Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thank goodness the semester is over! I'm expecting mostly As as well, with the exception of O chem. Hoping for a C in that class . Really don't want to have to retake it. The week before finals I had 10 assignments due so as you can imagine, I was burnt out well before finals even started. Cheers to the break! Cute pictures. You're gonna have to trim that girl's spur wow.

for your O chem grade, Shadow Rabbit! I know that's a tough class, so congrats for sticking through it to the end at least! Sounds like you had a rough time, there. I'm surprised, because most of my classes have observed 'dead week' as the week before finals, meaning nothing is due and nothing is assigned specifically to prevent that burnout. Sorry you had to deal with that!

That spur is pretty impressive for a 7-month-old pullet, isn't it? Guess I have more photographic evidence that spurs don't mean hooey when it comes to sexing young birds.




My grades have come back, all A's, but it was one of those semesters that I knew wasn't going to be a challenge. The group project in the one class very nearly had me worried (because, you know, group projects always go so well... ), but when the professor returned the grade on that and we lost a total of 4 points out of the 300 it was worth, I knew he was going easy on everyone. That was confirmed when my final essay was given a 100% grade. Ain't no way that was a 100% worthy essay. But I'm not going to complain!

In regards to my last post, Ida did NOT lay an egg based on her vent and bone structure. More than likely, that was a Silkie egg. Gee, do I seem eager for my pullets to start laying? There's so much baking I want to do and so few eggs to go around!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Good morning! I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season so far! I had some health stuff go down (nothing super serious, just enough to make me feel yucky and worn out), so I've mostly been just laying around this past week or two feeling sorry for myself. All seems well now, so fingers crossed for a healthy new year!



In regards to my last post, I think my girls heard my plea for more eggs. Lydda, Mavis, Josephine, Margaret, and Indigo have come back into lay, along with Vira, Myrna, Marka, and Echo, who've been laying, and Kita, who's checking out the boxes and looks like she could start any day now. I've had a good 5 eggs or more every day for a few days now! I have so much stuff I want to make, I'm not sure where to start!


It looks like Vira is going broody for real this time, at just over 7 months old. Last night, she was still on the nest after laying her egg, her belly partially plucked, and grumbling up a storm. Oh, Vira! Margie is getting 'clucky', too, and I'm sure Indigo and Marka won't be too far behind. I know the weather's been unseasonably warm, girls, but I still don't think it's quite chick brooding season...

...BUT, that said, I'm noticing Sybil getting a lot of color and size to her comb like she's getting ready to go back into lay now that she's finished her molt, and I do still have my incubators out...


Anyway, I think that's about it going on over here. It's shaping up to be a nice, sunny day, so maybe the girls will cooperate for some pictures during free-range today. We'll see!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Pictures! Probably the last ones of 2018, too, since we're due for rain all tomorrow. I aimed for birds I don't usually get pictures of, but there's a definite, compelling reason why I don't get pictures of them--they DO NOT cooperate! So, there are some of the same as usual, and a few oddballs in the mix.


Let's start with some Dorks! Here's Myrna looking bright eyed! Look at that headgear!

Perdita, relaxing in the sun on this chilly day.

Lydda in the nest box. Oh, those poor tail feathers!

Reinette the Wheaten Marans. Looks like she may be coming back into lay, too!

One of the three oldest birds in the flock, the Lady Wyandotte. Not looking too bad for 8-1/2, eh?

Mako the Easter-egger. I can never get a good picture of her! Even this, she's looking away instead of at the camera! I also had to do a double take when I took this picture--no, she does NOT have a horrible scaly leg mite infestation on her left leg! It was a leaf positioned right behind her leg, and the shadows of dead plant stalks adding to the illusion!

Cuter Scooter, my last remaining Sebright. Maybe she'll flock up with Winston and Sybil once they move outside next year, since they're all so small?

Vira, Mottled Cochin bantam. She cracked under the broody buster pressure already. I think she wasn't fully committed just yet, so we'll see how long it lasts before she's on the nest again...

Here is a round fuzzy with a super serious hard stare. Roxy's getting more and more like her mom every day.

And then there's Rooska... I'm not sure she knew there was a strand of hay in her beak, because she kept looking this way and that with it hanging like this.

Then, derpy Dym-Dym walked up and pulled it out of her beak, and they both stood there for the longest time like this, just frozen in place:

Oh, yes, one more! The Marans girls heading down the path towards the side yard for some last minute free-ranging this evening. Josephine leading the way, of course, with Mavis in the middle, and Vivi at the tail end.

That's all I got that didn't wash out in the sun or blur from movement.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Happy (belated ) New Year! I grabbed a few pictures of the girls with my cell this morning. Thought I would share. First of all, happy hatchday to Abie Baby Munchkin, who's 2 years old today! She was having none of the photo op this frosty morning.

What started the picture taking was these five looking totally adorable here. Clockwise from the top left, this is Iddy Biddy, Flury Floofles, Callette, Echo, and Lydda:

Of course, when I hunched over to take the above picture, Rangi took full advantage and climbed her way to my shoulder. Totally innocent, that one. Just look at this face:

Once Rangi moved on, I grabbed a couple more shots. Here's Myrna and Kita. Despite her expression, Myrna's a real sweetheart.

Freema, grumping me for not paying enough attention to her.

Turns out Endymion is afraid of the cell phone. She froze like this until I got a little closer, then ran for it!

Last picture, I grabbed this shot of most of the flock, doing their morning preening and milling about.

Now, I could try and describe who's who in that picture... But I think this is much easier! It's a little confusing at first, but this shows who all is in the above picture. Not quite everyone, but most of the Mottled Cochins were at my feet and there are some broodies in jail and a few other birds out of frame (plus I think someone might be standing between Elda, Wynne, and Mako, but I can't tell who...).

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, looks like Mother Nature finally remembered this is winter! We've had a dusting of snow off and on for a few days, which melted in the sun yesterday. This morning, there were only a few patches of snow remaining. And then, a few hours ago, this happened...

And it's still coming down!

The girls share my disgust. Ain't nobody coming out of the coop today.

The snow's blowing in from the complete opposite direction as is typical here, so the plastic sheeting on the deck was doing a whole lot of nothing. So, I grabbed some feed bags and cut them up to at least slow down the snow coming in onto the deck. I didn't want to block all the ventilation, just stop most of the snow, so it's not exactly solid, but it's doing the job. I also happened to glance toward Jasper's pen straight ahead in this picture to find that he was being buried in snow, so I had to slap up some feed bags on his pen, too, and shovel it out so he wasn't standing in snow, poor guy!

I also broke out the bag of leaves I gathered up in the fall and put down a few handfuls for the girls to scratch in. There were some takers by the time I was finished and leaving, so hopefully they aren't too bored during their snow day. (Err, and the bucket... That's from cleaning out the dropping trays today, so... )

Oh, yes, and here's some cuteness. Scooter has decided she's going to hibernate out the winter this year. Cressida is her chosen location for hibernation.

"Wake me up in April..."

"...Good night!"

...But seriously, she's fine. She just likes hiding her face in the other birds' feathers when it's snowy like this.


Edited to correct something.

 

[casportpony]

Crash pictures! Crashie dearest is very angry at me because I did a horrible thing. I cleaned out the shavings she had finally gotten to the right level of wetness and replaced them with, GASP, dry, clean shavings! Oh, the humanity! Now she's got to get them all nice and wet all over again!

"What?"

Yeah, nothing suspicious about that little snoot.

I tried to show her how nice her fresh shavings are, but that just displeased her more. "No, no, no!"

Then she gave me a stern nibbling. Now I know better.

My cute li'l pudgy ducky.

Beautiful!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, thanks! She's something, anyway! Little stinker!

 

[casportpony]

Haha, thanks! She's something, anyway! Little stinker!

I saw her

picture here:

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Ah, I wondered about that! That post is pretty buried in this thread at this point. I see my pictures up there pretty frequently. Not sure if it recognizes where I post and selects them more often, or if I just post that many pictures.

 

[Simalayin1342]

Pulling down the driveway to head to class, I glanced over at the mini yard where Mr. Purple Band has been staying to see that there was not one, but two little black and white birds in that yard. I don't know how, I don't know where, but Bryony hopped over the 6 foot fence between the mini yard and the main chicken yard. I was already running a bit behind and Bry doesn't exactly come to me, so she had to spend much of the day in the pen with Mr. Purple Band. I just got home about 45 minutes ago, grabbed her (after having to put up a fence panel to corner her ), and took her in for a wing trimming. Naughty baby!

View attachment 1537618

The good news is Mr. Purple Band was very well behaved with her, didn't chase her or peck at her, or at least that I saw. He may be a worthwhile keeper after all... Anyway, he hasn't been named yet, and as I mentioned a page or two ago, I tried the name Jasper with Bryony but it didn't fit. I was thinking maybe Jasper would be a good name for him instead. We'll see...

Is that a splash maran?