Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

Mine have been autosexing so far. I suppose it's possible it was a coincidence, but all the pullets have had thicker eye stripes and all the cockerels thinner eyestripes, like with the Dorkings. Here's hoping that's wrong, because as far as I can tell I have two pullets out of ten if it's true.

These are the two I'm sure are pullets so far. The brown Silkie x Cochin mix is a sexlink by skin color (dark skin = female in that cross) and the OEGB has those thick eye stripes. I really hope that that's right on her because she's my first black Silver Duckwing out of them!!

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I think out of the OEGBs that I got a whopping 3 Khakis and just one Fawn, which is supposed to be the most likely color out of them. The Khakis are super hard to tell the eye stripes on, so I'm holding off passing judgement on them, but based on behavior already I think the Fawn is a male anyway. He's a feisty little squirt for a 1-day-old! Then I got 4 white Silkie x Cochin cockerels (light skin = male). These guys are Buzz's full siblings, so the fact that the cockerels are white and the pullet is dark is just coincidental, at least.

I haven't gotten good individual pictures of them yet (the last two are still finding their land legs, so I'm giving them some time), but here they are having a party in their food dish

Sometimes they can be 75% correct. Partridge Pennedesenca chickens are like that.

The 25% error rate will often get you more pullets and vice versa

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Can I choose the 25% to be incorrect? Joking, of course!

Sorry for keeping all the cuteness to myself! June is always a busy month for me, and I added chicks on top of that, so it's been kind of crazy balancing everything and I'm failing hard in many aspects. Oops! Add to that that this is the largest brood of chicks I've had in a while, and I... just don't know what I was thinking, truth be told! Anyway, here they are!! I didn't take great notes of who was hatching when because of everything else going on, but I'll add in the ones I know or can guess based on pictures I took as they were hatching, just so I have it for reference. Also, some friends of mine pitched in to name them, so they are mostly named already.

Blue band OEGB. His name is Louis. He is Khaki and looks like a cockerel, but of course we'll see! He was either 6th or 7th out of all the chicks and 4th out of the OEGBs to hatch. His one foot was curled at hatch and he had a corrective bandage shoe on for about 24 hours that helped immensely! I've left him go because I'm not sure if keeping the shoe on him will do much more. There is a tiny bit of a curve to that foot still, but the toes are spread as they should be, at least.

"Blue band" (but I didn't bother banding her) Silkie x silkied Cochin mix baby. Her name is Peanut Butter, or PB for short. The mixes are sexlinked, so I know for sure she's a girl. She was either 6th or 7th out of all the chicks, and 4th out of the mixes.

Green band OEGB. This little one also looks like a cockerel and he's Khaki as well. He was the very last to hatch out of all 10 chicks, and his name is Feldon. His right eye has been a bit watery, I think because he had some dried membrane get stuck over it when he was hatching, but seems to be fine otherwise.

Green band Silkie x Cochin mix. He's a fella for sure and he's full of spunk already! His name is Rosey He was second to hatch, both overall and out of the mixes.

Purple band mix. This dude's a chow hound!! He also likes to sleep in the food dish, like he's eaten himself into a food coma His name, aptly, is Gluttony, and he was the 5th to hatch out of all the chicks and 3rd out of the mixes.

Same peep-peep as above (purple band / Gluttony), just to show the speckles on his back. A couple of his brothers have them, too, but not as many as him.

My precious little Silver Duckwing OEGB. Again, the purple leg band, but I didn't bother because she's quite distinct. She is the 8th to hatch and looks like a pullet.

Red leg band OEGB. This guy's the only Fawn out of the OEGBs this time around, and he's already got a big-boy attitude, so I'm pretty sure he's a cockerel as he appears to be. His name's Troll and he was the 4th to hatch overall and 2nd out of the OEGBs. He's the one that was stuck and needed a bit of help with the tough membrane. (Yes, I thought he was a pullet at first, but then the SDW hatched and the difference in eye stripe size made me realize otherwise, based on the last set of OEGBs.)

Red band mix (you'll have to trust me because it's not visible in the picture, I guess ). A cockerel and quite rambunctious, though nothing near as much as his green banded brother. He's the first to hatch out of all the babies, which was a real surprise because the OEGBs have tended to hatch earlier than any other breeds I've hatched!

Yellow band OEGB, another Khaki. This one's the only one I'm not sure of, because that eye stripe is kind of in the middle, so I'm going to call her a her until otherwise. Her name is Havok and she was the 3rd baby to hatch overall and the first out of the OEGBs. Troll would have beaten her, but he got stuck.

Yellow band mix, another cockerel. He was 9th to hatch out of all the chicks and last out of the mixes.

Here's a bit more cuteness from Saturday, just for good measure. Look at these naughty babies already!!

They sure are cute though...

Rosey figured out this little maneuver right away

Peek-a-boo!

And I guess that's it.

The big kids, meanwhile, are spending their days outside full time now! They're beyond my usual move out age, but unfortunately, there are roosters occupying the space I usually use to move babies out. So, until I can clear out some roosters (which will hopefully be soon, depending on when the state opens up more again), the kiddos are spending their nights inside.

I... planned to get pictures of them today since Buzz is now 8 weeks old, but I haven't yet. I suppose I could go do that now. I'll be back in a bit.

 

[ronott1]

They are Very cute!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

They are!! I forgot how impossibly tiny those OEGB babies are, too!



As promised, pictures of the older kiddos! ❤ Buzz is a little over 8 weeks old, and the others are a little over 9 weeks old.

Here's Buzzy:

Dandelion! This little lady pulled out all the stops for cuteness today!

I forgot to get a close up picture like the others (she was very determined to be on me somewhere, which made it difficult ), but here are a couple of her being a cutie

Mr. Green Band. Yep, still no name for him.

Myrtle and her lovely eyes

And lastly, Zinnia!! ❤ With the exact same pose in both pictures

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Are you planning on keeping any of the roosters?

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

If you need name suggestions for Mr. Green Band:
Einstein, Mr. Flufferpants, Dr. Pepper, Crush, Toothless, Hicup, Barney, Harvey.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Apologies again for the lack of responses from me. It is with deep, deep sadness that I must announce that my precious, sweet Elda passed away overnight after an abrupt relapse in her health yesterday. I believe her heart failed based on her symptoms, so there was not much I could have done, but it doesn't stop the huge amount of heartbreak I'm feeling right now. My Elda, my sweet Dorking girl, my main therapist, taken from me with so little warning after she seemed to be doing so, so well, after I allowed myself to feel optimistic about her condition. My heart hurts, and I am devastated beyond words. I may take a few days to respond to things and post any new pictures of the babies here. I need some time to mourn.

 

[ronott1]

Apologies again for the lack of responses from me. It is with deep, deep sadness that I must announce that my precious, sweet Elda passed away overnight after an abrupt relapse in her health yesterday. I believe her heart failed based on her symptoms, so there was not much I could have done, but it doesn't stop the huge amount of heartbreak I'm feeling right now. My Elda, my sweet Dorking girl, my main therapist, taken from me with so little warning after she seemed to be doing so, so well, after I allowed myself to feel optimistic about her condition. My heart hurts, and I am devastated beyond words. I may take a few days to respond to things and post any new pictures of the babies here. I need some time to mourn.

I am sorry You lost Her!

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Hey, @pipdzipdnreadytogo, how are things going?

 

[ronott1]

Hey, @pipdzipdnreadytogo, how are things going?

X2!