Pipd's Peeps!

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I'm looking everywhere while getting things put away for the evening and then I spot him on top of the main coop. Now, this thing is at least 6-7' high. His pen is at least 4' high with a fabric covering over it. I was flabbergasted that he was able to get up so dang high for a ground bird - Little ball of Cheddar cheese that he is.

Goodness, that's very impressive for a Cochin! They're about as opposite to aerodynamic as you can get in a chicken Glad you found him!

And thank you (and Tink! ) for the congrats and well-wishes! Soonest I will know is June 1.

 

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I come with an offering of Dorks

Erm, anyway, not much to report in the flock these days. We're settling into a routine of free-ranging a little earlier each day as the leaves fill out and I feel safer about their cover. Freia is not pleased, but gradually coming out of her broody spell after I took her eggs away. Her crop still seems a bit bloaty to me, but is emptying more now that she's not locked in on hatching. Opal is sitting tight and doing a phenomenal job--6 out of 6 eggs are developing under her!

And the peeps are precious as always. I'm still going back and forth on one of them for color, but I think I have an even split of 4 Blues and 4 Blacks. Here are the Blues:

And the Blacks:

I swear I looked into the brooder today and they'd already visibly grown since yesterday They really get to growing once they start getting feed in their little crops! This set seems particularly self-sufficient compared to other first batches of the year. Usually, the first chicks I have to coddle a lot because they get 'lost'(as if they can't figure out how to duck under the EcoGlow at first). This set, I'll hear peeping likesomeone's upset, but by the time I get part way up the stairs they've already figured it out and settled down. Such smart babies

 

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One week old peeps

...As you can see, they are wholeheartedly uncooperative for pictures already

Not like my lovely adults who pose so nicely Miss Kya:

And Mr. Birch, who busted up his beak again fighting Buck through the fence

And a little update on Freia. She seems to have left behind her brooding days and her crop seems to be back to normal. Here she is sneaking a snack from the leftovers from yesterday before I'd dished out their pellets for the day.

Perfectly innocent, as always

 

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Hi, y'all! Sorry for being so quiet lately! A combination of factors in her treatment plan led to a bit of emotional volatility in my mom for a couple weeks that, while I was more than happy and willing to talk her through it, left me feeling pretty exhausted most days this past couple weeks. Things have settled down now and everything is looking okay again over here.


On the chickens, the only thing really to report is that I did a bit of broody shuffling this week because Kya, my other trusted broody, decided she wanted to brood as well. Because Opal was broody for a little bit before I actually set eggs under her, she's feeling pretty thin at this point, so I swapped her eggs out for the eggs that Freia had started, which should hatch within the next few days. The eggs that Opal started are now under Kya, who has nestled down nicely on them and should have her own brood hatch next weekend. Now the trick will be finding them space to rear their respective broods!

Oh, and the kiddos in the brooder have graduated to shavings as of last week! Here are (most of) them checking them out for the first time:

Some cute peeking peepers

And this is them as of today at about 2 weeks old. There was ZERO cooperation for the out-of-the-brooder pictures, so this is the best I got

Just a few more chicken pics from the past week. Here's Freia out and about. She seems to be over her broodying and back to normal now!

Birchy and Kya having a drink together on one of her broody breaks

Kita on the Cochin perch. Funny, she doesn't look much like a Cochin...

And a dramatic close-up of Trixie

 

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I thought since I hadn't taken a picture of Ganymede in a while that I'd try to grab one for today's picture to post. I got exactly one shot before she took off out the door. She's never been much of a 'people chicken'.

Also, here's Rangi asking politely for a lap to sit in.

And an awfully cute little peep-peep with such pretty baby eyes

Opal is officially on 'lock down' with her eggs as I've noticed some draw down occurring in them

 

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I just peeked to see if there were any babies under Opal yet and there are not, but I did see some strong external pips, so it won't be much longer!

These were the eggs that Freia started, as I've mentioned, but she's well past her brooding phase now and instead on to giving me the big brown eyes with the hopes I'll let them out to free-range early. She has had no discernible crop issues since she went back to eating normally, thankfully.

 

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It's terrible lighting because of where she's set up, but Opal's first baby is out

 

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I went out to check on Opal's hatch and open up the pen for Kya to have her daily break from brooding this evening. Opal has 3 babies out now, by the way! Anyway, as I was standing there waiting on Kya to return from her break, I noticed something odd in the closed-off wing of the coop that is currently housing 6 roosters and no hens.

First, I should mention that, as roosters often do, these boys had gone to the corner of their coop space several times over their stay there and chirped and carried on about the great nest spot that they'd found to try to woo the ladies through the fence. Silly boys. But today, oddly enough, in that little bowl they had scraped out in the corner, there lay a single egg.

Did I mention this is a pen with 6 roosters living in it and absolutely no hens?? Even if they'd somehow rolled it in there from along the fence they share with the mixed flock of hens, they would have had to travel about 20 feet with it and lifted it up the steps to get it inside here!

Obviously, this was baffling. I stared through the fence at that thing for the longest time trying to wrap my brain around it being there. Finally, I decided to investigate further. Sure enough, it was a genuine egg. ... What?

But, then I turned around to leave with it only to see miss Freia hopping through the pop door to give me her big, brown eyes as if asking politely to go back to her usual side of the fence. How in the world did she get over here--and how did she avoid getting torn to shreds by the 6 roosters she found herself among?! Either she's got more attitude than she shows when I'm around or those young men are far more polite than I gave them credit for!

Long story short, she would have had to squeeze through a tiny weak point in one fence and then fly over a second fence to arrive in this particular pen. All during free-range time, so it shouldn't have been a matter of boredom. Talk about determination! Freia has been returned to her appropriate pen and I patched up the weak point to prevent further excursions into the rooster pen by a far-too-adventurous young lady.

Chickens. They'll definitely keep you on your toes!

 

[ChaosMom]

It's terrible lighting because of where she's set up, but Opal's first baby is out

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She’s downright opalescent!

 

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She is, and she has all 5 babies out as of last night at roost time! I set her and the babes up with food and water this morning. I think the little ones are too squishy still to come out of the nest, but Opal came out to eat, drink, and potty before quickly returning to her babies to keep them warm. The babies are not wanting to come out from under her yet, so this is all I have of them this morning--look at those little booties I suspect she'll keep them on the nest until late today or first thing tomorrow to give them time to get their land legs.

I think she has 4 Blues and 1 Black, but I'm not 100% sure yet.