springtime. Maybe they'll settle down after the hormones balance out?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

That's what I'm hoping for, anyway! It'll just be frustrating to deal with until then.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Hello, weekend!! Never have I been so relieved to see you come!

Update on the boys, Tygo decided tonight that he has no desire of sharing his roosting space with Darwin and Dante and was flogging them every time they tried to go to roost for the night, so I ended up grabbing him and moving him for the night to the hutch on the deck where I usually put broodies. In hindsight, I wish I'd've just grabbed one of the dog crates and put him in it in one of the rooster pens, but too late now. Anyway, I'm going to have to jury-rig a pen for him tomorrow so that he's within sight of the other boys without being able to harass them. Hopefully that way, if it really is spring hormones, he won't be so removed from the flock that he can't be reintroduced once things have settled.
ROOSTERS!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, speaking of roosters, I woke up to someone announcing his manhood to the world! Likely Quatre or Un, but I couldn't see exactly who was doing it. I managed to grab a video of it, but it was before I opened the curtains for the day, so the visual quality is appalling.

As you can probably tell by the ending, they were all quite alarmed at the sound that one of their brothers was making.