beautiful photos as always Pipd!
Ahh I’m sorry about your sweet call duck! Sometimes accidents just happen.Hey y'all! Sorry for the silence over here the last couple days! I can't really say I got busy with the semester already (though I do have a bit to get done over the weekend--no crunch or anything, I just want to keep ahead of things), but I was kindly given the nasty cold that my niece brought home from her school so I've been battling that on top of trying not to miss any classes since it's only the first week and all.
Not a whole lot going on in the land of the chickens. However, we did lose Crash duck on Wednesday to what I can only describe as a freak accident. I had been putting her under the top half of a bird cage in the coop overnight to keep her safe from the hens until morning. Well, Wednesday night she tried to slip out from under it when I put it over her and had gotten her head and neck out from under it, so I had put my hand on it just to keep her from slipping out any further. She then backed up suddenly and, before I could even pull my hand away or anything, she was seizing. I keep playing it over in my head, did I push down too hard? I didn't think I was pushing much if at all... Could I have reacted faster to prevent this? I don't know... But, she was pretty old, 9 years old as of May, so who knows, maybe it was just her time.
So that's rather the end of an era for my little farm. I no longer have any other poultry except the chickens here. I did not exactly enjoy the care required on either venture I took outside of the chickens, so most likely Crash will be the last of any other poultry I keep here, at least for a long, long time.
Anyway, I don't have any classes on Fridays until the second half of the semester, so I spent some extra time out there this morning and took a few extra pictures as tax for missing the last couple days.Just give me a few to get those uploaded!
What breeds are in her mix? She’s beautiful!Picture of the day number 79! I think I'm giving it to Coco for another of her dramatic close-ups
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And lots of runner ups today. Amaretto goes from 'sweet little mixed hen' to 'the face of evil' with just a turn of her headShe is not at all the wicked bird that second picture makes her appear to be, for the record!
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Their parents are Winter and the late Abra:
The plus side is that there are no wrong answers marked, so you don't lose any points on homework unless you just don't finish the assignment. But the negative is that a single homework assignment might, on its own, take more than an hour to get through before it decides I understand all the concepts.
We'll get there!
Loony bird!!
Oh my about the homework.Thanks for the reassurances, y'all
Late check-in again today. I thought I'd do some homework real quick this morning, spread the load out across the weekend and all. That turned into hours of homework really quickly
Some of my classes are using this program for homework where you essentially have to prove to it you have an understanding in so many concepts rather than answer a fixed number of questions. This means that I could have a homework assignment with 15 concepts, for example, but I still may have to answer 30 or 40 questions before it's marked complete.
So, it's an adjustment I'm still working on. I'm still figuring out how to spread out the load and not overwhelm myself with it all.
Anyway, here's our picture of the day number 80! I call it, 'Portrait of a Nosy Easter-Egger'
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Some runners up. Last night, I was given a bit of a start when I went out to the outer coop and found white feathers everywhere in there!
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...Wonder where all those could have come from...
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Pictures don't show it well, but Georgia is very suddenly looking quite scraggly
Another from last night at roost time. Peanut Butter was being fussy on the perches, and she's been threatening going broody so I was mostly ignoring her. Then all of the sudden I hear a THUNK! And I look over to find this
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Georgia wasn't the first to give me a start going out to that coop and won't be the last for sure! 
She loses many more feathers and she's going to be naked! At least she's doing this now, though, and not in November or something.
Awe, Peanut ButterOh yes, the first few times it happens this time of year, it's like panic, count the birds, check in on everyone, make sure all is okay... And then after a while it's like, psh, I wonder who it is that's molting this time.
Actually, I got another start yesterday afternoon going out to check on the birds, but this time for a different reason. A hawk had been kind of hanging around, but not really seeming that interested in the chickens, just hunting in the area. Even still, I was a bit on high alert as a result. Well, the birds were freaking out a bit and I went out to check, when I heard distressed peeping from out at the outer coop. I am horribly congested and coughing still (thank you generously donated cold!!), but you can bet I was running out that way anyway, wheezing the whole way! Turns out... it was a blue jay in the woods by that coop mimicking peeping. The babies were all safe and sound.
Anyway, picture of the day 81! Guess who decided to go full broody on us!
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Runner up is poor Georgia, who is looking even more ratty this morning, the poor thing
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she needs eggs!
Awe, Peanut Butter
I actually woke up this morning feeling a lot better, just a bit congested and an occasional cough. But at least I can breathe through my nose today! 
