Pipd's Peeps!

[pattyhen]

Well good I'm glad the egg was Margies. I'm going to guess and say she is going to lay a beautiful blue egg.

Enjoy your weekend.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I decided to bring Cordelia in today. I've been trying different things with her for her crackly lungs to no avail, and I think with as chilly as it has been that it was making things worse for her. As soon as she was inside, she perked up quite a bit. So it looks like she's in until it warms up again. :/ But at least she's a cute roommate.

I also brought Donna in with her. Through all of this, Donna has been totally fine, so she doesn't really need to be inside. However, I've seen her running around fine, and then going over to check on Cordy like she's worried. I didn't want to split the two of them up, and there was plenty of room for both of them anyway. Donna seems okay with this, and I think Cordy will do better with the companionship.


So... I have chickens in my room... AGAIN.

 

[pattyhen]

I hope she gets to feeling better soon and it's always nice to have a little company. Have you tried putting the vet rx on her nose? Sometimes that helps with the breathing.

Goldie is still inside. I finally found her a diaper now I have to get a safety pen before I can put it on her. She is the kind of chicken that poos with every other step she takes.

Have a great day and thank you for the update. Oh yes thank you for the calendar I got it the other day. It is so pretty I can't wait to hang it up. I also got the bumper stickers

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've never tried Vet Rx, no. Wish I would have thought of it while I was in TSC getting a fresh pack of antibiotic earlier today. Cordelia seems to have a bit more energy now that she's in out of the chilly air. She also has an ear infection apparently--when I got home from class, her ear was swollen up! I had to have my mom hold her while I cleaned out her ear and packed it with ointment. She really perked up once her ear was cleaned up and the swelling started to go down, although she still tires out a lot sooner than Donna does.

Speaking of Donna, the whole time we were cleaning Cordy's ear, Donna was standing at the fence and keeping a close eye on everything. I think she was really worried about Cordelia, because Cordy definitely did NOT like having her ear cleaned and wasn't afraid to tell us about it! These two are so cute together! I really hope Cordy pulls through fine, because poor Donna would be lost without her little sister.

Roscoe is already a bit lost--his girls disappeared! I have him back in the main flock with the rest of the chickens and he doesn't know what to do with himself with all the room! He kept scratching along and then bursting into the air at random, wings flapping the whole way! Goofy little fuzzball.



Anyway, glad that Goldie's still kickin'! Is she going to be a house chicken now?

And no problem on the calendar! I was surprised to find the bumper stickers, too, because all they said was a free calendar. No complaints here!

 

[pattyhen]

I hope Cordy is feeling better. The vet rx isn't a miracle cure but I think it might help her some. It's like a humans vicks sauve. Thats sweet when they have a chicken friend but they are so lost if something happens to one of them.

I guess Goldie is going to be a housechicken. I had her outside with me and a couple of the hens walked up to her and she run to me. I scooped her up and she was just shaking. She is walking normal now and eatting she just doesn't seem to have the strength she used to have. Before she got sick she was out running all the time and went in the coop with them at night. Now when I put her in the pen by herself she'll walk a couple of minutes then lay down.

Have a nice weekend.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Cordy is better in some respects, worse in others, and unchanged in still others. She's been through 2 antibiotics and is part way through a third without any remarkable amount of improvement. :/ Likely as a result of her respiratory issues, she also got a bad ear infection, which was... unpleasant. It swelled up to about the size of a very large pea, and I had to scoop out all the yuck that was in it and pack it with ointment. The other ear wasn't nearly as bad, but I still cleaned it and packed it with ointment to be safe. Poor girl, but she looked so relieved when it was done! I put her back in the pen with Donna, and she started eating like she was starved! Hopefully things will improve as her ears heal up.

And Donna started squatting yesterday, so she's been REALLY needy and seems a bit jealous of all the attention Cordelia's been getting. Goofy chickens.




In non-chicken related news, I was doing homework earlier when I heard a THUD against one of the windows, and looked over in time to see a bird fall to the ground. I ran outside and found it, a little female Downy Woodpecker, lying stunned on the ground. Since the hens roam in that area, I didn't want to leave her there, so I picked her up and checked her over. It's been quite cold the past few days, so I kept her out of the wind and kind of tried to keep her warm. After a few minutes, she hopped to attention, grabbed my finger, and started looking around. Then, she flew off, appearing to be just fine. I grabbed some pictures while I was holding her, because that was an amazing experience and she was so precious.

This was after she grabbed my finger. Isn't she lovely?

As a side note, I can assure you, my skin is not nearly as pale as it looks in those pictures. My cell phone camera likes to wash color out.



I have a full day of class tomorrow, and just one class on Tuesday because the other was cancellled, but afterwards it's Thanksgiving BREAK!! Hopefully some pictures will be taken in those 5 days I have off! EDIT: Chicken pictures, I mean!

 

[pattyhen]

I wish Cordy would get totally well. She must really have a bad infection. Poor little thing. Thats cute that Donna is squatting. She'll be laying soon and want a bunch of attention.

The little woodpecker is so cute. I'm glad she was able to fly off in the end.

We cleaned the duck coop today. Boy was that a job. I don't know why in the world he built the coop only 4 foot tall. That makes trying to shovel out the pine so hard to do. Anyway it looks good now but in a couple of days they will have it a mess again.

Take care and I'm looking forward to some pics of everybody.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sorry, I dropped the ball on picture taking this weekend. It was just so nice to sit around and be lazy for a while. I will try to get pictures later this week! It occurred to me that I never took pictures of the babies when they turned 6 months old on the 16th, so I do really need to take some pictures of them, if no one else!

It wasn't a total lazy weekend, though. My mom and I (well, mostly my mom) did some winterizing on the coop. The deck is now covered on the south and west walls with plastic sheeting. It's so cozy in there now with that as a wind break, and the little bit of a greenhouse effect that it causes if the sun is out! I didn't think I could like that deck any more than I did, but I was wrong! I love that addition to my coop!!

And, of course, there was Thanksgiving. It was nice to spend time with the family. For the most part, if I'm not in class, usually my siblings are, and my parents work, and so it's rare to have the whole family gathered without everyone being asleep, haha! I don't know if I've mentioned it, but my sister is in culinary school (about to graduate, actually), so the food was excellent. Sadly, we had to buy eggs for all that cooking, because I'm still only getting one egg from She Who the Partridge Rock (whose egg I mistook for Mabel's a page or two ago) with the occasional egg from the Silkie girls when they aren't brooding. Right now, Marge is fresh out of brooding, and Indigo just went broody again, so Marka is the only Silkie laying. Silkies. Anyway, luckily, someone down the street got chickens this year, so I didn't have to compromise my personal ethic code and buy the eggs of hens kept in downright cruel conditions in factory farms.



On to the less happy news, little Cordy is still not improving, and she's looking pretty tired all of the sudden these past couple days. I'm not sure how much longer she's going to make it, to be honest. I've exhausted what I can do for her at this point, so I'm giving her supportive care and hoping for the best. She's got a lot of spirit, but I just can't seem to fix her. Poor, precious little munchkin.

And we've been having problems with a hawk stalking the girls again. :/ I have the girls in the mini yard during the day with closely supervised free range late in the afternoon until I can feel safe letting them into their big yard again. Yet another plus for having the deck built--lots of hawk-safe space for the girls to hang out in!



Getting down to the final stretch in the semester--2 weeks to go, and then finals week! Hopefully that means the homework load will lighten up soon... please..?

 

[pattyhen]

I'm glad you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. I cooked and we had a real nice time with lots of food and a peaceful day.

Thats ok about the pics I know you are busy we'll just look forward to seeing them later on. I'm sorry to hear about Cordy I was so in hopes she was getting better. Did you contact the person you got them from? Maybe they could help you with treatment if they are having the same problems.

Our temps were in the 60s yesterday it seemed like spring again. The ducks and the chickens enjoyed the nice weather. The day before it rained all day. I know the ducks don't mind the rain but the chickens don't like getting wet. They stayed inside most of the day. I haven't seen a hawk for a while now. Knock on wood they stay away.

The guineas gave us a scare last evening. My husband went to put them up in the coop and he couldn't find them. He said I can hear them but I can't see them anywhere. I went outside to help him look for them and I looked over at the duck coop. They were inside the duck coop looking out the window. I had to go in the coop and hand them out to my husband to put them in the chicken coop. It was relief to see those two faces in the window knowing they were safe.

Have a great day and I hope the homework slows down. When do you get off for Christmas vacation? I know your looking forward to have more time to spend with the chickens. I can't leave Crash out, give her a big hug from me.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I didn't contact the person I got them from, but I'm relatively sure that they did not arrive here sick. They had a full month of quarantine and were perfectly healthy at the end. I suspect, since my flock has tested positive for it in the past, that it's MG. Cordy has always been a bit of a runt, and I'm afraid she just isn't strong enough to fight it off. We have one last antibiotic to try, Denagard, which is supposed to be the best thing for MG. If this doesn't work, well, there's nothing left to do but wait and hope she manages to pull through somehow.


I had to laugh about your Guineas. Such goofy birds! Mine have had panic attacks trying to go into their coop because they wouldn't look up to see the doorway. just inches above their heads Let's just say they aren't the brightest bulbs...


Christmas vacation starts for me on the 17th. Officially, it starts December 19, but my last final exam is the 16th, so I'm off from that point on.



It's been chilly here today, but I finally went out and got pictures. Not as many as Usual (or, at least, it didn't seem like as many), but some pictures! The girls were extra grumpy in the cold, because obviously it's my fault. You can probably tell by the scowls on their faces! Mostly, I took pictures of the babies because the older girls go to bed so early. The babies turned 6 months old on November 16, so they're about 6-and-a-half months old now, I guess.

Callette, who wanted to be hugged on, so this was the best I got of her:

Cazzie and her grumpy face:

Endymion, being Endymion.

Flury floofy:

Izzy, who regularly vanishes into her gigantic beard.

Lydda, posing pretty

Rooska. Again, the best I could get because she wanted to be hugged on, too. I had to catch her drinking to get her to pose.

And the giant, Umru:

Cazzie again She's just as silky-soft as she looks in this picture.

Endymion being super serious:

SUPER. SERIOUS.

Lydda looks pretty serious, too:

...Nah, she's too much of a sweetie to be that serious.

Flury, workin' the scowl:

I guess I didn't take very many of the older gals, but here are the few I got.

Ihi, who looks delighted by the chilly weather, simply delighted.

Poppy says, "Winter again?"

Empress Roha, surveying her subjects from WAY WAY up in the rafters above the deck. There is at most a 6-inch gap between the peak and the rafters, but she's found a way to fly up there every night for the past week. Whatever makes her happy, I guess!

And to finish them all, a quick picture of Donna, who laid her first egg yesterday! It's such a perfect little brown egg, too!