Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Last night, I dreamt that someone had hidden the eggs around the house like Easter eggs, and chicks were hatching and appearing from all over the place, oddly enough including several breeds that I didn't even set eggs for like Barred Rocks For some reason, the only thing I was upset about through it all was that I wouldn't know the Judy-booties from the rest of the chicks because I didn't know for sure where they had been hidden versus the rest of the eggs.

Anyway, I then woke up to faint peep-peep-peeps early this morning. Two of the eggs are already externally pipped!! One Judy booty and one from the other eggs! Guess they're in a hurry to make their debut!



Oh, regarding Lavender, her appetite seems to have returned and she went to roost with a full crop last night.

Hopefully that's the end of that!

 

[NagemTX]

I hatched and brooded the Halloween and Thanksgiving chicks in my room! After they where all out side I had trouble sleeping with out peeps. Also I got them on a schedule and would talk to them about going to bed and we would go to sleep at the same time. So nice to here that subdued trilling of content when falling asleep.

Boy I'm weird.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I brood my chicks in my bedroom as well, primarily to keep my niece and nephew from messing with them without permission. I'm the same way with them; in the fall when all the chicks have moved outside, I have a hard time sleeping without their little noises from the brooder.

We have too much of a winter here for me to participate in Thanksgiving or Halloween hatches, though. I'd end up with chicks inside until spring if I hatched them that late in the year, and though I do miss them a bit when they move out to the coop... I can guarantee I'd be ready to get them the heck out of my room long before then

 

[2ndTink]

there's a Judy booty!!!!!! Oh my goodness, I am so happy!

I miss having them inside too when they get moved to the coops, not the dust and cleaning and such, but definitely their chittering and trilling. Having experienced a week before Christmas hatch (super cool) I'm not doing any of these late fall / winter hatches anymore! Next year I'm going to try to wait for the end of Feb or early March and hopefully none after July.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I hatched from late March to late July last year, but it took soooo long for those late hatches to grow out this spring, so I'm thinking I'm going to stop setting in June this year and see how that goes.

The dust definitely is not missed, especially with staggered hatches and chicks constantly moving in and out of the brooders for months at a time, making so much dust the whole time!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

In other news, someone was in a hurry to meet everyone (Terrible picture quality because of the double layer on the lid of the Ovation )

We've got 4 others pipped! Still just one Judy booty, though. The brooder is all set and ready for them, but I don't want to move just one little one out on its own, so we're trying to be patient and wait for other peeps to hatch

 

[NagemTX]

I've got an incubator full of fluff! Out of the 8 bantam eggs I found in the garage the 5 that where fertile hatched!

Ordered my new brooder and it got here around 2pm. I should have gotten one like this before. Its one of the oval water tanks they use at TSC for chicks. Its going to be so much easier to sanitize than the other stuff I had or built.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oooh, nice!! I have one I used to use for a brooder as well, and it did make cleaning a breeze! Can't use it anymore because my cat can get into it too easily, though. Right now, I'm using large dog crates with a tarp wrapped around them up the sides so my cat can't reach through and get at the little ones. But I don't have the trays for the bottom so they're kinda a pain in the butt to get shavings out of past the wires




I'm up to three babies out and one that's zipping right now! I'm heading to bed, but will update if the little one pops out before I'm asleep.

 

[NagemTX]

No top right now but garage is closed up.

Going to make the top tomorrow so if the cats come in with me by accident when I'm checking on them I've got more peace of mind.

I'll eventually modified the stack brooder I have to make it harder for the chick's to get out and easier to keep the heat in.

 

[NagemTX]

Also can't wait to see how these two turn out!