Pipd's Peeps!

[Crazy Maizie]

Sorry to hear about all of the stress and losses caused by the hawk. My goodness having chickens aren't for the faint of heart (literally).

Unrelated to chickens, but one last picture (which I'll spoiler it because I know teeth can creep people out sometimes), this is my tooth model I got for school

That's mighty toofy.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Did someone say broody? Have no fear, Ivy is at it again. She might be on round 5, but I've lost count. I don't know how silkie owners deal with this (and she's only part silkie).

It about drove me nuts when I had pure Silkies and about drives me nuts with my Silkie mixes But I will say that Marka, the last Silkie hen I had, was an incredible mother, better than any other broody I've allowed to raise chicks. If only we could get this whole sexing eggs thing hammered out so that I could let these hens brood whenever they feel like and not end up with a million cockerels!



Also... Hi everyone! Checking in again! I got a bit over my head with homework this past two weeks because I already had my first exam last Thursday and I had to juggle studying with homework. I think I've caught up again and am getting the hang of the semester's routine, so hopefully we'll not have that happen again.

Pretty much nothing has happened with the chickens, like at all. A few more are going into molt. I had a couple Cochin hens threaten broodying this past week, but a short stint in jail convinced them otherwise. Beyond that, it's been routine. Feed them when I get up, spend all day at school or on homework, close them up and gather eggs at night. But, I welcome that lack of excitement when it comes to the chickens!

Pictures from the past couple weeks! First, we have another shot of Chicha! Don't tell the others, but she's quickly becoming the favorite of this year's kiddos

Flint, who has taken to running around a bit like there are a dozen gremlins in her brain fighting over who gets to drive this thing

The corn crib pullets decided they needed to be jailed the other day and all packed into this hutch together. You can see on the left where Johnnycakes is standing that the door was wide open!

That hutch is on the deck as a sort of isolation pen whenever I need it (usually I'll put a hen in there to brood because it's a bit small for anything else), but at the moment it's become an extension of the nest boxes and I find one or two eggs in it every day. Also, Gwenyth likes to sleep in it for some reason.

Here she is tucked for bed at the door of it, and then throwing daggers my way for interrupting her sleep for a picture

Oh, and last is a little pullet from this years' hatches who is just so round and fuzzy

Just for fun, here are a couple pictures from around the farm, too. Starting to feel like fall around here

The sky yesterday morning when I went out to feed the chickens.

And a little amphibious friend who was blending in expertly with this bit of rope here.