Pipd's Peeps!

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Now, on to the babies! To save my computer a little work, I've taken all of the silkied Cochin babies' pictures and combined them in a single image for each week's photo shoot.

This is about 4.5 weeks of age for the Cochins, taken June 27th if I remember right. Baby 2 got her name (chosen by a friend again) last week, so now it's down to baby 4 and any more of the boys I decide I want to keep later on.

And here are the Orpingtons at about 3.5 weeks of age, also taken June 27th. Unfortunately, they all are about the same as far as comb and wattle growth, so I'm reasonably sure at this point that they are all boys. Guess the idea of adding more Orpington hens to the flock was a bust this year. Anyway, the Chocolate Mottleds won't pose outside of the brooder anymore like the Crele does, so I did what I could. This also led me to realize that their brooder needed cleaning, so no worries, it was cleaned up immediately after I took these pictures! The Chocolate Mottleds' legs have already gotten too big around for my bands, so I labeled the pictures with the colors they used to wear.




They finally went outside for the first time yesterday, which I know should have happened a while ago, but it was literally raining every day for WEEKS (seriously, it just wouldn't stop!!) and I don't have a sheltered pen to put them in for playtime. Anyway, their most recent pictures were taken during their outside playtime yesterday, and I have a few other pictures of their experience as well.

Here are the silkied Cochins at about 5.5 weeks of age yesterday:

And the Orpingtons at about 4.5 weeks:



You can see they eventually adapted, but their first impression of the great outdoors was that it... wasn't that great.

Even after tipping the box over, they all just kinda stood around like... nope.

Eventually, they moved from the box to my foot.

A little bit of comforting for our Crele boy. He was particularly dismayed by the new surroundings.

Eventually, though, they decided it was okay.

A few more pictures, here is Diesel being a derp

Diesel has quite the nice set of pants.

Harley was being quite dramatic before finally posing for her picture. She looks like she'd have her arm across her forehead here, if only she had an arm.

My sweet Washburne having a seat on my lap

Aaaand... Cochin butts.

 

[ronott1]

They look good!

 

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Y'all, I had the longest day ever yesterday! It was pickup day for my 6 Barred Rock bantams at Meyer Hatchery, a trip that usually takes about 6 hours total.

It took about 13 hours to get back home with them.

We made it to the hatchery just fine and got the chicks. My mom was with me, and since I had gotten the Orpington hatching eggs because she loves our Lavender Orpington hen, and they've all turned out to be male, I had discussed with her on the way that I was fine if she wanted to get an Orpington pullet to add to the flock. She agreed, and picked out Blue Orpingtons--and she got two, so we've got two pretty blue-gray babies now as well as the tiny barred babies.

Then the lady behind the counter asked if I wanted a Meal Maker with my order. I said no, I don't really go for the production breeds anymore. She told me they aren't always production breeds and said she'd go see what exactly they were this week, and I was like okay, sure. I figured the worst that could happen is I say no again, and if it was like an Easter-egger or something I'd go ahead, because why not? Well, as it turns out, this week's meal maker was Cream Legbars. So, uh, I also got a Legbar pullet.

With our now 9 chicks in tow, we headed on the way back home, when about an hour into the homeward trip, the car broke down. This is where the fun began. At a rest stop (that was thankfully air conditioned on that 90+ degree day), I sat for three hours on the World's Most Uncomfortable Bench with my arm contorted to have my hand over the babies because they were not as pleased by the AC as I was.

After three hours, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and thought I would move outside to the shade so that the babies would be warm enough without me having to cover them and I could finally get off of that bench. Somehow, the cement bench I chose to sit on in the shade was more comfortable than the bench inside the building, so that was nice, but the babies were still displeased and so my arm remained contorted to cover them.

Two hours later, the tow truck finally arrived to take the car. Another 30 minutes or so, my sister got there to pick us up and take us home. And then she took a wrong turn, adding another 30 minutes to the trip.

At this point, I was distraught because we were still 3 hours from home and sunset was approaching. No one was home to make sure the chickens were okay, and all I could think about was how I lost Bee, and that four broodies (including Peanut Butter and her mom, Abra) were out in a pen that the same thing could happen in.

We got home about an hour after I would have normally finished closing the coops for the night. I immediately rushed out to check on everyone and get the coops locked up. By some stroke of luck, everyone was safe and totally unharmed other than perhaps the broodies being disgruntled at not being put up for the night. THANK GOODNESS!! This morning, it's like nothing even happened, and the girls are happily running around as usual.

As for the babies, they are mostly doing well, although one of the Orpingtons is a bit sleepier than I would prefer to see her. I'm keeping an eye on her and making sure she eats and drinks, so hopefully she's just recovering from the stress of that long, long, day yesterday.

Here they are when we first picked them up, anyway.

And me, I'm achy, sore, tired, stiff, and I never want to leave the house again.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Oh my goodness that would make quite the day. Sounds like it all worked out.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yup! Thankfully it did! It got a bit dodgy for a while, though! I was so, so worried about my girls all the way home

 

[ronott1]

That will be a story to tell for years to come!

Orpingtons are often a bit lazy so she should be fine

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

For sure! I'm actually thinking of giving the Barred Rocks travel-themed names to memorialize the Longest Day Ever 2021. Too bad I already used Diesel on one of the silkied Cochins!

The sleepy Orp was out eating on her own when I peeked in on them just now, so hopefully that means she's out of the woods now

 

[ronott1]

For sure! I'm actually thinking of giving the Barred Rocks travel-themed names to memorialize the Longest Day Ever 2021. Too bad I already used Diesel on one of the silkied Cochins!

The sleepy Orp was out eating on her own when I peeked in on them just now, so hopefully that means she's out of the woods now

Orps usually are lazy hatchers too!

They really are unique

 

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Babies' first photo shoot! Here they all are individually, starting with the Barred Rock bantams! I also took pictures of the BR bantams' head spots just to see if there's any connection between them and their sex once it can be determined.

Our lovely Blue Orpington girls! My sister wanted to name one of the Orpington chicks Isolde, and I rather like the name anyway, so here is our new little Izzy:

And the as of yet unnamed other Blue Orp girl, the one that was sleepy this morning but seems fine now ( )

And finally, here is the meal maker Cream Legbar:

Every time I have a babies' first photo shoot, I always get an abundance of outtakes as the babies get used to the camera flash. Here are this batch's outtakes

Poor babies! (But I still can't help but laugh when I see these shots )

A last few pictures that were worth sharing, here is the previously-sleepy-Orp throwing some shade

All the Barred Rock bantams in a group I can't help but notice that the green band baby appears to have pink skin when compared to the others. Huh.

And finally, the chaos that was all nine of them out on the paper towels

 

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Baby 7 out of the silkied Cochins seemed unwell this morning. He's lost weight (which is scary, not much weight to be lost on a little guy like that!) and his little comb is wilty, and he seemed to just want to hunch in the corner. I thought at first that it was coccidiosis, but he has none of the textbook symptoms other than hunching, which they do when they feel sick in general, and none of the other chicks are unwell.

On closer inspection, it would appear he's having an issue with his tongue. It keeps falling back down his throat. This is the second time I've had a chick do this at about the same age and for no apparent reason. The first one was Vander, known as Vida at the time because I thought he was a pullet. I fortunately know how to tube feed efficiently now, so I don't have to try and spoon feed this little guy like I did with Vander. I tubed fluids into him this morning to start, and he perked up almost immediately and began trying to peck with the other chicks at the spilled feed on the floor of the brooder, so I'll take that as a good sign.

Not sure what's causing the issue, though. Hopefully, like Vander, this guy will eventually grow out of it and become self-sufficient with eating again.

Everyone else is happy and healthy near as I can tell! The little no-leg-band Barred Rock bantam had me a bit concerned yesterday because she was a bit noisy and felt a bit lighter than the others, but I showed her the food and she's picked up on the concept of eating and is catching up with the other now.