Pipd's Peeps!

[Crazy Maizie]

I do have family visiting today for the holidays, so I'm just checking in to reply to things real quick. Oh, and here's a couple quick pictures of Rangi sitting on a new perch setup I put together one weekend for all the Cochins that were piling in the corner. I kind of fell out of the habit of taking as many pictures with as busy as I was there, so I don't have much else to share, sorry about that! I have 3 weeks of break to get back into that habit, though.

Merry Christmas! Hope your break is relaxing!

They found out where I go when I leave from outside. I heard a bunch of peeping and thought I had a bunch of wild birds back there and when I looked it was a bunch of chicks watching me through the French doors. I didn't get a picture of tho. All their heads over the bottom lip of the door where it meets the glass. Very laugh worthy.

Awe, that's super sweet!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Happy Christmas break!

Merry Christmas! Hope your break is relaxing!

Thank you both! Hope you all had a great Christmas! Since my semester went right up until last week, I'm still trying to unwind from all that and I feel like Christmas still shouldn't be until next week!

Nice little pearch you put together, hope the birds think so too.

Thanks! It's not the prettiest, but it's sturdy and they sure seem to like it. All of the Cochins are perching on it now (except Roly, will introduce him in a sec), and every morning there's at least one of the bigger birds sitting up there waiting for me to open the coop for the day.

A full shot of it, with Vega zooming in the front. You can see that the birds approve of it because it's already been pooed all over This angle doesn't show it well, but there's also a back support board that doubles as a step for the Cochins to hop up onto the actual perches from. The back support is about 8 inches off the ground, then the lower perch is about 18 inches and the upper perch is about 2-and-a-half feet.

If I remember to tonight and it isn't too dark, I'll try to grab a shot of it loaded up with Cochins

My Halloween littles are out in my main hoopcoop with my most trusted rooster and his flock. I did build them a separate enclosure but kept it top less. They have a heat light on chain for cold nights and they use it. Most days they are searching now.

Pictures!
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I really need a shead or small skid barn for my chicken stuff that is no in use. All that was neatly stacked until I needed something, lol.

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The Chamois Spitzhauben girls like to stay near them when they are free ranging.

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They found out where I go when I leave from outside. I heard a bunch of peeping and thought I had a bunch of wild birds back there and when I looked it was a bunch of chicks watching me through the French doors. I didn't get a picture of tho. All their heads over the bottom lip of the door where it meets the glass. Very laugh worthy.

Oh, I love them!! Those little fawn/khaki(?) barred guys are so handsome and all the little duckwings are just gorgeous! I love your Spitz hen, too, so pretty!

 

[NagemTX]

Oh I really like it! Now I have !

Also thank you! The babies are all pretty. Can't wait till they are closer to adults so I can see who's staying.

A full shot of it, with Vega zooming in the front. You can see that the birds approve of it because it's already been pooed all over This angle doesn't show it well, but there's also a back support board that doubles as a step for the Cochins to hop up onto the actual perches from. The back support is about 8 inches off the ground, then the lower perch is about 18 inches and the upper perch is about 2-and-a-half feet.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Got some catching up to do! First, let's get the sad stuff out of the way.

On December 23rd, when I opened the coops up for the day, I found Peanut Butter lying peacefully in one of the dropping trays, having passed away in her sleep. She had not perched herself the previous night and I did notice when I picked her up to perch her that there was a slight squish to her abdomen like she had started retaining fluid, but she was bright eyed and seemed normal otherwise. I suspect her heart failed suddenly.

To say I was devastated by this would be an understatement. Not only was she an elegant, docile, and beautiful bird, but PB was particularly important to me because one of my best friends had named her, and we had a tradition of checking in every now and then so she could see how PB was doing. She even told me that when the topic of pets came up, she'd tell people she has two cats at home and a chicken in the U.S. (she lives in Europe). I'm not sure which was harder, realizing that Peanut Butter was gone, or telling my friend that we had lost her.

This was particularly upsetting because I had postponed hatching from her until next year, as I just got too busy this year. Now, all I can do is hatch half-siblings or nieces/nephews of hers, as she and her mother and maternal grandparents are all gone. Unfortunately, I do think it was the right call not to hatch from her this year with everything else... but it's hard to know that she's gone without leaving any offspring behind.

Needless to say, I'll miss this gorgeous, chill, sweet lady quite a bit.

I didn't mention this in my previous posts, but I also lost Wynne and Bella over the past month and a half. Wynne, of course, was 13 years old and hadn't quite been herself in a while. Bella was younger, but had also not been acting right, and I suspect something was off with her internally anyway, as I still think she was who produced the strange chicks I hatched this year. Rest in peace, girls

One more post coming, I have some pictures to share.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Pictures! I said that I didn't have much to share from the past month or two, but when I was digging through my pictures of my cat to post to his thread, I noticed a few I had missed.

Most of them are poor Priscilla, who decided to wait until the end of November and drop all of her feathers at once.

She has covered back up at this point, thank goodness, though she still has some fluffing to go before she's back to her usual roundness.

This was a feather I found on Vega's shoulder that leaked black and I just thought it was neat.

And last of the older pictures I found is Mallow up on the new perch. He likes to feel tall.

And just a few from the past few days. I said I'd introduce him, so here's a (slightly blurry) picture of Roland, AKA Roly. He's a cockerel that hatched this year and has had leg issues since he was small. He's definitely not going into my breeding program, but I can't really give him to someone else with his issues, and he's pretty scrawny for soup as well, so as long as he doesn't cause problems he can stay in my mixed flock I guess.

Some daggers from Roxanne and Rowena, my last two silkied Red Cochins, as they grew impatient for breakfast while I was taking pictures one morning. Sassy little munchkins!

Some grumping from Fifi with her gravelly voice I tried to take a video to share, but the other girls were yakking in the background so you couldn't really hear Fifi anyway

Aaand... some fluffy booties for the end This is Vivienne on the left and Izzy on the right

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Got some catching up to do! First, let's get the sad stuff out of the way.

On December 23rd, when I opened the coops up for the day, I found Peanut Butter lying peacefully in one of the dropping trays, having passed away in her sleep. She had not perched herself the previous night and I did notice when I picked her up to perch her that there was a slight squish to her abdomen like she had started retaining fluid, but she was bright eyed and seemed normal otherwise. I suspect her heart failed suddenly.

To say I was devastated by this would be an understatement. Not only was she an elegant, docile, and beautiful bird, but PB was particularly important to me because one of my best friends had named her, and we had a tradition of checking in every now and then so she could see how PB was doing. She even told me that when the topic of pets came up, she'd tell people she has two cats at home and a chicken in the U.S. (she lives in Europe). I'm not sure which was harder, realizing that Peanut Butter was gone, or telling my friend that we had lost her.

This was particularly upsetting because I had postponed hatching from her until next year, as I just got too busy this year. Now, all I can do is hatch half-siblings or nieces/nephews of hers, as she and her mother and maternal grandparents are all gone. Unfortunately, I do think it was the right call not to hatch from her this year with everything else... but it's hard to know that she's gone without leaving any offspring behind.

Needless to say, I'll miss this gorgeous, chill, sweet lady quite a bit.

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I didn't mention this in my previous posts, but I also lost Wynne and Bella over the past month and a half. Wynne, of course, was 13 years old and hadn't quite been herself in a while. Bella was younger, but had also not been acting right, and I suspect something was off with her internally anyway, as I still think she was who produced the strange chicks I hatched this year. Rest in peace, girls

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One more post coming, I have some pictures to share.

I’m sorry pipd. Your sweet babies are in chicken heaven now. And I bet PB has some little babies up there she take it care of.

 

[NagemTX]

Awww....

Poor babies dropping feathers so late in the year!

 

[NagemTX]

We had tornadoes in our area. Some have had damages. We are OK tho as are my friends and family!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo Sorry to hear about the losses.

Lemon is in full naked molt atm, she looks hideous.

@NagemTX glad all is well. Here in NE IN, the weather app is showing the tornado symbol vs the snow symbol. That means there is a slight risk which is wild for this region especially at the end of December. But, soon the temps are dropping again back to the 20s. I wish the weather would make up it's mind. This back and forth is not good for animals.

 

[NagemTX]

@pipdzipdnreadytogo Sorry to hear about the losses.

Lemon is in full naked molt atm, she looks hideous.

@NagemTX glad all is well. Here in NE IN, the weather app is showing the tornado symbol vs the snow symbol. That means there is a slight risk which is wild for this region especially at the end of December. But, soon the temps are dropping again back to the 20s. I wish the weather would make up it's mind. This back and forth is not good for animals.

Wow on the weather. It has been a crazy year for weather.