Pipd's Peeps!

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Harley really just decided to wait until December and then lose all of her feathers at once.

She doesn't seem to be having any problems from the cold so far, so I snuggled her down between the others in her coop and will just be keeping an eye on her for now. On the plus side, those pins are coming in fast!

 

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Some miscellaneous pictures of the flock from yesterday and today, including the monthly pictures of the youngsters. The pullets were the biggest pain in the butt to get pictures of because they see me crouch to take a picture and they run over for attention instead of standing still! But I did okay with it, I think.

The 6-month-olds, starting with Athena:

Dean:

Miss Freia, the worrier

Boba:

Inara, looking like she's vying to be first to lay out of these girls:

Levi:

Mack:

Ottilie:

Wyatt:

And Zeke:

And the 8-month-olds, starting with Gwenyth the crazy naked neck I may have mentioned it, but I'm pretty sure she's started laying. I don't know when she started, unfortunately, but she's been acting like she is and has an egg-layer-looking vent.

Miss Trixie, who has turned into a wicked, sassy little thing these days!

Just a couple extras, here's Gwenyth being fabulous:

And Freia being adorable

Now, some of the older girls, just for fun. Miss Abra 'Abie Baby' Munchkin:

Dandy Lion

Findlay and Skeeter, my two Barred Rock bantam girls. Skeet has the blue leg band.

The two Blue Orpington girls, Isolde and Neela. Izzy's pictured first:

Crash duck!

Mona has been in the flock for, what, 2-3 years now? And I just noticed yesterday that her beak is crooked! Good thing I didn't intend to breed her anyway!

Miss Peanut Butter, the one and only!

Pete, looking a lot more filled out since the last pictures I took of him!

And, of course, I crouched down to take pictures so naturally that meant I wanted Vega on my shoulder.

Edited just to test something...​

 

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Oh, I forgot, I also took more pictures of poor Harley. She's a mess at the moment, poor darling, but those feathers are coming in fast at least!

 

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It's -8°F this morning (that's about -22°C). Just finished giving everyone food and water for the morning a few minutes ago. I brought the tiny OEGB hens in last night so they're comfortable, as they just don't handle this cold well at all. I debated bringing Harley and Gwenyth in, but decided to see how they do. So far so good, but of course I'll check on them again when I go out to break ice and give everyone a drink midday and reassess then. I don't worry for most of my girls in these temps, but... those two have me anxious, only because Harley hasn't finished filling in from her molt and Gwenyth is, of course, my first naked neck. I'm also keeping an eye on Sylvie, who has decided now is the opportune time to molt. These birds are going to kill me!

 

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Day two in the arctic blast. It was just below 0°F when I went out to the chickens, just above now. Amazing when you can say it's warmed up to those temperatures, huh? The spigot outside froze so I had to haul buckets from inside the house to get water to my birds. Everyone's still acting normally, including Harley, Sylvie, and Gwenyth. Is it over yet?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

I had to bring water from the house as my spigot was frozen as well. I just went out this evening to lock my ducks up and noticed some broken fence wire on the bottom near the chicken coop. I might have caused it with the tarps I put up and how I fixed them to the fencing. So, I guess that will need fixed soon. My crew made it through this first arctic blast. Hope we don't have any more this winter.
I think I'm going to do some upgrades in the spring, but I will have to hire someone as my hands barely work for normal household chores.
I also saw a fox on the camera this morning. So, I guess the weather has caused it to seek out easy food. I haven't seen it since last year. But, it looked like it knew what it was looking for.
just thought I'd pop in and say hi. Your flock looks great!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yuck, I hate that for us. It was a whopping 18°F this morning, but I still had to haul water from the house, probably will until we get above freezing again this week. Everyone has pulled through fine here, too, and no frostbite in the main coop, only light frostbite in some of the side coops. My poor silkied Cochin cockerels got the worst of it, but it seems to be receding now that it's warming up a bit so it remains to be seen how much of their combs they'll actually lose if any. Poor fellas. I don't think even if I had run heat out to them that it would have made any difference, as we had rain leading into that freeze so there was just too much moisture in the air.

Hopefully that fox learns there are no easy meals there anymore, the rotten thing! Good to see you checking in, though!

 

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Dandy's not looking too good again. No prolapse, thank goodness, but she's gotten very pale and lost weight, and she doesn't seem to be eating or drinking on her own, at least not nearly enough. I've been tubing fluids into her every few hours today and will start tube feeding her once she's hydrated with the hopes she can get some energy back up to pull through whatever this is. Man, this hen... It just feels like she's had so many problems.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Sorry to hear about Dandy.

I noticed JellyBean wasn't roosting a few days ago. Just thought she got in late, but when I checked she has some diarrhea. I am keeping an eye on her and treating with probiotics, but I think she's near the end of her lifespan - she is about 6 yrs old. Plus, she's had pooping issues all summer (not diarrhea, just the poop was not clearing her vent area and having to clean her off weekly).

When they have issues and the weather flip flops like it has - it seems like that will bring their problems to the surface due to the stress of dealing with it.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ah, man, sorry to hear about Jelly Bean, too. I definitely agree, the weather going back and forth can't be helping an already stressed body. I've brought Dandy inside to a hospital pen to avoid her being exposed to that, poor darling. I tubed her when I woke up this morning, and then set her back in her pen by her water dish and she started drinking like she hadn't seen water in a month. Hopefully that's a good sign.


Oh, and in other flock news, we'd been hearing a very odd, strangled crow for a few weeks now over the monitor, always about an hour before sunrise and only a few times then nothing further. Well, the past couple mornings I've been going out there to try and figure out who it is and... to my surprise, I caught Fifi in the act! The goofy girl!