Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

Thanks for the update!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Of course! Here's another small one. I was wiped out last night or I'd have posted then, but I got the leaves bagged for the girls' wintertime enrichment. I always forget how much work it is raking up and bagging leaves! I did 2 big 33 gallon trash bags full of leaves because I thought it was supposed to be rainy today, but, well... it's not. Anyway, now I just need to fill another bucket with dust bath dirt and pick up some shavings so I can get the coop all cleaned out and ready. Almost there!


This morning, it's a fairly chilly ~36° F, but all of my molters and OEGBs are doing great anyway! Tonight might get iffy as we're supposed to get in the 20's again, but tomorrow is supposed to get to the 50's, so if I have to intervene again it should only be for one night.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I chose not to intervene last night. The temperature was cooler all day and it sort of gradually took them down to the 20's, so I went with the hopes that that would be better as compared to the sudden drop from the 50's in the day to the 20's overnight the other day. Everyone's perfectly fine this morning, not even slowed down!


I had to go back and look, as I couldn't remember at what point I intervened with the OEGBs last year, but I thought it was single-digits. Well, it was 34° F apparently. This year, they're not even batting an eye, save for that suddenly cold night when I brought some of them in. My guess is that they were under heat before I got them, and that combined with them molting at the time made it much more difficult for them to tolerate the cold. They're all done molting and don't seem to be having trouble at all in our 30-degree weather at the moment! I'm hoping this means they'll be okay outside as we get colder. This is really good news to me as I was trying to figure out how I was going to set them up inside adequately!


So, we picked up the shavings yesterday, which means today is the final stage of winterizing--cleaning out the coop and replacing the shavings with a nice thick layer of fresh! (Yes, I still need to get my other bucket of dust bath soil, too, but it's less important... ) I can't wait to have it done and ready!

 

[drumstick diva]

Alot of trees here still have all their leaves. I want to have gutters cleaned but the
companies usually quit in mid November.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Aw, I hope you're able to get them cleaned before then! We had rain and wind about a week-and-a-half ago and it took most of the leaves down overnight, save for just a few trees and bushes! The woods went from leafy and yellow to this:

It's made it easy to gather leaves, at least. As a matter of fact, I went ahead and gathered up a third bag of them just to be safe, and gathered a bunch to put into the rooster pens, too! I think I'm set for leaves, and good thing, too. We're due for rain and snow tonight and tomorrow, so that was probably my last chance to do that!


I also got the coop all cleaned up and bedded down for the winter today! I may go ahead and put another bale of shavings down as it gets colder, but at least it no longer looks like the girls are having regular pillow fights in there!

However, since I used the old bedding that wasn't too matted with droppings to bed the deck, it looks like they've moved their pillow fighting out there, instead.

I even got the second bucket of dust bath dirt filled and stored away! I felt so glad to be done with all the winterizing early this year, and then I remembered... I'd forgotten to do the duck coop! So, that's all that's left to do, I hope. The main flock, roosters, and Guineas are as set as they're going to be.

Anyway, that was a lot of work and I'm beat! Good night, everyone!

 

[drumstick diva]

pip did you realize you snore in your sleep

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Nuh-uh!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Got down to 21° F last night. All the molters are starting to fill in and they were snuggled down good, so I left them. They're doing fine today despite it still being in the 20's! The OEGBs are tolerating this cold well, too, and are running around as usual.

Tomorrow is the Ohio National so I'm getting myself ready for that! And making sure my phone dies by the end of the day so it can be charged up for lots of pictures! I'm so excited!!

 

[Fatimetta]

Looks good! What do you keep in your rooster pens? I always loved the idea of "rescuing" boys and having a bachelor coop.

 

[drumstick diva]

I know we would love a run down of events, winners and photos please