Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thank you I'm mostly just glad that she is no longer in pain, and that Reuben seems to be handling it okay. Not great, but... okay.

I showed him Margaret's remains on Tuesday and he still seemed confused and unaware of what was happening. He danced for her a few times, and did the tidbit chirp for her. It's weird, because when Maggie died he was well aware along with the others and participated in the chorus of cackling when they found her. This time, a few of the girls approached and looked at her with alarm like they did with Maggie, but since Reuben wasn't sounding the alarm, they just stared.

Yesterday and today, he seems okay in that he's moving around and eating and drinking as normal. But he seems hesitant to get too far from the coop, as if he's waiting on Margie to come down from the roosts still. He just seems very distracted like he's keeping one eye out for her to appear again. That's the part that hits me the hardest. My poor old boy, he just doesn't get that his wife has gone from this world. At least he isn't starving himself in mourning, as that was my biggest fear when Marge started looking unwell.



In other news, it looks like my extra roosters will finally be heading out tomorrow. Most of them, anyway. I ended up keeping that last silkied Cochin boy, and one of the four Barred Rock bantams is being left behind as well. I'm a bit torn about the decision, but I figure the more the better on the silkied Cochins, being that they're so hard to find sometimes, and it might be interesting to hatch from Finnie and Skeet in the spring with the Barred Rock boy rather than drive all the way over to western Ohio for more of them, so I suppose it's okay that he's staying, too. Now all I need to do is rearrange the coops before the snow starts flying so that everyone is set up and ready for the wintertime, and things should really balance out here.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Reuben seems like a good rooster. I've not seen my cockerel dance yet. He tidbits, but no dancing. Do some not dance or does that come later?

I got tarps put up the other day and rearranged a few things. I'm going to get the heated waterers out this weekend to finish up winterizing.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

He is a good guy, and he's produced a good son, too, with Winter. I've seen both of them place themselves between the hens and hawks, and wait until I've arrived and the girls are all hiding before themselves heading for cover. Their only flaw from my point of view has been that they tend to be early to bed and late to rise guys, both of them, which means there's a small window of vulnerability where they aren't keeping an eye on the girls first thing in the morning and later in the evening, but the other roosters kind of pick up the slack during those times so it works out fine. Other than that one thing, though, they've both been excellent flock guardians. I know if anything did attack that they wouldn't do much to hold it back, but their efforts are enough that they could save more hens than if they weren't in the flock and they both have progeny through which I can hope to produce more roosters like them should they sacrifice themselves to the cause, so that's enough for me.

As far as dancing, I think the dance is more of a finesse move that they figure out later on once they realize it pays to be gentlemanly rather than brutish. In my experience, the young guys may dance a bit, but usually they just grab and try to mate immediately without much wooing involved. The older boys know they can breed whenever as long as they do some charming first, so they tend to do more of the dancing and displaying. That's just what I've observed, though!

Also, yes, I forgot to mention that but I did the same yesterday! I had some clear shower curtains saved back that I hung up this year to let lots of light in without letting wind and snow through! I just have a tiny section to cover yet, but I like to leave that to the last minute because of our rollercoaster temperatures leading into the wintertime, where some days are just too warm without some kind of airflow.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

This is my 2nd cockerel. The first one that I had was a blue wyandotte. He danced a bit. Let me pick him up and such. I got him from a lady who had already rehomed him to a friend and she only had bantams. She didn't like that he tried to mate with them (what roosters tend to do). So, the lady took him back. I believe that he got too chilled while at my place as the place he was at was kept pretty warm. It got super cold here and I think he roosted right in front of some openings that I have for ventilation. My hens sleep under the openings, but he was much bigger and I didn't cover them that winter. I didn't realize it was an issue. He went pretty fast. Nothing ever happened to any of my chickens. So, I'm sure it was that he got chilled.
Since then, I close off the openings once winter is fully here now as they have other ventilation in the coop. Its too bad as I think he would have been a great rooster. He would go into he nest box and encourage the hens to nest.
My current cockerel is polish and he hatched here. He doesn't like me to pick him up as he screams. Lol. But, he doesn't do much after that. Except one time he acted dead. He goes to roost early too. But, I was thinking he does that to get the ladies to go to bed. He's a little over 5 months, I figure he's got time to be a good rooster.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, sorry that you lost your first cockerel! Winter ventilation can be pretty complicated to figure out. I still have to make adjustments sometimes, usually because a snowstorm blows in from the wrong direction and suddenly the deck is filling with snow.

I wonder if your current boy dances less because he's a Polish? I've never owned one, but it doesn't seem like they can see much, so maybe he just doesn't realize there are hens nearby to woo. He sounds a bit dramatic, but I think that's a rooster thing. Reuby, himself, doesn't scream, but if I need to pick him up he does this low whining cluck like he's saying, "I'm sorry, please don't hurt me, I didn't mean it," etc. As if I've ever been anything but gentle with the guy! His son, Wint, doesn't make a sound when I pick him up, but when his favorite hens lay eggs, he carries on so much you'd think it was him that laid it! My two big ol' drama queens!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

That's pretty sweet.
Actually Freckles can see pretty well right now. His feathers aren't blocking his face yet. He's all about the drama.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, haha, well then I'd say he just hasn't figured it out yet. Like you said, he's got a lot of time ahead of him to grow into a good rooster!




Slight edit because I posted too soon, but Buzz and three of the Barred Rock bantam boys went to their new home today! Sounds like they'll live out their days free-ranging on four fenced in acres of land and living it large! I hope they behave themselves and are good boys for their new flock, too.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

For the first time since the end of October, Dandelion's prolapse finally stayed in on its own all day after I cleaned her up this morning. I'd been starting to feel hopeless about her condition recently, especially after Margaret passed on and thinking about potentially the same happening with Dandy, until yesterday I'd noticed that it was not out as far as it had been for the 3+ weeks beforehand. Really hoping with today's development that I can finally put this whole saga behind us and get her healing for real now.

Perhaps it's because of this, and all the random and unrelated losses I've been suffering lately in the flock, but I've been a bit glum recently and, I don't know, I guess sometimes I just feel really bad for other people's chickens and wish I could do something for them when I can't. I'm... reasonably sure that the bird I've seen today that I feel especially sorry for and his flock are otherwise decently cared for (though definitely not up to the standards I hold for my own birds, I'll leave it at that), but his owner did a really stupid and selfish thing to him with a million excuses that sound pretty, but it's obvious why they did it and he just looks so miserable because of it. Ugh. It just hurts my heart to know people can be like that with these amazing birds.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Glad to hear about Dandy. I didn't know she was still dealing with the prolapse.

Not sure what's going on with the other flock, but I understand that everyone raises their flock differently. Even if they saw how you or I treated our flock, it wouldn't change how they treat theirs.

I was looking through craigslist and I saw a flock of birds with an obvious dead dirty carcass right in the middle. I was thinking the owner is oblivious or they just don't care. It's sad really.
Also, in different ad, I saw 3 polish and a spitzhauben that if I had room, they'd be mine.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, it reached the point with poor Dandy where I'd just be posting that she was still prolapsed over and over again, so I figured I would hold off until anything changed. Fortunately it was a change for the better and not the worse! I haven't checked her yet this morning, but hopefully it remains that way as well!


As for the referred to other flock, yeah, it's one thing to raise your birds differently and I understand that, which is why it hasn't bothered me until this event... I don't want to go into too much more detail because it is someone on this site, but suffice it to say they mutilated one of their birds to make him look like something he is clearly not and then tried to make up excuses for doing so that make no sense whatsoever, knowing what I know about the rest of their flock. I don't know, it just really, really bothered me because it's not the first time that this person has been desperate to prove themselves right about something completely ridiculous, but it crossed a line to me here. This was absolutely not necessary to do to that poor bird.


Aww, that's so sad about the craigslist ad! UGH, people! It makes me think of a quote, slightly modified, that I've seen around the site - the more people I meet, the more I love my chickens. I think originally it was about dogs, but being that I don't have any of those, that way rings more true for me.

That is funny about the Polish and Spitz ad, though. I am the same exact way!! Oh, how many birds I saw for sale at the shows this year, how many sale ads online for beautiful birds, how many hatching eggs of unique breeds that I could have bought if only coops didn't cost so much darn money to build or buy! A true tragedy!