Pipd's Peeps!

[shadow rabbit10]

Glad to hear the good news! Except that you are sick of course. Hope you feel better. Hopefully Elda will have an easier time with the flock soon.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Baby silkies <3 Hopefully he carries on trying to be a gentleman with the ladies.

They get closer everyday! I'm getting chick fever pretty bad, but no new babies until March; I can handle that much... I think

How is Crash doing?

I hope he does, too! He has definitely proven himself valuable to the safety of the flock already. I hope any of his sons take after him in that regard, too. Err, if he has any sons, that is.

At least March is closer than May. You'll have to post pictures so that I can make it to my hatch date!



Crashie, she's a butt as always. She likes to help my alarm clock if I don't physically get out of bed after it goes off, so I definitely haven't been sleeping in, anyway. I hadn't been bringing her down to her living room cage for a while because my dad expressed strong annoyance at her noise level, so she has been a bit depressed lately, I've noticed. :/ So I'm bringing her down when he's at work at least, so she can be with her people. She seems happier today in her living room pen, and consequently actually a little quieter (you know, as long as she doesn't get surprised or I don't leave the room ).

Anyway, I had been trying to get her and Elda out once a day so that she got some socialization, but she and Elly do not get along, mainly because Elly is terrified of her (I don't remember, did I post about that here?). She wanders around just nibbling at everything like the little goober she is, and any time she nibbles too close to where Elly is, Elly runs to me and climbs into my lap for safety. The size difference between the two is astonishing for the reaction Elda has. Pretty sure I never posted this picture here, but apologies if it's a duplicate; here is Elda tolerating Crash during one of their 'free-range' times in my room, taken seconds before Elly hopped into my lap:

And just for fun, here's some poor-quality cell pictures of Crash being a goofball. "Are you taking pictures of me?"

"CHEEEEESE!!!"

Edited to add, haha, guess we posted at the same time, Shadow Rabbit!

 

[shadow rabbit10]

How cute! Have you ever considered putting Crash with the chickens?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I actually was thinking about that, but after how Elly reacted to her, I'm not too sure. Elda's a bit more laid back than most of the hens in my flock, the rest of them would probably flatten Crash like a bug. I was thinking she may bond with this year's babies, though, and go outside with them when they're old enough, the thinking being that in a crowd she won't be singled out by the big girls. We'll see where it goes from there.




Edited to fix something...

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Aw. Hopefully she'll make friends with either her parents or the chicks. Or you could just let her live in your house forever.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

Has he shown any interest in the big girls?

I'll have to remember to do that, but in May is my area's annual chicken stock so I'll probably get a bunch of chicks than too

I have no restraint when baby birds are in front of me and I have money in my pocket.

Oh she is so cute

what a little stinker! I don't think you told us about that, so cute! One of my cats is terrified of chickens including chicks, I understand what that would be like.

 

[pattyhen]

I have subscribed to this thread. I've read it all and I have laughed and cried along with you. The pictures are beautiful and your love for your chickens and ducks shows through with each entry.

I am in Indiana too. I live in Southern Indiana right across the river from Louisville, Ky. I am retired now and I love having more time to spend with my ducks and chickens. I have 12 or 13 chickens everytime I count I come up with a new number you know how chicken math is. I have 15 ducks. I don't have any call ducks like Crash but I have runners and mixed breeds.

I understood completely when you lost your beloved Fru Fru. I hope I spelled her name right I'm not good with spelling. I had a buff orphington that was also my soulmate that I lost about five years ago. I still miss her and I have pictures of her on my desk here.

I look forward to reading your posts and looking at your beautiful chickens and ducks pictures. I hope you get to feeling better real soon.


Patty

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aw. Hopefully she'll make friends with either her parents or the chicks. Or you could just let her live in your house forever. 

Haha, I think that's what she's angling for! I think my family would throw me out to the coop if I tried, though.

Has he shown any interest in the big girls?

I'll have to remember to do that, but in May is my area's annual chicken stock so I'll probably get a bunch of chicks than too   I have no restraint when baby birds are in front of me and I have money in my pocket.

Oh she is so cute   what a little stinker! I don't think you told us about that, so cute! One of my cats is terrified of chickens including chicks, I understand what that would be like. 

Oh, yeah, he dances and chirps and flirts indiscriminately with all the hens. It's just most of them either body check him for trying or just ignore him. Poor Reuby!

Ah, the temptations of chicks in spring... Feed stores are so difficult to get out of empty-handed!

I have subscribed to this thread.  I've read it all and I have laughed and cried along with you.  The pictures are beautiful and your love for your chickens and ducks shows through with each entry.  

I am in Indiana too.  I live in Southern Indiana right across the river from Louisville, Ky.  I am retired now and I love having more time to spend with my ducks and chickens.  I have 12 or 13 chickens everytime I count I come up with a new number you know how chicken math is.  I have 15 ducks.  I don't have any call ducks like Crash but I have runners and mixed breeds.  

I understood completely when you lost your beloved Fru Fru.  I hope I spelled her name right I'm not good with spelling.  I had a buff orphington that was also my soulmate that I lost about five years ago.  I still miss her and I have pictures of her on my desk here.  

I look forward to reading your posts and looking at your beautiful chickens and ducks pictures.  I hope you get to feeling better real soon.  


Patty

Aw, shucks! Welcome aboard, neighbor! (Although I'm practically across the state from you, way up in the northeast corner!)

Frou-Frou was a difficult loss to cope with, and even being more at peace now, what with having her picture with me, always near my heart, I still think about her so often and I miss her. I can't even go back to page 17 on this thread or to her memorial thread without reliving the emotions of that day, perhaps not as raw, but still quite painful... Not a lot of people understand how attached you can get to these birds, and so I'm quite grateful any time I meet someone who does.








As for this nasty cold, I think after yesterday the worst is over. I stopped posting last night when I needed to go get the coops closed for the night, came back in afterwards with the shakes because my fever had spiked, and spent the rest of the night shivering under a blanket. My fever has broken today, and though I still feel like I have a cold, I feel a lot better anyway. Phew! Now to fight off the rest of it so that I can get back to the important things, like taking pictures of my girls.

In the mean time, I returned Elda to the chicken yard again this morning and it looks like she has been mostly re-accepted into the flock. She's been hanging out with Georgette a lot and I saw her mixed in a group of miscellaneous hens earlier when I opened the gate for free-range. Looks like she'll be staying outside now. I'm feeling a bit torn about having her outside after what happened to her sister, but I know she's happier there and that it's better for her than being stuck in the little makeshift pen in my room. I hope she stays safe...

And as one last note, I found a mystery egg in the coop last night, in one of the dust baths the girls have carved in the dirt floor of the addition. I thought at first that it was Ihi's, but upon closer inspection I realized that it was actually a light brown egg and not white like Ihi lays. A lot of the girls have started squatting again recently, but this egg is not quite right for any of them... Only thing I can figure is one of them needs an inkjet tune-up. Either way, yay eggs!

 

[pattyhen]

I'm glad your feeling better. We've all had colds to and now it's just the coughing which we can't seem to get rid of.

I'm glad Elda is better and able to go out with the rest of the flock. I know how hard it is to get them to be excepted again after being in the house.

My ducks and chickens are enjoying this warm weather we are having today. I can't believe it's in the 60's today. I'll be glad spring gets here.

How many more days do you get your chicks? I can't go in the feed stores in the spring because it's to tempting to buy more chickens. Last spring I bought 9 little chicks. Last winter we had a coop fire and lost ten of our chickens from the smoke. I was devestated to lose that many at one time. We did have five that survived the smoke. You can never replace the ones you lose.

Looking forward to seeing more pics and stories about your chickens and ducks.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It was a beautiful weekend, wasn't it? I think we only got to the 50's up here, though, not quite as warm. But the girls are happy. No snow means free-range for them.

So sorry about your coop fire and the birds you lost in it! That's such a scary situation and so heartbreaking! The only time I lost multiple hens at once was to a predator, but either way it is so much harder to lose more than one all at once... Especially when it's an unexpected event like that.

My philosophy has always been that you can't replace them, too. You can replace the breeds, but you can never replace the individuals. That's one of the main reasons why I didn't even try to get another Splash Marans in this year's chick order. No one could ever live up to the one I had... I had briefly considered adding another Dorking to my order, though, after losing Kit, only because Dorkings are amazing, every one of them that I've met or heard about. BUT I think I have a good number in that order so I left it where it was. Well, that and there's the possibility of Margie hatching a few babies, and I don't want to push the limits of my coop size.

If I counted correctly, looks like 105 days left to chick day.







On the topic of Margie, she laid an egg today!! e AND, though I am far, far from an expert at anything involved with hatching, it looks like it might just be fertile!

So, if all goes according to plan, I'll be setting aside the rest of the eggs she lays until she goes broody next and then putting some back under her. She usually lays like 7 or so eggs before she goes broody, but I'm thinking 3 or 4 eggs would be a good number, just in case they all hatch. With her taking care of them, timing isn't a problem for me like it is with brooder-raised babies, so she can brood any time she wants at this point as long as she lays some more eggs before then...

That's right, BROODY WATCH 2016 IS ON!!


Edited for EMPHASIS!