Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

They are! I always worry with such tiny bantams that they'll get trampled or something in the big flock, but they're doing exceptionally well! The only trouble they have had has been very minor; Rigel (another tiny OEGB) flirting and attempting to mate them. Honestly, for a cockerel, he's been fairly gentle about it, so I try not to intervene unless they're protesting a lot. Rigel has also done quite well in the flock and even gotten away with flirting with the older hens a few times without being thunked. The little squirt!





It's pouring right now, but I did get a little more of my winterizing done! I replenished the dust bath on the deck and filled one of my two dust bath buckets this morning. I could have filled the other one, but I was winded and cold after filling the first one twice (once to replenish the dust bath and the other to store)! So, that can wait. Luckily, the tarped area of the run has kept the soil there very dry, so I have no rush to fill the other bucket until I have to take the tarp down for the snowy season.

It's supposed to be sunny and clear tomorrow (if a bit chilly), so I'll finish winterizing then. Just have to clean out the shavings in the coops and replace them, tack up the rest of the plastic sheeting, and fill that other bucket, and we should be set! I'll have to bag leaves a bit later, once we've had a decent dry spell so that they dry out nicely, but that's not a requirement for winter prep, so no pressure on that one.

I don't have bantams but do have small blue egg layers. They get along fine with the big ones too.

I need to do some winter work this weekend. I really hope we move into a wet weather pattern soon. Humidity has been in the low teens this week and California has a lot of fires due to that!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yikes, I hope you see some wet weather soon, too! And be safe with all those fires! What's winter generally like for you out there, Ron? Just wet / rainy or do you ever get much cold?




Oh, and happy Halloween, y'all!

I forgot to add that to my earlier post!

 

[ronott1]

Yikes, I hope you see some wet weather soon, too! And be safe with all those fires! What's winter generally like for you out there, Ron? Just wet / rainy or do you ever get much cold?




Oh, and happy Halloween, y'all! View attachment 1948690 I forgot to add that to my earlier post!

The coldest morning last year was a bit below 30F. We get close to 0 inches of rain from May to October or november. Most rain is in December and January.

By the time we hit late October to mid November, it is very dry here! Like a desert with dead vegetation

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Wow! Well, not sure about that desert dryness, but your winters sound pleasant, at least! I'd take that over what we get here--single-digit to negative temps with occasional dips into the negative teens, either a thorough snow covering that clings forever or snow, melt, snow, melt, snow, melt all winter, that one random day midwinter that gets to the 50's for whatever reason to remind us of what we're missing... Indiana's a bit bipolar with her weather.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Late last night, there was a loud flapping and a lot of clucking over the monitor, so I went out to check. Callette, who has as of this past week lost practically all of her feathers, fell off the dropping tray and was perched alone on the night we were supposed to get down into the 20's. I've had birds be okay in this, but a recent thread reminded me of the hen in this bad of a molt who I lost in similar conditions (went from chilly lower 40's to freezing 20's overnight, she was practically naked in a severe molt, she fell of the perch for some reason, and she was gone by morning), so I went ahead and brought her and a few others in. Lydda is in a similar state, but further along so her feathers have started to open. Still, no down on her so not much insulation. Endymion is a pin head and has nothing but pin feathers across her entire lower half. And Bryony is just ragged and pinny all over.

Meanwhile, I'd been keeping an eye on the little OEGBs and they were doing okay... The boys seemed totally fine, no problems at all with them, but the girls were all acting cold, and Sybil was super pale. Since I was bringing birds in anyway, I lost my nerve and went ahead and brought them in, too. So the cockerels stayed outside, but Vega, Altair, Sybil, and Winston (since I didn't want to split him and Sybie up or leave him alone in the cold) are inside as well.

We're supposed to get to around 50 at the beginning of next week, so they should be able to return outside at that point.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Minor update... Winston and Sybil are in the pen Crash used to live in, right behind where I usually sit in the living room... I gave them a couple pieces of the bagel I had for breakfast, and now they're doing this...

...I may have created a monster.

 

[ronott1]

Late last night, there was a loud flapping and a lot of clucking over the monitor, so I went out to check. Callette, who has as of this past week lost practically all of her feathers, fell off the dropping tray and was perched alone on the night we were supposed to get down into the 20's. I've had birds be okay in this, but a recent thread reminded me of the hen in this bad of a molt who I lost in similar conditions (went from chilly lower 40's to freezing 20's overnight, she was practically naked in a severe molt, she fell of the perch for some reason, and she was gone by morning), so I went ahead and brought her and a few others in. Lydda is in a similar state, but further along so her feathers have started to open. Still, no down on her so not much insulation. Endymion is a pin head and has nothing but pin feathers across her entire lower half. And Bryony is just ragged and pinny all over.

Meanwhile, I'd been keeping an eye on the little OEGBs and they were doing okay... The boys seemed totally fine, no problems at all with them, but the girls were all acting cold, and Sybil was super pale. Since I was bringing birds in anyway, I lost my nerve and went ahead and brought them in, too. So the cockerels stayed outside, but Vega, Altair, Sybil, and Winston (since I didn't want to split him and Sybie up or leave him alone in the cold) are inside as well.

We're supposed to get to around 50 at the beginning of next week, so they should be able to return outside at that point.

Nice save!

 

[ronott1]

Minor update... Winston and Sybil are in the pen Crash used to live in, right behind where I usually sit in the living room... I gave them a couple pieces of the bagel I had for breakfast, and now they're doing this...

View attachment 1949115

...I may have created a monster.

They do have that look to them...give me more bagel!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They're a set of beggars!! I was eating Halloween candy later on and they were begging still! Little stinkers! I'll share some bagel pieces, but I really don't think that Reese's cups are a good treat for chickens.

It's not actually as cold as they predicted today, so maybe they'll all be set to go outside a little sooner than expected. The two OEGB pullets have been VERY unhappy with their accommodations so far and have been yelling and carrying on every time I go into the room with them. They have the pack-n-play to themselves since Bryony was being wicked toward them, so they have a ton of room, whereas Bry and the other three molters are in as big of a space as I could make with my little metal brooder fence and a tarp. I did what I could, but they look like they're packed in there like sardines. Fortunately, they're getting along well despite the space. I gave them a little protein boost with some cat food mixed into their pellets today, hoping that helps them build those feathers a little faster.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The birds are all back outside as of yesterday, and did fine last night with ~40° F temps overnight. It's supposed to be colder again tomorrow, then a bit warmer, then colder again, so we'll see how they do. The molters mostly seem like they're opening their feathers up nicely now, with the exception of Bry, who is losing feathers but only just getting pins in. So she may end up back inside later on, possibly with the OEGBs as company depending on how they do.

Nothing else going on here at the moment, so I guess that's it for now.