Pipd's Peeps!

[Crazy Maizie]

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

View attachment 4134936

So sweet.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

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. View attachment 4135231

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

Oh my. Where there is a will, there is a way.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I got some exciting news today, and a few days before I was even expecting to hear anything. I still need to officially accept the offer (and can't do so until the office opens on Monday), but I've been offered a seat in the dental hygiene program for the class of 2028!!

Obviously, this means 3 more years of hard work is ahead of me. However, I'm excited for the opportunity and for what this represents for my future as well. For a long time, I had no idea what I was doing in life nor how I was going to survive on my own some day. I know it's early, but I feel so much stronger about my future now and I'm ready to get to work to make my goals happen. And, of course, it's a huge load off my mind not having to wait any longer to know if I'm in or not!



Anyway, on the chickens, Opal and her brood are out and about these days and she's got some active peeps under her! She does, indeed, have 1 Black and 4 Blue chicks that she is doting on as dedicatedly as she was with her last brood

Kya's babies have begun to hatch now, too. She has one little one out and the remaining 3 eggs have externally pipped, so we're just waiting on them to pop out! This is her with her first baby--I didn't have my flashlight to see and mama Kya was not pleased about the camera's flash for this picture, poor girl!

Not much else going on in the flock, so I guess that's it for now!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

All 4 of Kya's babies have hatched. Looks like 3 Blues and 1 Black in her batch. No Splashes this year unless I decide to set another batch from the blue band coop later on, which will not take high priority as I still need to get some green band eggs set. I just set another batch from the red band coop today along with what is hopefully an egg from Gwenyth, but she's been so sneaky in the nests that I'm not 100% sure it's hers and haven't caught her laying any others to confirm. I might have to invest in a nest camera to get eggs to hatch out of this bird. I just want some bitty naked neck babies! It's crazy how difficult this buzzard is making the whole process!!


Anyway, Kya and her babies are still resting after hatch and I don't expect them to leave the nest until tomorrow, but here's Opal and her kiddos today

And a check-in on the brooder kiddos--shoot, they're 3 weeks old already?!

Dreadfully, I'm beginning to suspect there are only 2 pullets in the mix on that batch But there are a couple I'm still holding out hope on.