Pipd's Peeps!

[2ndTink]

One long, long, loooong road trip later... and I am home with the cutest special delivery in the world

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Since it's been an age since I ordered them and posted this, they are 3 Easter-eggers, 2 Green Queens, a Delaware, and a Sumatra.

Among the three Easter-eggers, it looks like I have a splash, probably leaky or perhaps partridge- or birchen-based because she has some reddishness on her forehead that's easier to see in person than in this picture:

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What looks like a blue partridge type coloration:

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And maybe a silver wildtype or wildtype/partridge split? I need to brush up on my chick down colorings again!

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Look at those beards

Anyway, the Green Queens both look like they're partridge-based, one gold and one silver. Both have small beards, light leg feathering, and look like they will have small crests. They're also visibly smaller than the other chicks, though not small enough to be bantams, which I thought was interesting. I almost thought the gold one was a Mille Fleur d'Uccle when I first saw her!

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The Sumatra is such a pretty baby She has a two-toned beak, one side jet black and the other blue-gray! She also already has this look on her face like she's 1000% over everyone's crap

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And the last little one, the Delaware, is just your basic yellow chick, but she's a cutie nonetheless

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They're all perky, bright-eyed, and growing accustomed to their brooder, this whole eating and drinking thing, and their next-door neighbors the silkied Cochin chicks, who are like 4 times their size and absolutely terrified of them despite that These guys seem HUGE for day-old chicks after all the bantams I've hatched the last several years!

Names to come later. Since they should all be pullets, I have a theme picked out and some names rumbling through my brain in that theme already

Oh my goodness they're adorable congrats on the new additions!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Congrats on getting accepted to the program!

Congrats on all the new chicks. I'm jealous about them all, but especially your Meyer picks, because I can't wait to see them grow up!

I went on a 15 day mission trip to Alaska. My hubby took care of the crew here. When I came home all looked well. The first evening, I noticed Mango was not roosting where she should be. I got out the ladder and found she was in the rafters. I couldn't see her well without moving things around to set the ladder correctly. So, I waited until the next day (as jet lag zapped all of my energy). The next day in the afternoon (after a very long nap), I went out to clean and investigate.

Mango was sitting on 7 eggs. I asked my husband how long had she not been roosting in her normal spot - he said he didn't know. Lol
I left her alone and gave it some thought about letting her hatch - and I just don't have the space. Plus, the idea of finding cockerels a home is exhausting. So, I went up and picked the eggs up to candle (in a dark closet). There were no visible veins. So, they all got tossed. They might not have been viable at all, but if they had been far enough along to see veins, I probably would have let her continue to sit.
She's a bit feisty when broody.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh my goodness they're adorable congrats on the new additions!

Congrats on getting accepted to the program!

Congrats on all the new chicks. I'm jealous about them all, but especially your Meyer picks, because I can't wait to see them grow up!

Thank you!! They are the cutest! I forgot how adorable those baby beards are on chicks

I went on a 15 day mission trip to Alaska. My hubby took care of the crew here. When I came home all looked well. The first evening, I noticed Mango was not roosting where she should be. I got out the ladder and found she was in the rafters. I couldn't see her well without moving things around to set the ladder correctly. So, I waited until the next day (as jet lag zapped all of my energy). The next day in the afternoon (after a very long nap), I went out to clean and investigate. View attachment 4150676
Mango was sitting on 7 eggs. I asked my husband how long had she not been roosting in her normal spot - he said he didn't know. Lol
I left her alone and gave it some thought about letting her hatch - and I just don't have the space. Plus, the idea of finding cockerels a home is exhausting. So, I went up and picked the eggs up to candle (in a dark closet). There were no visible veins. So, they all got tossed. They might not have been viable at all, but if they had been far enough along to see veins, I probably would have let her continue to sit.
She's a bit feisty when broody.

Oh wow, that sounds like an amazing trip!

Glad the birds handled your absence well! There's something in the air here in northeast Indiana--I have a bunch of birds going broody as well Mango is the cutest little broody! Those OEGBs do tend to get pretty fiery when they want to hatch eggs

I hear you on not wanting to worry about rehoming cockerels. With my first batch of the year pretty much confirmed 2 pullets and 5 cockerels at this point, I'm begrudging starting that process now I don't even want to know how many cockerels Opal and Kya are raising!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Introducing... The babies of the Corn Crib Crew! A while back, I was watching a cooking competition (Tournament of Champions 6 if anyone wondered), and one of the contestants was making polenta, an Italian dish made out of cornmeal that's sort of similar to grits. I thought, huh, Polenta actually sounds like it could be a name... And then I looked up other corn-based dishes and realized that a lot of them sounded like they could be names!

Years ago, before I started with the Cochins, I used to theme the names of about every odd batch of pullets I got. I sort of still do that with my green band pen, the flower girls, but it's nice to kind of break away from that and just have fun with a naming theme again. Usually I use 'real' names, people names if you will, but sometimes silly names just are more fun!

Without any further ado, here is our official introduction!

The Easter-eggers, starting with Succotash, nickname Tash

Corn Chowder, nickname Chowder

Flint Corn, nickname Flint. Flinty's particularly special because my mom picked out her name and the chick to give it to (I probably should have put her on a dark background, whoops! )

For the Green Queens, we have Johnnycakes

And here's Polenta

Next is the Sumatra, named Chicha

And last but not least, the Delaware. Corn Pudding, nickname Pudding (Another that probably should have been on a dark background )

 

[Crazy Maizie]

So cute!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Been a busy week, sorry for the lack of updates! I had to do some schedule juggling because I found out when my mandatory orientation is for the DH program, and that there's a second mandatory thing I have to go to, so I had some things to work out and more errands to run Here I thought I'd be less busy over the summer!

The corn crib babies are doing well! Because I had eggs in the incubator due to hatch this weekend (more on that in a sec ), I had to expedite their move to the big-kid brooder. They took it like champs, already running around in the pine shavings like nothing. Usually it takes a day or two before my chicks are brave enough to tread outside the towel part of the brooder!

This was after some running around and flapping in the new space, and just before Tash and Flint decided those towels were the perfect substrate for dust bathing

...And there's Tash 'dust bathing' in the towel with Johnnycakes' booty on her head, all the way to the right

The big kids, obviously, had to move outside earlier last week in order to make room for these guys in the big brooder, but they are also adjusting really well, which surprised me as clingy as they are! I was a little worried about them in this heat wave we're having, but they don't seem to be bothered at all by it.

Oh, and the eggs I mentioned hatching this weekend? We're 7 out of 8 hatched! It looks like number 8 quit, but I have 7 healthy babies all said. Here are the oldest 3 when I moved them to the brooder--the remaining 4 are still drying and fluffing off in the incubator

As for the adults, we're surviving the heat, though none too happy about it.

Poor gals.

I actually don't have many pictures of them from here recently because of the weather, but here's Ganymede, who still has broody brain, trying to... sun bathe on the roosts in the dark, I guess?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

You're very creative with the chick feeder! I bet that really cuts down on waste.
When I came back from the 2 week stint, Ivy was also broody (Ganymede is like her twin) - this makes 3 attempts for her since spring. Cheddar is in a separate area, so I just put her in with him. She's cured now, but he needs a roommate and I gave Lemon a break from the confinement. The boys aren't relenting as of yet. I'm not sure they will.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

You're very creative with the chick feeder! I bet that really cuts down on waste.

Haha, thanks! It definitely cuts down on the spillage, though they somehow still get pine shavings in there sometimes.

Those are plastic tubs from cat litter (this kind, if the link works) that I washed out and cut for that. The side has a slit and the top is cut open so I can get the feeder in and out. I have a series of them where the slit on the side gets taller so I can swap them out as the chicks grow. Of course, one of them is the spot that the OEGB girls have decided to use as their nest this year, so in the interest of actually being able to find their eggs, I'll have to make a new one for that stage. Anyway, they're not the most elegant, but they certainly do the job!

When I came back from the 2 week stint, Ivy was also broody (Ganymede is like her twin) - this makes 3 attempts for her since spring. Cheddar is in a separate area, so I just put her in with him. She's cured now, but he needs a roommate and I gave Lemon a break from the confinement. The boys aren't relenting as of yet. I'm not sure they will.

Ganymede is on attempt 2, but this attempt she's been stubbornly sticking to for at least twice as long as the first one She's off her rocker!!

Darn, those boys... I'm having the same trouble with Bucky and Birch. I think I may have to give up on my plan of having the two of them coexist in the mixed flock.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

All seven babies are out of the incubator! Here are the other four at their leg banding, making it clear that they do not appreciate the man-handling

And just a few pictures of the corn crib crew at their evening socializing today

Miss Johnnycakes

Flint looking bewildered after she hopped up on the edge of the brooder

Quiet little Chicha looking sweetly up at me

This one is actually from yesterday, but apparently I missed it in my post earlier! Tash on an, at that point in time, much cleaner towel!