Pipd's Peeps!

[Cluckcluck1215]

Your lucky!Its melted, and then I guess this is our hint for 6 more weeks of winter!Ha!

Um, yes.*cheeky smile*Its a almost defiant no :/ but, I think my new reasoning is a good idea, get them later in the summer.

UGH! I hate mites!Im lucky, I've never have mites before.Good luck and I'm glad that Donna and Roscoe don't have any.I also want to say, So sorry about Cordilla.Did I already say that?

Ha!: sometimes I REALLY wish there was a Anti-Crow and Anti-Blue-Jay spray!Stupid Blue Jays and Crows, scaring my poor birds out of there little wits

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aww, well that stinks! Hopefully in the summer, then! Who could say no to more chickies?!

Definitely lucky not to have had them--mites are a pain! I'm aching just thinking about all the work I had to do to get rid of them last time! :/ We actually only ever had them in the flock once before, years and years ago before I really took over with the chickens. Mom dusted them and the coop and we never saw a trace of them again until December last year, probably 10-11 years after that first time. Here's hoping for a similar result this time!!

Not sure if you'd said it before, but thanks anyway. Cordy was such a sweet little angel and I still miss her and her antics. Now I have her nieces and nephews to keep me entertained, though.

Let's get working on an anti-everything-but-chickens-and-ducks-and-maybe-Guinea-fowl-too spray. We could corner the market and be billionaires.

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

well, she wants them too, but we don't have much more room!Only for like, 3 more and the limit for my farm store is 6 and I would get them from MPC but the breeds I want, some are like $13.24 for a sexed female!

I have heard many stories on how bad mites are :/ I use Ashes, Dirt and Food Grade DE and it works great!

Haha!

Oh yeah!Well, Dogs cats Ect.But Predadors!!!!! : my chickens can't free range anymore!Yotes, Foxes, Hawks.All those good things!In my years of raising chickens, I have lost 3 to a fisher(???)Teo(well, one Drake and a Pullet)to a Fox(?? I think? They just went missing)And two pullets from a hawk!Its awful!All my birds UNDER a year old ALWAYS get killed.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ah, yeah, I definitely understand that. I'll be at my limit with the spring chicks I'm getting, depending on how many are girls, of course. This time next year, I'll be in the same position--no chickies!

I do like some of the breeds that MPC has available... They're one of the only places you can get 'sexed female' bantams, but from what I've heard they aren't very accurate at sexing bantams anyway. And some of their 'designer breeds' bug me, like 'Favaucanas'. UGH! But maybe that's just me.

Yeah, it's been a funny string of circumstances that has led to the mite infestations. I think it probably has a lot to do with how wet it's been. The girls usually have dust baths available year-round, but the coop leaked and so the dirt floor where their baths usually are got wet and muddy. I have a big, round bin I'm going to use to dust the girls, and I think I'll leave it in there afterward and fill it with dry dirt and ashes so they have a dust bath. That way I can dump it out and refill it if it gets wet. (Yes, I put off dusting them today... Actually, I had homework due at midnight, so I had to do that first.)

That stinks about all the predators! We're plagued with hawks this time of year, but otherwise I have no problems with predators, knock on wood! I think the youngsters fall victim to predators because the older gals are more experienced and know what to do in such situations. :/ Sorry for your losses!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I may or may not have forgotten to take the 6-week pictures of the babies today. To be fair, I've been studying pretty much all day for an organic chem test tomorrow. There will for sure be pictures either tomorrow afternoon or Saturday, though! They are getting so big!


Also, Callette and Cazzie have both begun to lay as of the 12th. I suspect one or both of them has been laying longer than that, but that was the first day I was certain it was them. To my great surprise, Cazzie is laying a beautiful, dark brown egg, not as dark as my past Marans but darker than any of my current brown eggers, including my Welsummer! It provides some nice contrast in the egg bucket. We're starting to get overloaded with eggs at this point, so it may be time to bust out the egg cartons and start sending them out to people. The girls are apparently more optimistic about spring coming soon than I am.


No signs of bugs since they were dusted on Sunday. I'm going to look it up to see if it's necessary first, but I may just repeat their dusting this weekend to be safe. Fingers crossed we're done with that! I need to start getting Donna, Roscoe, and the babies outside, and I don't want them to get infested, too!


I'm also kind of in disbelief at this point, but we're only about 3 1/2 weeks away from the predicted arrival time of the spring babies! I have so much I need to do before they get here!!

I think that's it for now. Gotta get to bed and get plenty of rest before this test. Wish me luck--I think I'm going to need it! :/

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

can wait for your chicks, Pipd!I may or may not be making a incubator!I asked my mom, but she hasn't said no...........But not a yes.....

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Oh and good luck with your test!

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Oh and good luck with your test!

 

[pattyhen]

Good luck with your test and good morning. It is going to be a nice day here with sunshine and highs in the 60s.

I can't wait for your new babies to arrive either. You've picked out some nice breeds. How are the babies doing? They are growing up way to fast. Are they going to be able to go outside when the new ones arrive? I know they will be old enough but don't know how your temps will be outside.

How is Crash doing? What did she think about the babies?

Have a nice day and hug the little ones for me.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks for the luck on the test! I think it may have actually gone quite well!! I'll know for sure by Monday probably, so fingers crossed!

can wait for your chicks, Pipd!I may or may not be making a incubator!I asked my mom, but she hasn't said no...........But not a yes.....

Uh-oh, haha! You'll be in real trouble if you start hatching your own! It's pretty addictive! I still have my Cochin fuzzy babies in the brooder and I'm already thinking about how soon I'll be able to hatch more...

Good luck with your test and good morning.  It is going to be a nice day here with sunshine and highs in the 60s.  

I can't wait for your new babies to arrive either.  You've picked out some nice breeds.  How are the babies doing?  They are growing up way to fast.  Are they going to be able to go outside when the new ones arrive?  I know they will be old enough but don't know how your temps will be outside.  

How is Crash doing?  What did she think about the babies?  

Have a nice day and hug the little ones for me.  

It was a lovely day up here, too! Too bad I spent most of it studying and taking that test. :/ But I did spend some time in the late afternoon / evening with my girls outside, which was nice after all that stress!

I'm hoping I can start taking the Cochin babies outside for playtime in the yard within the next week if the weather cooperates, but since they are in my parents' bathroom, it won't matter if they're still in their brooder by the time the next babies arrive. I really need to get Donna and Roscoe back out, though, so that I can deep clean my room and get a brooder set up in there!

Crashie hasn't met the babies yet. That didn't go so well the last time, so it's not something I've really thought about! Crash is Crash, of course. I've had to improvise baths for her by filling the black tub that the Cochin babies were in before moving to the bathroom with water. She complains--it's not as big as the big tub, after all!--but she enjoys herself anyway, don't be fooled.

I don't know about hugs, but little Abra climbed her way to my shoulder when I reached into the brooder to refill their smaller feed dish (since they won't eat their regular crumble until I've given them some wetted crumble spoiled babies!). She was real calm and sweet, so I let her sit and watch while I wetted the crumbles for the morning, and she even taste tested them to make sure they were just right. Precious little squirt!







I didn't end up taking their pictures today after my test, but here are a couple I grabbed while I was out with the big girls. Most of the pictures I got were silly pictures of me and Elly, so I'll spare y'all that eyesore, but I did get a couple surprisingly nice pictures for being taken with my cell phone rather than with my good camera!

First is Endymion, who came right up and smushed her beard into my leg because Izzy was being a meanie to her or something. She peeked up and I grabbed this shot:

And then there's Callette, who just randomly decided to hop up on top of the heating / air conditioning unit right behind me, and then hop back and forth between that and the small plastic shed for no apparent reason. I really love the background in this picture, though, and Callette put on her best sweetie-face for it.