Pipd's Peeps!

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All's well around here, sorry for the lack of updates! Elly is working her way back onto pellets (spoiled girl thinks the hand feeding formula is a treat and doesn't want to eat her pellets now ) and Reinette is fully recovered and growing feathers in well. I'm hoping to have both of them back outside before too much longer, pending Elly getting back to normal eating and making sure things are moving as they should be through her.


I came on to post more because it looks like Vega may be getting ready to lay very soon! She's been squatting, well, since she was only a few weeks old, but more so here recently. Today, she's hanging out in the coop and causing the whole flock to go into a panic every now and then by cackling at the top of her lungs! So, I guess we're on first egg watch already! I'll keep y'all posted!

 

[ronott1]

All's well around here, sorry for the lack of updates! Elly is working her way back onto pellets (spoiled girl thinks the hand feeding formula is a treat and doesn't want to eat her pellets now ) and Reinette is fully recovered and growing feathers in well. I'm hoping to have both of them back outside before too much longer, pending Elly getting back to normal eating and making sure things are moving as they should be through her.


I came on to post more because it looks like Vega may be getting ready to lay very soon! She's been squatting, well, since she was only a few weeks old, but more so here recently. Today, she's hanging out in the coop and causing the whole flock to go into a panic every now and then by cackling at the top of her lungs! So, I guess we're on first egg watch already! I'll keep y'all posted!

Hopefully soon! If so, then she will likely lay eggs through the winter

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Vega has settled onto a nest!!

She's on top of a large egg, so it looks like she's crouching weird, but she is sitting. I have a feeling it's going to be soon! Hopefully within the next couple hours as I'll have to leave for a harp lesson by then!

 

[ronott1]

Vega has settled onto a nest!!

View attachment 1910531

She's on top of a large egg, so it looks like she's crouching weird, but she is sitting. I have a feeling it's going to be soon! Hopefully within the next couple hours as I'll have to leave for a harp lesson by then!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, I just went out and checked, and... she's off the nest, out in the yard, preening with her sister. No egg. Guess she just wanted to get my hopes up for nothing, the little stinker!

 

[ronott1]

Well, I just went out and checked, and... she's off the nest, out in the yard, preening with her sister. No egg. Guess she just wanted to get my hopes up for nothing, the little stinker!

they will do that!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Vega is no longer interested in the nests, so I guess that's that. Little stinker! Fifi is starting to get quite red in the face and squatting, though, so maybe I'll start seeing a new shade of green or blue soon!



In other news, I noticed yesterday that there was a lot of fighting going on between Oberon and Rigel in the cockerel pen. Well, not fighting so much, but Oberon chasing Rigel around relentlessly. Both of them are on the keeper list for now, so I didn't want Rigel to get squashed. So last evening, I took Oberon out of the cockerel pen and let him run in the big-kid flock for a while.

He seemed okay in there with the big girls. He did grab Endymion and attempt to have his way with her--only to be soundly flogged and chased around for a bit afterwards! But all seemed well, at least until roost time, when he attempted the same thing with one of the tiny OEGB pullets. With as small as they are, even though he's not as large as his father and grandfather yet, that is completely unacceptable! So, back to the cockerel pen with Oberon for now. The OEGBs will eventually get their own coop and yard, and then Oberon can try again in the main flock.

Anyway, today, figuring I needed to separate those boys somehow before Rigel got hurt, I grabbed Rigel instead and put him in the main flock. This seems to be going much better. He does get chased off by the bigger chickens, but he's not harassing any of the pullets, not attempting to fight or breed anyone, and seems actually to be getting along well without having to outcast himself to the back of the chicken yard! So, for now, I guess Rigel joins the main flock.




Oh, and Fifi was imagining herself a sparrow or something this morning. This is about 5 feet up in the cedar tree in the chicken yard.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, unfortunately, it looks like Elly's back at square one for her crop. This is not the first time I've thought she was good to go and she set into crop issues again. Starting an Epsom salt drench again today with the hopes she'll finally get things going again.

Since Reinette has been back at 100% for a while now, I didn't think it was fair to continue to keep her away from the flock, so she made the move back outside into a fenced off section of the coop for reintegration. She's doing well, but definitely not happy about not being able to run around and free-range with the other birds. Too bad, she picked too many fights when she was loose initially and a few of the hens are still angry at her for it.



Looks like Fifi and Mona are both preparing for their first eggs, and Ganymede squatted for me last night, so she shouldn't be too far behind them. Now, the question is... Will one of them lay first, or will Vega after her nest box antics last week?


Also, I'm starting to see some concerning signs with Oberon and questioning whether he'll stay on the keeper list or not... He's been quite aggressive toward the other cockerels lately, and giving me dirty looks along with posturing toward me in an aggressive manner. Not too happy about that. But, truth be told, I need another rooster like I need a new hole in my head, so... Maybe this is for the best?


Rigel is doing remarkably well in the main flock, anyway. With Oberon getting more aggressive, I may end up putting Toliman and Achernar over there as well and see how they do. Oberon has been targeting the EE bantams mostly, and they're large enough that they can hold their own, but he's also taken a few swings at Toli and he's a tiny guy. I'm concerned one of these times he'll really hurt him. Acher gives Oberon one look and he runs for the hills, though, so I guess he's okay. I just wouldn't want to test him on his own against Oberon.

My only concern if I do move Toli and Acher over is if the three of them gang up on the OEGB pullets. Rigel so far hasn't shown much interest in them (he's apparently the fluffy-butted Cochin type, so... ), so maybe it will be okay? I suppose I can give it a try during free-range this afternoon and see how it goes.


Well, I think I've rambled long enough for now. It'll be time for the youngster's pictures in the next day or two, so... stay tuned, I guess?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Quick update on the OEGB boys--Achernar was chasing and harassing the OEGB pullets when out in the main flock, so back into the cockerel pen for him. But Toli did great, and though he flirted with the OEGB pullets a couple times, he didn't spend much time with them. The fact that Mona doesn't like him helped, I'm sure. She, Fifi, Ganymede, and the OEGB girls hang out pretty closely still, and she chased him away anytime she noticed him near her group. Anyway, Toli and Rigel seemed to miss each other's company, too, so he stays for now.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Elly's crop was empty first thing this morning! She's on a strict hand feeding formula diet for now to make sure things are really, actually, truly moving, and then I'll get her back on pellets again before moving her out. No free-ranging for a while after that, either, because I think that's how she clogged up again, gorging on grass when I started taking her outside. Naughty girl scaring me to death! Anyway, on the plus side, I've discovered that if I add just a little less water than I had been, Elly eats her formula out of a dish. No more fighting to syringe it into her!