Pipd's Peeps!

[Crazy Maizie]

Murphy has passed on, poor guy. I don't even know if I have the energy to properly see him off today. I'll miss his beauty, his wattle waving, and his deep, raspy crow among the squeaky bantam boys. Rest in peace, big guy.

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Sorry to hear this. He was very handsome.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I guess I'm not doing good keeping up here. I've been wasting time elsewhere online.
I'm thinking in the spring, I might add a couple of chickens, but for now I'm content with the 4 I have. None are laying because of the time of year and molting. JellyBean has not produced an egg in over 6 months. She is 5 this yr though. So, her laying time has probably passed. She does well for an old lady.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

No worries at all about not keeping up here. You're under no obligation to!

I didn't realize you only had 4 chickens left! You might find an egg here or there from JellyBean yet; after all one of my 11 year olds laid 2 whole eggs this year!

I hear you on the lack of eggs. I got ONE the other day, and haven't gotten many more than that any other day lately! The corner coop looks like those gals were having a pillow fight with their feathers everywhere, as most of them are finally molting, and the main coop I'm pretty much down to just Harriet, Peanut Butter, Roxy, Amaretto, and maybe one or two of the Mottled Cochins laying, never all at the same time of course. Harriet's a champ, laying pretty much every day! I honestly hope she takes a break soon and molts--her feathers look awful!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

A quick check in with the kiddos! I took some of these pictures a couple days ago, and some this morning. The youngsters are about 5 months old, and Trix and Gwennie are about 7 months old.

Athena wouldn't pose very nicely, so I have two shots of her:

Miss Freia the worrier

Boba, who has become boss lady of the younger group I guess

Nara the attention hog

Lovely Ottilie

Mean Dean--okay, he's not really that mean, but he's definitely boss of the cockerel group and he makes sure the other three know it!

Levi:

Wyatt:

Zeke:

And, lastly for the youngest, Mack. As of a couple days ago when I took part of these pictures, he's started hobbling on his right foot again instead of walking on his hock on that side!

Then there's this set of thugs

Gwenyth, who I'm pretty sure is the single hardest bird to get a decent picture of that I've ever owned No eggs from her yet, but she has to be close!!

Look at those eyes!! I don't know if I've ever had a bird this old still with blue eyes!

And sassy girl Trixie:

I also grabbed just a few pictures of some of the older girls. I feel like it's been forever since I took general flock pictures!

Grumpy girl Cazzie Cochin, one of my large fowl Cochins--she's a marshmallow, though, not at all like what that scowl would make you think

Amaretto thinking about going broody again

Mr. Mallow, coming out of his molt nicely!

Harriet, who looks like a mess right now. I have a bad feeling about that comb this winter, it's so huge and unruly!

And finally, Marka, my last pure Silkie hen

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Shoot, I forgot, I also took pictures of Gus and his girls! I hadn't taken pictures of them since they were under a year old (they're two and a half-ish now). I've been meaning to get updated pictures of them for a long time now, and they're finally finishing their molts so aren't looking so scruffy anymore!

The man himself, Gus:

Zinnia, who was also tough to get a picture of! I did edit this picture just a bit so that she wouldn't blend into Myrtle in the background so much.

And wicked Myrtle

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I am officially down to just my keeper birds for the winter! I just sold the five remaining extra boys to a nice couple from Michigan who, from the sounds of it, want to breed silkied Cochins as well! Wish I had some extra girls to send with them! But for now, they've got some boys to pick from and smooth-feathered hens at home to pair them with.




Oh boy, and this weekend is the Ohio National!! I'll be there tomorrow for a few hours, but I'm not buying--I just cut my flock town to 73 and that's plenty of mouths to feed for the winter! I will post pictures when I'm back home, but can't guarantee there will be very many. My phone has been crapping out on me for months now and it likes to shut off randomly when I'm taking pictures and delete the most recent ones taken. I'll borrow my mom's phone for a few if there are any birds that I just have to have a picture of, but her's doesn't have as good of a camera as mine, so the pictures from it won't be as nice. Oh, well. See y'all late tomorrow!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The Ohio National was fun, as always! I didn't really take any pictures but one of a Colored Dorking hen who was stunning (and very uncooperative for that picture), and my mom took a picture of a large fowl naked neck hen who was best of variety and breed if I remember correctly--this from one of the people who didn't understand why I wanted one so badly!! Anyway, I'll have to have her send them to me because they were both on her phone. I do regret not taking more pictures, but most of the things I wanted to take pictures of were in aisles that were roped off for judging. Oh, well.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've made a thread focused on the silkied Cochins here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/breeding-silkied-cochin-bantams-to-the-standard.1555327/ I'll continue to update here with pictures and stories about them, too, of course.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S., and a pleasant Thursday to everyone else!

It's the one day a year that it's better to be a chicken than a turkey, so my birds are celebrating with their own feast. Scratch grains and a few hand fulls of steel-cut oats that got lost in the back of the cabinet a bit too long.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yesterday was probably the last really warm day we'll have this year, so I got everything around over the weekend and got the coops all cleaned up and wrapped for the winter. It's already much cozier on the deck today with the shower curtains tacked up to block out the colder weather and cutting breeze we've got going on.

I also cut some big ol holes in the far coop and framed them in to be windows for added ventilation and more light in there. It's already so much brighter in there! I've got to cut out and bolt down hardware cloth over them and put some feed bag curtains up to keep out the winter weather, but afterward, that coop will be ready for birds to move into it again. I'm thinking for now that Gus and his girls will move out there so that the wing they're in in the main coop can be opened up and give the big flock a bit more space when there's snow on the ground. Next year, I hope to cut some pop doors in it and split it to make two silkied Cochin breeding coops. Ideally, I'll also get it sanded and painted, and maybe fix the roof up a bit better as well. But we'll see how far I get with that. Anyway, with Gus and his girls moved, next year that wing off the main coop can be used as a growout coop for all of the silkied Cochins I hope to hatch! I'm excited to see my plans start to fall into place!