Pipd's Peeps!

[pattyhen]

Raven is beautiful. She is so round she looks like a butterball.

I'm glad the silkies are perching and getting along with everyone.

Good news Crash might make friends soon. Who could not love those little fuzzy chicks.

I've got a broody too. Fanny May has got her butt parked in the carrier sitting on air. I've got a wire cage that I need to put her in and try and get her out of it. I also need to despur Bubba the rooster. He's got a huge spur that he uses on me everyday.

Here is a couple of pics of my guineas. Spiderman and Mary Jane.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ah, your Guineas are getting to that awkward phase that Guineas just never grow out of. But you can say for sure that they are definitely unique. Did you only have the two?


Yes, Raven, she is round and fluffy and believes herself to be of the highest nobility. But when you're that pretty, I guess you get to have that mentality. I'm sure she's just stuck up enough to believe every Wyandotte deserves to share the most beautiful name for a Wyandotte, Raven.

 

[pattyhen]

Yes we only have the two. My husband come bringing these two home in a little cardboard box from Tractor Supply. I reminded him of our zero population growth but he said but we don't have any guineas at all. So far knock on wood they haven't been any trouble at all. They get along with the ducks and chickens. They prefer hanging out with the ducks the most.

How are the chicks doing today? Is Crash sleeping later or getting everyone up early?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Heehee, funny you should ask about the babies! I was literally in the middle of typing out a post with baby pictures when it popped up that there was a new post. I moved the babies' outside pen to a more shady location, and the heat and humidity of the past few days had subsided enough that it was a rather pleasant day to sit out in the grass! The babies had a blast with the new location and slightly deeper grass, starting, as usual, with them trying to dust bathe in the grass.

Izzy made it to the bottom of the pile. Oh, her face!

Nothing like a dust bath in the warm sun to put you right to sleep... Sweet little Rooska

There were lots of opportunities for pictures in the grass and clover flowers. Cazzie:

Izzy

She was posing so nice that I got two of her!

Lydda Her little face!

Flury thinks it's important to stop and smell the flowers.

Rooska posing pretty

Umru was in a hurry!!

Callette--whatever is going on, she didn't do it!

Here's the big guy! Donnie:

Making himself perfectly at home on my lap.

Only Flury makes herself even more at home in my lap.

Endymion's wondering what's going on.

I love how her feathers are coloring in!

Rooska! Little miss bright eyes!

Umru! She looks all stretched out!

Flury again

And, well, Umru says that's the end.

I didn't get Crash out there today with them because I didn't have anyone to help corral her while I dealt with the babies. Oh, well. She is still waking me up early. I think she may actually be hearing the chicks shuffling around in the morning and that wakes her up and gets her quacking. The babies are usually flying around by the time I wake up, but that isn't loud enough to wake me like Crashie is. This morning was extra loud, though, as the hens went into a round of the egg song over the baby monitor while Crashie was quack-quacking away! No chance of sleeping through all that racket!

 

[pattyhen]

Beautiful pics their getting their big girl feathers and of course Donnie is getting his big boy feathers. Poor Umru she almost needs a onesie. I loved the end that was so cute I almost spit my tea out here.

Thanks so much for sharing their pics I love looking at them. Have a great evening.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, oh, gracious, Umru in a onesie! That would be amazing! She is finally getting feathers, so hopefully it doesn't come to that.

I did get pictures of the babies this afternoon because they are 4 weeks old as of today, but I must warn, they aren't great. I was tired after a long day, they were hot and uncooperative, the lighting was causing a lot of the pictures to turn out all washed out, and my camera died before I could do very many re-takes to get better pictures. Sigh. It was partly my mistake, I waited too long and their pen wasn't shady anymore by the time I rounded them up to go out. Oops! But they were also uncooperative little butts because they wanted to play in the grass, not get their pictures taken. Anyway, here's what I got.

Callette:

Cazzie, with her attitude shining through as always:

Donnie, who wouldn't look at the camera!

Endymion:

Flury:

Izzy:

Lydda, clearly saying it's too hot for pictures:

Rooska, who wanted to cuddle so I kept having to stand her back up for her picture

And poor, naked Umru--though as you can kind of see in this pic, she's getting some feathers on her chest, neck and tail!

A few miscellaneous pictures from today. Here's what Lydda did first thing when she got out of the carrier in the grass:

Callette soon joined her, and the Dorking sisters had a nice sun bath.

Here's Callette tolerating some hugs in spite of the heat. She almost looks like a turkey in this picture!

Endymion having a nice 'dust bath' in the grass.

Endymion and Cazzie practicing their innocent faces:

Oh, Flury has too much fluffiness for this kind of heat!

Donnie was not expecting a cuddle in the middle of his picture session. "Help... Me..."

Izzy's outta here! (As a side note, I have no idea what she got on her face. Her beard was all matted down by the time we were out in the grass.)

And here's Rooska and Flury asking me to please take them back into the air conditioning, thank you. I don't remember which of the Dorking girls that is perched on my legs between them, but she was pecking at the grass there, because obviously the patch of grass directly beneath me was the best in the world for eating.

 

[pattyhen]

It doesn't seem possible their 4 weeks old already. Their getting so big I think they grow overnight.

I saw Umrus new feathers she is finally filling out. I bet they sleep good when they go outside.

The pictures were great and thanks so much for sharing them with us. Have a great day and hug the babies for me.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, I know, the weeks are going by too fast! It's not fair, the babies will move outside before I know it and then my room will be empty and I'll be all alone!

...I'm okay, I'm okay. On the positive side, these babies are so tame, so even outside I should be able to handle them when I want. Whenever I lean over the brooder and put my hands in there, they all come running for some love, usually with Rooska and the Dorking girls first in line. Even Endymion is tame, and that surprises me because I've only ever had one Easter-egger I could really handle, miss Betty Beard, who we sadly lost last year. Granted, Endymion isn't as tame as Betty was, but she's at least not as flighty and indifferent as the rest of my Easter-eggers. Yet?

Speaking of Easter-eggers, I had a nice jolt yesterday when I went outside that afternoon to run around with my niece and nephew and found white feathers all along the fence that blocks the chickens from the driveway. I was immediately going through my mental list of birds in my flock for the white ones, and since they weren't Silkie feathers, it left the two white Easter-eggers. I had this gut feeling there weren't enough feathers for a predator attack, and soon found out why when I came across poor Wynne in a state. Looks like she's started to molt early this year! Cressida usually starts her molt around this time of year, but Wynne and the rest of the EEs are fall molters. Kind of puzzling... but at least I know no one's been nabbed by a predator, as much as it looks like a feather pillow has been shaken around the chicken area.

And in other chicken news, the Lady Wyandotte is STILL stubbornly brooding! This is why she has the nickname of 'Miss Broody Wyandotte'! Marge just came back into lay after her stint in broody jail, so I'm sure she'll be brooding again in the next couple weeks. Ugh. I just can't wait until Indi and Marky are old enough to brood--just what I need is a pile of fuzzy freeloading grumps! But at least they're cute, right?

Anyway, looks like we're in for a rainy day, so the babies are staying inside today. Guess I'll just have to love on them in the brooder.

 

[pattyhen]

We got rain yesterday too but I think it's suppose to be dry today. All 3 of my easter eggers are stand offish. They will take treats out of my hand but don't want to be touched. I didn't spend a lot of time with them when they were chicks because I was spending all my time with a sick duckling.

I hid the nesting box so my broody couldn't go back in when I took her out. She didn't like it but I think she is out of her broody now. She was perching last night. There is other nesting boxes but she didn't go to those thank goodness.

Indy and Marky will be one big fluff ball being broody. The silkies live to go broody that's for sure.

I'm glad the feathers belonged to a molter and no predator got any of them. I know it's scarey to see a pile of feathers and not know what happened.

Have a great day and enjoy your little ones.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, if it's any consolation, I handled my Easter-eggers all the time and they still turned out standoffish! Actually, by Endymion's age, they were already standoffish, even including the three EE boys I've had. I think it's an Easter-egger thing. I'm grateful that Endymion isn't so flighty at least. None of these babies are, actually! It's one of the reasons I refuse to get chicks from the feed store anymore. Seems like they're all skitterish from having so many grabbing hands and giant faces lurking over them all the time.

That's funny about your broody! Mine are so determined that even if I take away all the nests, they just brood where the nests used to be. Especially the Wyandottes! At least with Marge, if I don't want her to brood, it only takes a couple days in broody jail before she takes the hint. It's getting close to a solid week in jail for Lady Wyandotte with no signs of her slowing down. UGH. She makes up for it with not brooding as often, maybe once or twice a year. Margie goes broody once about every 5 weeks it seems. If Indi and Marky are like their mom, it's gonna be a mess in there... Unless they all brood in the same box. Then it'll look like that episode of Star Trek TOS with the Tribbles.



Today's news...

So, anyone that knows me knows I have a serious problem with rooster paranoia, the condition where it doesn't matter how much experience you have, it doesn't matter how many times you've been wrong about it, you always believe at least one of your young pullets is a cockerel for a while. Okay. I'm working on it. But last night I noticed something that I'm having a hard time justifying and, yep, I'm afraid I have an accidental cockerel in the mix again.

I noticed last night that my little splash Cochin, Flury, had a pinkish color where 'her' wattles will eventually grow in. This morning it's irrefutable--bright pink patches on 'her' chin and a pinkish tinge to 'her' little comb. I've been searching and researching on BYC all morning, and thus far I've found one Cochin with pink wattle patches at about the same age that was said to be a pullet, and several that were called as cockerels from the get go. Only one had a definitive answer posted later on, starting out pink and called a pullet but turning out to be a cockerel. I wish more people would come back to say whether their birds turned out as expected or not so that I didn't have to feel so paranoid about it!!

Now I'm taking a hard look at ALL of the babies, and the rooster paranoia is getting the best of me. Does Rooska have too large of wattles for her age? Is Endymion's comb to big? Is Cazzie getting too pink in the face, too? Are Umru's feet too large? Ugh, it gets me every time, even worse than the chicken math. The only ones I can say beyond a doubt are girls are my two Dorking pullets thanks to their feather pattern, and I'm 99% sure Izzy's a girl, too, because of her dainty comb and feet. The rest of them have me so paranoid right now I'm not sure what to think! I keep comparing them to Donnie, who definitely is a boy with his giant huge comb already, but not even he has as much color in his wattles as Flury does... It's just so hard to wait it out for an answer!!