Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

My Polish hen passed away and I found her this morning in the coop.  Her name was Phyllis and I'm really not for sure of her age but my guess would be 8-10 years old.  In her later years she stayed in the coop with Coach all day a bantam roo.  She was a bit of a grouch to the younger hens and always controlled her food bowl.  No one was allowed to eat with her except for Coach.  I feel like I except it then I open the grit container and there is her stash of raisins  I keep for her.  I busted out in tears.  Coach was eatting and he was calling for Phyllis.  They were always togeather.  RIP Phyllis your going to be missed.  

I am so sorry, Pattyhen. I remember you talking about her here not too long ago. It sounds like she had a long, happy life with you.

 

[pattyhen]

Thanks I had a mother duck that was sitting on eggs in a woodpile that we were afraid to dismantel until she got finished hatching. She come out this morning with a little baby duck trailing along behind her. We dismantled the woodpile to see if there were any other babies or eggs. There was a couple of eggs left but she is done sitting so put them on the counter just in case I hear any peeps. I don't have a broody hen right now. I tried to candle them but I can never tell what I'm looking at. So anyway the baby will be named Phyllis if it is a girl and Philip if it is a boy. I'll just make room for one more duck. It's brown and cute as a button. I'll try and get some pics of it.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aw, congrats! I'm assuming you don't have an incubator. Wish you were closer by, I'd let you borrow mine for the remaining eggs! Looking forward to pictures of the little one, though. Nothing is cuter than ducklings!

Speaking of pictures, y'all, I totally spaced on pictures of the babies today. Oops! I will have to get them tomorrow. They are becoming big and beautiful girls (well, and a slightly less gawky and awkward young rooster)! I'm happy to say I'm fairly confident at this point that Umru is the only accidental rooster in the mix. Yay!

In other news, Izzy has decided tonight that she wants to perch with the big girls! She hopped right up the big-girl perches and sat next to Ihi midway up. I'm so proud! The rest of the little girls perched in the other part of the coop like usual, and Umru, as he always does because he's too clumsy to keep his balance or something, is sleeping on the floor beneath their perch. The big doof.



As far as the building project, all we did today was put together the last door for the porch and started planning the trusses for the roof. The rain appears to have stopped here after soaking us all weekend and keeping any work from being done, so tomorrow will likely be when we start putting up the trusses, which means hopefully the roof will be up before the end of the week! I also need to finish putting up the hardware cloth on the walls, so I'll probably be doing that tomorrow as well. After I take those pictures of the babies, of course! It's so close to being done, though, and I'm getting excited to see the finished product!

 

[pattyhen]

Thanks I don't really believe they will hatch but I thought I would keep them for a couple of days just in case. I think she gave up on them because she knew they were not hatchable.

I'm so happy Izzy isn't a roo. The hatchery made a big mistake with Umru he's going to be a huge roo. Maybe he'll be to clumsy to even try and mate the girls.

I hope your weather holds out so you can get some things done to the addition. We have more rain now it seems like it rains everyday here. Looking forward to more pics of the girls.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, I wasn't worried about Izzy, but Flury had me wondering for a long time because of how pink she's been in her face for so long. I had been looking up pictures of Cochins at 12 and 13 weeks old (they are 13 weeks old now), but not finding anything that made me feel any better about it. It finally occurred to me to search for 3 month old Cochins (same age, different wording), and voila! Plenty of pink-faced pullets and plenty more cockerels that were VERY much more developed than her.

I agree, though, that they made a BIG mistake. Umru is already bigger than the adult hens, and his feet are like tree trunks--he's not bound to stop growing any time soon!

 

[pattyhen]

Sorry I know it was Flury you were worried about being a roo I just got the names switched. Yes Umru is a huge mistake and I kept being in denial about that. I think it was just wishful thinking on my part.

I'm working on getting the pics of Phyllis the baby duck. I should be able to post them sometime today. She is a spunky little thing. My husband said she was out there standing tall and running with the big ducks like she was one of them. I checked on the eggs this morning their still just sitting there. No peeps or quacks or no movement.

 

[pattyhen]

this is Phyllis, this was taken yesterday.

 

[pattyhen]

another pose of Phyllis

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Precious! How does her mom tolerate you picking her up? No worries on mixing names up, it happens.





I have pictures as well! There aren't too many because we did some building today, but I have the pictures of the babies that I meant to take yesterday, anyway.

Callette:

Cazzie:

Endymion:

Flury:

Izzy:

Lydda:

Rooska:

And Umru the Giant:

Just a few extras. Here is Callette and Lydda up close--or is it Lydda and Callette? . Err, seriously, though, it's Callette and then Lydda.

Lydda and Flury giving me dirty looks for slowing them down with pictures:

And Rooska giving me looks for not loving on her while taking her picture.

While I was out there, I got pictures of the Silkie babies, since I've kind of been neglecting that. Here's Ben:

Indigo:

Marka:

And Winter:

And finally, a few pictures around the flock. Guess who was following me around while I was trying to take pictures of the babies, jealous. Yep, Elly!

Ihi trying to look inconspicuous on the nest:

Indigo sunning

Here is the picture of laziness. Kate laying in the feed dish while eating.

This is what happens when you stoop over to take pictures in my flock. You get a Rangi on your shoulder.

And finally, Margaret being broody:

Okay, so that was more pictures than I realized... I didn't get any pictures of the work we got done on the porch because it started raining suddenly and we had to come in. But, today the trusses went up and most of the roof was added on top of them.

 

[pattyhen]

Phyllis's mom doesn't like me holding her she quacked and watched me closely. I just had to pick her up I couldn't help it.

Ducks aren't the mothers that chickens are. Chickens make a lot better mom's. I would feel a lot better if Phyllis had a brother or sister to hang around with but the eggs I had left out haven't did anything.

The pictures are gorgeous. I love all the tails, muffs, tuffs and top knots. They are beautiful except for Umru.

I just can't forgive him for what he did to Danny.

You can never have to many pics I enjoy looking at all of them. Give Elly a big hug for me and I miss my sebrights that used to jump on my shoulders when I went to the coop. When it was cold out I would tuck Eva my little sebright under my coat and tell her to hang on and she could come in the house with me. She loved being wrapped up in a baby blanket. She was always so cold natured.

Have a great day and I hope you have nice weather to get some building done. Thanks so much for sharing the pics.