Pipd's Peeps!

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Poor Theo. It sounds like these roosters will be tasty.

Oh, they definitely will!

Nothing tastes better than an aggressive rooster.

 

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A little more rooster drama. So I was sitting with the babies for a bit yesterday, when I noticed that the girls, particularly the Mottled Cochin girls, were flinching away from the two Silkied Cochin boys. Not bad, and neither of them actually acted aggressively while I was there, but I don't like it. I decided to put them out into the main flock with the Mottled Cochin boys so that the girls aren't being pushed around. Well, that went okay for about 10 minutes, and then the Mottled boys decided to use the Silkied boys as their personal punching bags.

So, I did get my roosters rearranged after all! I took Lucky and put him in one of the empty hutches. That means instead of reducing my pen count, I raised it, but this will only be until the boys go to Martins (Lucky's on that list for being an ankle biter), so I guess I can deal with that. Meanwhile, the two Silkied babies moved in with their dad, Roscoe. Roscoe's being pretty adorable with them, firm but also quite gentle. He hates to share a perch, though, so roost time last night was pretty rough on those young boys. Hopefully he'll settle down like he did with Lucky, and this will allow the three of them to get along later on so that I have no problems keeping them together.

Meanwhile, I believe I have finally settled on a name for that last Mottled pullet. I plan to take pictures of them today (they are 12 and 13 weeks old as of this last weekend), so I'll see how well it suits her while I'm out there, just to be sure. So that leaves the keeper boys, assuming they both are deemed 'keepable'.

 

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Pictures as promised--and actually on the day I took them! They're an uncooperative bunch of boogers, as you'll probably be able to tell by the quality of some of these shots, but at least I got all of them, right?

First, the Silkied Cochins, who are 13 weeks old. The boys were pretty impossible to get pictures of, so I did what I could.

Mr. Blue Band:

Mr. Pink Band (seriously, the best I got of him...)

Little Roxanne--I swear, she reminds me so much of Donna at this age

My little Dorkings at 12 weeks.

Kita:

Myrna:

And finally, the Mottled Cochin babies.

Sweet Ida Her wing was hanging like that because she was preening when I interrupted her for a picture.

Mr. Orange Band:

Mr. Purple Band:

Sylvie. I would swear this picture was better focused when I took it, but oh, well.

Vira and her eyebrows

And finally, Blue Band mottled, who is now officially named Bryony.

And a few extra pictures from the day. Here's Roxy, already working the HARD STARE.

Vira Oh, that sweet face!

Kita in the doorway.

And one last one of Kita. I was crouched down getting Vira's picture when all of the sudden, Kita decided to take a peek over my shoulder at what I was doing. What a Dork!

 

[Leahs Mom]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo
Are any of the motttled cochin boys keepers personality-wise?

 

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Not so far. Both of them are biters and they take up aggressive stances toward me every time I'm out there. They have a month or two to drastically change their temperaments or they're gone.

 

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Well, Mavis apparently is laying! I went out to check on the girls because they were upset over something, and while walking around the yard to check things over, I found what could only be Mavis's egg! It's too fresh (judging by the air cell size) to be an early egg of Josephine's, and too small and not colored right to be a recent one from Josey. Mavis was in the nest box that I put on the hutch on the deck (long story short, some of the Dorks were laying up there and their eggs would roll off the back and break on the deck, so I relented and gave them a nest ) getting ready to lay, so I knew it had to be a day or two old at least. Well, while I was out there, she looked like she was about to drop her second egg, so I stuck around. All of the sudden, she climbed out of the box without laying and looked like she was going to hop down to the deck--while standing awkwardly with an egg about to pop out of her vent! I tried to nudge her back toward the nest, but it was too late--she dropped her egg, which promptly rolled off the hutch, hit the floor, and bounced out into the old shavings in the yard. It was cracked, but not broken open as I thought it would be, so I grabbed it and took a couple pictures. So, here are Mavey's first two eggs!

After taking pictures of her egg, I then turned around to find Mavis standing outside of the hutch nest box, reaching in, and grabbing bedding to toss over her shoulder. This is a terrible picture because of the lighting, but here she is in the act:

Oh, and I washed her older egg off because I like to keep everyone's first egg if I can, and this is how it looks without all that dirt and stuff on it. Just like her mama, her first egg is lighter and speckley instead of solid dark brown. Same shape and everything!

(P.S. There wasn't anything out there, so I have no idea why the girls were upset in the first place.)

 

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Vivi laid her first egg!! I'm so surprised! It seems like her comb only just started getting larger!

Here are all three of their first eggs. Mavis, then Vivi, then Josephine. Viv is the smallest of the three, so no surprise her first egg is also the smallest!

 

[Leahs Mom]

What are the ages of the girls that just started laying?

 

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The three of them are 23 weeks and a few days old today. Josephine was just a few days shy of 21 weeks when she started laying, though. Looks like they're just a bit ahead of their momma, Nadine, who laid her first egg just shy of 24 weeks of age!

 

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Interesting development this morning! Roscoe and the boys finished their food either last night or early this morning, and so they were hungry come feeding time. When I gave them their food, Roscoe actually showed the boys the dish and let them eat--while he was watching over them very closely! He just stood there like this while they ate:

He's also let them perch next to him every night after that first night, and even given them the end of the perch furthest away from the open wire! I dare say, I think he might be fathering them!