Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Picture time!

I was trying to get a nice picture of Freia in the sun because she was partway through her molt and had some dark chocolate and some milk chocolate feathering going on, but it didn't really show up well here. Anyway, she's a pretty lady either way

Flint the gremlin queen being nosy

Vega up to roost the other night.

Chicha

Sumi and Vega were following me around one free-range afternoon

...Until I crouched down and Fifi had to be in my business instead

Flint again, this time doing her best Muppet impression

A close-up of Tash. I just realized the other day how pretty her eyes are!

Big man Birch keeping an eye on his girls

And another shot of Chicha catching the light of the sunset in her glossy feathers the other evening. Goodness, she's such a gorgeous bird!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

So, happy Friday, y'all!

I'm not sure how much my daily life matters here--feel free to skip this post if it doesn't interest you!--but as far as my schoolwork goes, I've officially passed all of my competencies for this semester as of last week! I also absolutely aced the test I had this week on Wednesday, 100% plus both bonus points, so we're doing good in medical emergencies I guess! I have a test in radiology on Monday that I'm sweating a bit over, but a light load of homework for the weekend otherwise at least.

I did find out, entirely thanks to the blood pressure competency I had to do, that I actually have high blood pressure at the moment. For the competency, we took each others' blood pressure manually and then our professor took it and compared numbers with us. My BP was very high that day, scary high, but by the time I had gotten home it was much lower, and by the next day it was only a little elevated over the normal range. So I suspect that it's mostly stress causing it, but I definitely need to talk things over with my doctor and see what we need to do. I'd really prefer not to stroke out from stress this semester! View attachment 4247510

I thiiiink we're at 6 more weeks to go in the semester? Wish me luck!

Congrats on passing your tests. Stress can definitely interfere with blood pressure.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Next, the chickens!

It's been largely routine with them these days. I go to class, come home in the late afternoon/early evening and let them free-range, close them up at sunset, rinse and repeat the next day. DST ending really messed things up because now I'm in class later and don't get home until an hour or so before sunset some days, and the girls aren't terribly pleased, but tolerating it thanks to my carefully timed offerings of pumpkins and other snacks for them to work on while I'm away.

Anyway, during free-range, the corn crib pullets have recently discovered that they can fly up and land on the feed shed, and then walk out of their free-range space and get into shenanigans. Flint seems to be the ringleader in these shenanigans. This week, she let half of the pullets out of bounds and then ran around like a possessed gremlin in the driveway while I struggled to catch her while the other pullets watched from atop the feed shed. So, I've been forced to take one of my little gates that I used to separate broodies and babies in the spring and summer, and put it on the feed shed to keep those crazy pullets where they belong. The whole woods at their disposal for ranging and they want to be in the barren driveway.

Other than that, nothing much exciting has been going on. I do suspect that I may lose both Augusta and Amaretto fairly soon, as both of them haven't been quite right for different reasons lately. I'm keeping a close eye on Caz as well, poor old gal, because she's been a touch dusky and has had some issues with droppings getting caught in her fluffy britches. But everyone else seems healthy, active, and content despite the recently chilly weather.

Next post will be pictures from this week! It should (hopefully?) start us on the next page so my computer can stop making death rattles at me from being on this page

I'm not wishing it, but thinking if the winter is as harsh as they say it will be, I might lose a few as well. They are all doing ok at the moment, but with some of the ages and having dealt with weird issues all summer, I won't be surprised if it happens.

Almost forgot - guess which one is broody?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Congrats on passing your tests. Stress can definitely interfere with blood pressure.

Thank you!

Yeah, my BP was just elevated enough that my doctor put me on a BP med that I started last night. Now I'm dealing with the initial wave of side effects until my body adapts to it. Been achey and fatigued all day today It stinks getting older!

I'm not wishing it, but thinking if the winter is as harsh as they say it will be, I might lose a few as well. They are all doing ok at the moment, but with some of the ages and having dealt with weird issues all summer, I won't be surprised if it happens.

Almost forgot - guess which one is broody?

Ivyyy!

Thank goodness all of my notorious broodies have gone into molt. No broody porcupines here!


As far as losing them goes, it's tough. At least we know we gave them a good life while they were here, though.

I did end up losing both Augusta and Amaretto over the past couple weeks. Gusta had nestled with the pullet pile one evening, and by the next morning she was gone. Poor gal. I'll really miss her bawk-awk-awks that she always did. I always knew when Augusta was yakking, even over the monitor.

Amaretto's loss was quite a bit more traumatic. She was up and down quite a bit at the end, and there were some days when I thought she might just pull through. Then last Friday morning I found what was left of her after a rat had broken into the coop and killed her. Never had rat issues in or around the coop before, but I wasn't about to take any chances on it, either. I spent all of that day patching every single spot big enough for a rat to get through into my coop with hardware cloth. No problems or signs of invasion since, thankfully, but I'm remaining vigilant as I don't want a colony establishing itself here. I already pick the feed up every evening, so there should not be anything available for them to eat overnight in any of my coops. My suspicion is that it just happened across the coop that night and took advantage of Amaretto's weakened state at that point.

Losing Amaretto was hard for me to come to terms with because she was the last of the genetics in my flock from my original silkied Cochins that I got nearly a decade ago. She was also second to last of the genetics from my Silkie boys, Reuben and Winter, who dedicatedly protected my mixed flock for their entire lives. Now all that's left of their lineage is Ganymede, who I'm very much not sure I want to hatch from and keep her crazy genes around. Amaretto, herself, was a pretty low-key bird and the only thing remarkable about her was how remarkably bad of a mother she made, but her temperament was much more balanced and I would have loved to hatch from her if only to keep those lineages alive in my mixed flock going forward. It's a shame.

Now I'm also looking at probably losing Wyatt as well. He's been very hunchy and quiet for the past week or so, and not showing any outward signs beyond that for me to try to treat. He would be an even harder loss to handle because he's my last foundational male in my breeding program, and worse yet I don't have any roosters who can take his place at this moment, so that means everything is put on hold until I can replace him. Ugh! At least the rest of the birds are healthy, knocking on wood at that statement!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh, and I don't have a whole lot of pictures from this past couple weeks. School has been brutal as the semester winds down, but I think I'm over the hump of all the projects and things that were coming due and now all that's left is a couple essays and finals.

I do have a very open weekend and only a presentation due next Tuesday before Thanksgiving break, so I'm hoping I can spend some more time here and just relaxing in general!

Anyway, about those pictures...

You know those people that can just easily insert themselves into a conversation with anyone and always just get along fine? I think Flint is one of those people. Every night, she's in a different spot on the roost, and no one pecks at her or anything! Here she is between the Dorkings the other evening:

Most of the corn crib pullets (and one unnamed molting Cochin) on the deck roosts one chilly morning waiting for breakfast. Top row, left to right, is Tash, Pudding, and Chicha. Bottom row is Chowder and Johnnycakes with the molty Cochin girl.

And, shoot, the last picture I have for this post is Flint again. This time it's her looking at me accusingly for thwarting her and the other corn crib pullets' daily excursions to the driveway during free-range time. She was not pleased to find the way blocked.