Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

I can't believe they'd just let that keep up and not do anything with those darn roosters! Sorry you have to deal with that at work!

I definitely need to! It has been nice and warm here, but we've had nothing but RAIN for what seems like forever! I do have pictures of the OEGBs inside today for their 5-weekiversary, though! Names are on the pictures:

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(His poor comb... )

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Acher and Toli are starting to look like miniatures of their father. And my girls keep getting sweeter--I get why people love OEGBs so much now, beyond just that they're too stinkin' cute!

Just a couple more shots of Toli and Vega being extra cute. They were curious about this chicken pitcher that's sitting on my desk right beside the paper towel studio.

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This weekend, or maybe even a little sooner, I'm going to start letting the younger ones mingle with them without the divider. With supervision, however, as the boys have already dinged up poor B2, who hopped out of their corner into the OEGBs' section the other day. The girls seem pretty gentle with them through the fence, so I think they'll be okay with them. Maybe I'll just separate the boys out while I'm not in the room so that the babies can start integrating together without me having to worry about them.

Speaking of the younger babies... Silvery and G1 were chest bumping awfully ferociously this morning... Possible indication that they're both little fellas?

The are looking good for the juvenile stage!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, you mean now that they're out of the awkward, gangly, growing-feathers-out-of-everywhere phase? Thanks!

 

[shadow rabbit10]

I can't believe they'd just let that keep up and not do anything with those darn roosters! Sorry you have to deal with that at work!

Unfortunately we have lot of birds and most of the money we make comes from fertile eggs. The roosters do their job in that area, so we can't really get rid of them. They tend to leave the full time manager alone (for the most part) since she's there all the time but they love to go after us part-timers. I'm done with work for the year/semester though so I get a whole 3 months without seeing those jerks (we also got a new lot of layer chicks in so I'm hoping the older nasties will be getting the boot sometime next year).

And it's been cloudy and rainy here too Not a nice spring so far (temps haven't been bad besides this week). The babies are so cute. They're growing up so fast. Do you plan on keeping all of them?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, enjoy your break from them! I've heard that roosters start loosing fertility around 3 years of age, sort of like how hens tend to lay fewer eggs at that point as well, so maybe they'll cycle them out to keep more fertile roosters around. No guarantee that those roosters will be any less aggressive, of course, but you can always hope, right?

The boys will get the same consideration as any of the cockerels I raise out. They may be tiny (seriously, the almost 2-week-olds are bigger than them at 5 weeks old ), but I will not tolerate aggression in my roosters. If they're well behaved and don't attack me or my hens, they can stay. They'll probably go into the main flock rather than be kept in a rooster flock, though, as I can't imagine Reuby, Winter, or the big hens will have any problems with them.



On the topic, I went ahead and tried out letting them mingle together today, which went about as well as I expected. Achernar and Toliman were absolute buttheads toward the babies, and Rigel attacked them when I held Acher and Toli to keep them away. So, the three boys went to the baby bin while the girls and babies interacted in the big brooder. To my surprise, Altair started getting aggressive toward the babies, too, and I had to hold her part of the time so she wasn't pecking and kicking them! Vega, on the other hand, was an absolute doll. Mingling with them, poking curiously at them sometimes, but never attacking or pecking hard, and she even ate with them at their feeder without issue. I'm really starting to adore this sweet girl!

Here are a few cell phone pictures of the experience. Here's Brownie-bite checking out the new space (and freezing in horror at what she saw )

Vega and Altair headed into the babies' space, which led to some confusion about what to do now that there wasn't a fence between them. (Yes, those babies filled their waterer with bedding. )

Vega being a sweetie That face! (Altair is next to the EcoGlow by G1 (Tankie)).

And, after I had to pull Altair for being a meanie, here's Vega with some of the babies, eating. The babies noticed my phone.

Two things I noticed today with them. First, like I said before, those 5-week-olds are just a bit smaller than the 2-weekers. Well, the large fowl ones, anyway, because the EE bantams are smaller.

And second, well, I thought Tank was a tank... But I picked up both B2 and G2 to switch their leg bands out, and found that G2 is also a bit of a chunk! I think it's just Cressida's influence on their genes. She is quite a bit bigger than Maggie, who's B2's mother. Just thought that was interesting.

The Silkie mixes are also starting to get some interesting markings in their newly-sprouting shoulder feathers, rather than coming in just white. Can't wait to see how they feather out--I just hope that at least one of them is a pullet!!

 

[drumstick diva]

good luck with your chicks - they are so cute now, be interesting to see if the early temperaments stay the same as the chicks age.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I hope that Vega doesn't change one bit! Such a sweet baby! Maybe Altair could be less shy, though.

Oh, and then there's this one and her poofy face. Wouldn't change a thing about her!

Speaking of the Easter-egger babies, they are about two weeks old today! So, here are their individual pictures! Starting with the Easter Hatch-a-long babies, here is B2:

I took pictures of B2 and G2's backs, too, to show the coloring they have coming in. Here's B2 still:

G1, the tank

G2, who is also bulking up

And the Meyer babies! The lovely Miss Brownie-bite:

Poor baby jumped over the divider and got her comb dinged up by Achernar.

The irresistible Miss Poofy Face!

Is this not the face of a baby who knows she's adorable?

Poofy's miniature twin:

And Silvery, who was not pleased with being put in the paper towel studio again.

So, since the OEGB babies are named after stars, I thought I would stick with the spacey theme for these babies and name them after named moons. I have some in mind, but I'm not 100% decided on who gets what. Poofy and Brownie will probably get their 'real' names first, since they're sexed pullets. Not sure if I'm going to wait to know males and females on the others, or just wing it.

 

[drumstick diva]

They are adorable

 

[ronott1]

I hope that Vega doesn't change one bit! Such a sweet baby! Maybe Altair could be less shy, though.

Oh, and then there's this one and her poofy face. Wouldn't change a thing about her!

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Speaking of the Easter-egger babies, they are about two weeks old today! So, here are their individual pictures! Starting with the Easter Hatch-a-long babies, here is B2:

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I took pictures of B2 and G2's backs, too, to show the coloring they have coming in. Here's B2 still:

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G1, the tank

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G2, who is also bulking up

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And the Meyer babies! The lovely Miss Brownie-bite:

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Poor baby jumped over the divider and got her comb dinged up by Achernar.

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The irresistible Miss Poofy Face!

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Is this not the face of a baby who knows she's adorable?

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Poofy's miniature twin:

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And Silvery, who was not pleased with being put in the paper towel studio again.

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So, since the OEGB babies are named after stars, I thought I would stick with the spacey theme for these babies and name them after named moons. I have some in mind, but I'm not 100% decided on who gets what. Poofy and Brownie will probably get their 'real' names first, since they're sexed pullets. Not sure if I'm going to wait to know males and females on the others, or just wing it.

The cute and sweet ones are often cockerels

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, I know. That's one really nice thing about the duckwing patterns, though--easy to tell boys and girls apart by feather coloring at an early age, so I know for sure Vega and Altair are pullets. They're the sweetest things, those girls.

Now, I don't really have that on miss Foofy-poofy-face (yet?), but she was sexed as a pullet, so I'm going with the assumption. Dang, she'd break my heart if she ended up being an 'oopsie' cockerel.

Anyway, I took the Easter-egger babies outside for the first time today, if y'all couldn't tell by the background of the above picture. The rest of the pictures to come... eventually!

 

[ronott1]

Yeah, I know. That's one really nice thing about the duckwing patterns, though--easy to tell boys and girls apart by feather coloring at an early age, so I know for sure Vega and Altair are pullets. They're the sweetest things, those girls.

Now, I don't really have that on miss Foofy-poofy-face (yet?), but she was sexed as a pullet, so I'm going with the assumption. Dang, she'd break my heart if she ended up being an 'oopsie' cockerel.

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Anyway, I took the Easter-egger babies outside for the first time today, if y'all couldn't tell by the background of the above picture. The rest of the pictures to come... eventually!

What is the percentage of accuracy on that? Most of the not official methods are 75%