Pipd's Peeps!

[Crazy Maizie]

So, when I first got the brahma her original owner thought she was an EE. So. I named her JellyBean. But, I found that she was a hatchery quality brahma. She picks her EE sisters cheek muffs and beards. She grooms them right away.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

She just has beard envy I have a few like that in my flock!

Jellybean is a great name for an Easter-egger, but somehow it's even cuter to me on a Brahma She's gorgeous, too, by the way! I very nearly ended up with some bantam Buff Brahmas this year, but I was able to restrain myself and only got the bantam Barred Rocks I'd already planned on. Of course, I still ended up with the Blue Orpingtons and a Legbar that were sort of spur of the moment, but that's beside the point.

 

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As of today, Casper is officially my cat. He had his first vet appointment today, where he got a round of general vaccines just to be safe, was tested and found negative for FIV and feline leukemia, and got a clean bill of health other than an intestinal worm infestation that he is now being treated for. We got him microchipped just to be safe, and that's what makes it official I guess. It's been four weeks since he showed up and I've found no postings for him and haven't been contacted by anyone looking for him, so I feel like I can finally, fully rest at ease that he's here to stay.

He was the sweetest at the vet's office, right up until they drew blood for the FIV leukemia test, and then he sat in the corner like a grump the rest of the appointment. He's sleepy and grumpy from his vaccines and various pokes and prods, so this is a picture from a few days ago, but look at my pretty boy! I'm head over heels already for him.

Tomorrow is the Ohio National Poultry Show (well, technically it started tonight, but I won't be there until tomorrow), so I've been busy preparing for that this week as well! I'm hoping that I can find a nice pair or trio of OEGBs in a couple of uncommon varieties, or at least some that I could cross into my Fawn SDWs to make said varieties. Here's hoping!! I should have a ton of pictures to post, either way! I hear there were over 6000 entries this year!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Good news about Casper!
Have fun at the poultry show!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It was a lot of fun! I missed a lot of the bantam aisles because they were judging and I couldn't stick around forever to wait for them to be done (had to be back by sunset to close coops, after all!), but I still got a pretty good number of pictures out of the deal! I've got to finish cropping all of them still, but I'll get those posted soon, maybe tomorrow if it gets to be too late. For now, here's an overhead view of the main show barn. It was so packed that they had to put the turkeys and large waterfowl in the next barn over with the sales area!

Oh, and I didn't end up bringing anyone home this time, either. I thought long and hard about getting some Crele OEGBs, but each pair I saw had some issue or another that I didn't like, and I decided that quarantining in November - December wasn't worth it for birds I wasn't 100% happy with. Instead, I got a bantam standard book from the American Bantam Association! I'm very excited!! I've only read a bit on OEGBs and Cochin bantams, but it's already helped me to make some decisions on some of my birds as far as pairing up breeders for next spring.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

That's a lot of birds!

Books are always a good choice.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Sure is! Even having missed around 6-8 aisles that were closed for judging, it still took me about two hours to walk through them! And I agree on the book! It's something I've wanted for a while now anyway, and it doesn't require all the added effort of quarantining in the wintertime.


Pictures from the show! I've sorted them the same way as last time, by breed alphabetically, so they should come up that way. I've now determined that the upload limit per post is, indeed, 50 pictures still, so I'm going to split my pictures between the birds I always take pictures of and some new or more unusual ones. So, first, the ones I always take pictures of. They're just too pretty to pass up.

Bantam Ameraucana hens, a Black and a Blue. The Black hen laid the tiniest egg ever, too




More Blue Andalusians. I just can't help it, I love this lacing




Cochins, first a bantam Birchen hen and second a large fowl Black rooster. The Birchen hen was best of variety and I can definitely see why! The large fowl guy was just too huge and round not to take a picture of.




Another Blue Laced Red Cornish bantam. I mean. Look at her. She's gorgeous!




Modern Game bantams. If I haven't made it clear by now, I have a HUGE weakness for these guys! First two are Birchen, next two are Blue Silver, and the remaining four are Lemon Blues. If I had seen any Lemon Blues or Blue Silvers in the sales area, I 1,000,000% would have brought them home, not even gonna lie. I fall more and more in love with these birds every time I see them.




Old English Game bantams, another one that might just be a weakness for me First is a Black Breasted Red female, not a great picture because she was in the lower cage of a stacked cage row, but I loved her tail so much Next is the elusive Blue Golden Duckwing male that I had so hoped I would find in the sales area, even just a lone male. Next two pictures, we have a Blue hen sassing me, and then, as it turns out, the SAME hen sassing the Birchen Modern Game bantam male in the next aisle over! After her are two Blue Wheaten females, then a Brassy Back female and a Ginger Red female.




Next post has some really interesting and beautiful birds in it! Give me just a moment to get the pictures uploaded.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, the more unusual stuff now! Also in alphabetical order by breed!

Erminette Ameraucanas! HOLY MOLY I AM IN LOVE!!! I believe these guys were in this show last time I went as well, or possibly the time before that, but I think they listed them as Mottled? Or maybe Splash? All I remember is that I looked at them and went, nope, those are definitely not the color they're saying they are. But they definitely are Erminette!




A Black Breasted Red American Game bantam female. She was too pretty




A Blue Barnevelder, another one that was just so gorgeous Unfortunately, she was very interested in the camera, so this was the best I could do for a picture of her.




A Bielefelder hen. Makes me miss the one I had. She was so pretty!




This is another bantam Cochin, if you'd believe it past all that fluff. He's a frizzled Splash rooster and he was so full of personality, I just loved him!




This is a Blue Cornish bantam hen. I didn't realize they came in solid Blue, but she was so pretty!




A Delaware hen. I also love this breed, and if it weren't for me having so many other brown eggers for such a long time, I probably would have had some of them by now.




DORKINGS!! I was SO excited to see the Colored Dorkings at the show! And then I forgot to take a picture of the male, of all things! But, here is a Colored Dorking hen, as well as a Red Dorking pullet.




D'Uccles! The first was in a cage labelled Mille Fleur, but she's definitely not that. My guess is she's Blue Mottled. Second is an actual Mille Fleur female. I didn't see any Silver Mille Fleurs, possibly my favorite variety, but they may have been in one of the aisles that was being judged.




A Blue Cream Light Brown Dutch female. Bad lighting, but she was too pretty to pass up as well. I love Dutch bantams, wish they were more common than they are!




This girls was a Splash Jersey Giant with one of the most beautiful patterns I've ever seen on a Splash bird. Unfortunately, she apparently moved every time I took a picture of her face, so this was all I got of her.




A Lakenvelder female, showing the proper black neck of the breed. I'm very excited to have seen one in person at last!




This girl was labeled a Black Tailed Red Leghorn, which I'm not doubting, but I've never even heard of that color in Leghorns! This picture is also pretty true to her color, at least on my screen. She was very dark red!




Naked Necks!! A guilty pleasure of mine! This was a Chocolate and a Mauve, both large fowl females. I'm no genetics expert, but judging by the colors on these two and their sheer size and roundness, I believe these gals were the result of crossing Naked Necks to English Orpingtons.




A Blue Silver Phoenix bantam! Y'all, this boy about took my breath away and I wish I could have gotten better pictures of him but there were people standing by his cage talking so this was the best I could do. This is the color I'm hoping to reproduce in OEGBs by crossing my Silver Duckwing girl, Sumi, to a Blue Golden Duckwing male.




A Tolbunt Polish, just because I thought her feather pattern was gorgeous.




This Silver Sebright and a few others from the same exhibitor all looked more yellowish in person. I had to do a double take on them because I almost thought they were Citron! Beautiful boy, either way. He looks awfully guilty in this picture, though.




A Light Sussex hen. I see these all the time in pictures, but I feel like I've never seen them in show! She was the only one I saw, and one of only two Sussex that I saw, the other being Speckled.




A lovely Welsummer hen. She won Champion Continental in the junior show, I believe.




Dun-laced Wyandotte bantam hen I took two pictures of this girl because she was SO gorgeous!!




Last picture at last, this is a Red Shouldered Yokohama female. I loved her color!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

After about a month and a half of observing her condition and making sure she was still being a chicken and not in too much pain, I came to the difficult conclusion this afternoon that Margaret was no longer living comfortably and that the best thing for her was to relieve her of her pain and help her pass on. Her abdomen was swollen and squishy with fluid, yet she had lost so much weight that her breastbone was protruding. She very suddenly could not walk today, which spurred on my decision to take action. As she lay up by the garage while we were making end of life preparations for her, Reuben approached and danced for her one last time. I don't think he understood the gravity of her condition at that point. I will let him see her one last time before I cremate her, so that hopefully he can be aware that his favorite girl is not going to come back.

Margaret had been essentially the matriarch of the flock for many of her 8 and a half years of life, alongside flock leader Reuben who doted after her practically since he arrived in the spring the year after I received Margie for my birthday. She was my first ever Silkie, one of only two birds that I have allowed to hatch and raise chicks of her own in the flock, one of my first birds (alongside her man Reuby and my silkied Cochin pair Donna and Roscoe) to have grandchildren within the flock, and one of the most memorable birds that I have owned in my time chicken keeping. Though she was never an overly human-friendly bird, her absence is certainly felt this evening. She lives on in her two remaining offspring, Winter and Marka, and her remaining 7 grandchildren, Ganymede, Buzz, Peanut Butter, Glutty, Amaretto, Armada, and Rosey.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

She looks like she was a real sweetie. What a grestnlife she had! ❤
Sorry for your loss.