Sdwd

[Cetawin]

speckledhen that boy is so cute! I love his markings. I need to take new pics of the babies here so far Hedwig's markings are still very black with a couple tiny brownish red spots.


Thanks Reinbeau.


Beth I thought you were trying to send Ivan the Terrible here? LOL You just want to send him anywhere you don't you? LOL

 

[Serrin]

Thank you Ann! Your hard work and efforts are greatly appreciated!

And now we have our thread back!

Yaaaay!!!! I missed all you guys terribly today. But on the up side, I got a lot more done than I usually do!!

That is NOT to be considered a reflection on y'all!!! It just proves that I'm easily distracted!

Actually, I'm not really all that easily distracted. It's just an excuse to .....oh look! A chicken!!!!

So, I got 9 eggs again today. How's everyone else's counts look?

I think I'm loosing sweet little Abigail [Abby] She's one of my few remaining original girls and frequently lays thin shelled eggs. [as in they usually break before I can retrieve them, even when I'm standing right there!

]

I poked my head in the door of the coop this afternoon to see who all was in, how many eggs were there and so forth. Poor little Abby was standing in the far corner, all puffed up and looking like death warmed over. I decided that she needed to be in the pump house where I could at least turn on the heater for her and make things nice and quiet.

So, I picked her up, headed out the door and just got outside when she started throwing up this clear brownish liquid. I could literally feel her tummy empty as I was holding her. I have NO idea what this is. But, considering her age, and the fact that I just lost her sister Rita a few weeks back, I'm pretty sure it all points to another sad farewell.

Her sweet comb has been flopped over to one side for a couple of days now, but this is the first time she has acted truly sick! Not just tired as would be befitting of her age. Amazingly, her appetite is still good, and her spirits seem to be fairly good, all things considered.

But this throwing up business has me very disturbed. Has anyone else had this happen with one of their birds? Did it herald the onset of a death in your flock? Or was it just a little 24 hour bug that got them down for a day or two? Any experiences y'all have had with something like this that you'd like to share with me, I'd very much like to hear about it.

So far, The Pump House Princess doesn't seem to mind sharing her pillow with Abby. Quarantine is rather a moot point I think. They spend all day every day with each other, in a tight little group. If one of them has something communicable, the others were exposed to it long ago. Though something tells me this is not a communicable illness, but rather something shutting down within Abby due to age.

If it is indeed her time to cross over, I just hope and pray that the Great Spirit sees fit to let her make the journey through sleep closed eyes.

 

[rancher hicks]

I hope this doesn't get me into trouble but I went to the Fair again today and was able to talk to a gentleman about showing and the Fair. The Fingerlakes club or other clubs is not in control of the Fair nor it's judging. Each bird is assigned a number rather than a breed tag. There might be a Breed tag hanging on a group of cages for one breed so unless you know the breed it's possible to get confused. He told me they were put up by "the kids" though he didn't say what kids.

Some birds had been pulled, others DQ'd. Others judged "not worth of first" so there were no first place birds in that breed. I'm learning some things and going to pick the brains of any person who shows. Though IMO birds that have blue ribbons do not necessarily mean a quality bird.
There were some nice White Wyandottes, Minorcas and others. I took 135 pics some not so good as the birds just didn't seem to care if I wanted to take their picture or not. There was a black Aussie roo who seemed to understand cuz he stood up straight when I held up my camera. I liked hm alot and wanted to take him from his cage and hug him. Oh and the Campines? they were nice too. I would have them too but they're not good for my area.

Now on another note, Why does it take EE's so long to lay? The one Del hen hatched at the same time as the two EE's is laying but they are not. I have read them Green Eggs and Ham and everything but they don't seem to care, they are not going to lay me some green/blue eggs. I even put some fake green/blue eggs in the nest boxes and show them and they just said, brrrooocccck! Which I interpret as "yeah so!" I swear I saw the two of them looking at me and snickering. It's a conspiracy I tell you! I'm going to have to bribe Nick with some extra scratch to spy on those two.

Well have a good night pleasant dreams. Oh and Joletaby, I had a dream last night that my DW told me to spend whatever I wanted on chickens, said she didn't care if I spent a fortune. Honest I really did dream that. If dreams came true that would be a miracle.

Lord have mercy

Rancher.

One of my favorite pics. Darcy and Dad

 

[kathyinmo]

OH WOW...... TIM, that picture is gorgeous!

The most precious thing ever! Be sure to congratulate the new parents for me! Beautiful baby Darcy! But how could she be anything else, with those beautiful parents she has!

 

[Serrin]

OOOHHH!!! Melto! Melto here!! Tim, Darcy and her daddy are so precious together in that shot. What a sweet picture. That one most certainly has to go into the scrap book!

Since we're still sort of on the subject of shows, I have to mention that Denny and I went to the Lincoln County fair just on a lark yesterday. I wish I'd had my camera with me. What a sad and sorry display for the most part! They had birds labelled as Ameraucana's who were no such thing! If they were, they certainly were the poorest examples I have ever seen. Just for my own edification, tell me this.....When did the color "Gray" become a standard acceptable color for Amer's? I may be showing extreme ignorance here, but I thought the acceptable colors were: Wheaton, Blue Wheaton, Black, White, Blue, Buff, Lavender, Splash and Silver. Did I not get the memo?

Or is this what comes from a typical small county fair?

I'll be honest: I didn't take the opportunity to speak to any of the staff/volunteers, etc that were in attendance in the building. I didn't trust myself not to say something unkind. And daddy always told me that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!

This is not to say that there weren't some very nice birds in there. One White Ameraucana cockerel looked very promising, given time to mature. Aren't there some kind of restrictions on age limits for showing chickens? I mean, how can one judge a cockerel who is barely discernible as being a cockerel. I mean heck! Haven't we all had a chick or three that have had us guessing all the way up to crow or lay?

I myself will probably never show. Not because of fear of disease, or because I don't have pedigree birds at the moment. I simply don't have the time! That's not to say that I wouldn't like to fully understand the entire process. It would be nice to know what is the most common protocol by which bird shows are conducted.

Oh Tim! By the way, on your EE's not laying yet. Dude! What's the problem with those girls? My little EE Esther was one of the first of this year's girls to start laying a month and a half ago. I think I'm still waiting on GeeGee to get her tail feathers in gear. I'm not sure what she is exactly. No idea of what mom was, but her daddy was unmistakeably Griffin [blue Wyandotte] hence her name [GeeGee = Griffin's Girl] Whatever is the case, she doesn't spend much time in the boxes yet. She'll come in, poke her head in a box or two and then turn right around and amble back outside.

So who knows. Just gotta let Mother Nature run her course I guess. Don't count on either of those two EE's to lay blue/green eggs either! Both of my girls popped out of beautiful blueish green eggs. Both of them lay brown!

I was very disappointed at the time. Now I love them no matter what color they lay. They're both such sweet little girls!

Good luck on your pair and let us know what color they lay....whenever that might be!

 

[kathyinmo]

Amy, I do hope your sweet Abby goes quickly and gently and does not linger.

Easter Eggers .... I have only 3 of them. I waited forever for them to start to lay! They were the last of my hatchery stock to begin laying, but I can not remember how old they were. I kept thinking only 2 of them were laying, as I would only get 2 green eggs a day. Then, I penned them with a Marans roo (to make Olive Eggers), and discovered that one of them laid a pink egg!

Now, I never did hatch those and I now regret that. I think with that pretty light pink color crossed with the dark egg gene, I could make some darn pretty darker pink eggs. Do you think? Hmmmm, I may have just talked myself into trying that again.......

My sweet little Easter Egger mama is one fierce girl now with those 2 babies. cetawin, can you post pictures of how your chick looks (Isaac's chick)? I am thinking mine are gonna look quite similar. From a distance (she really does not want me too close) they look much like your pictures of yours when first hatched.

I have had sooooo much family chaos this weekend I could scream.

I won't bore you with the details.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
Oh no dear! Please! Do! You know how we all love drama!!!

Hope it wasn't anything drastic or bad!

Take comfort in the knowledge that tomorrow is Monday! You can escape back to work!

 

[ChksontheRun]

Kathy, empathy with the family chaos. I have one son that seems to mix like oil and water with his Dad. They got into a huge argument and son left saying he was going to live out of his car

. Yesterday, he came back at dads invitation, they talked it out and he will be home for a bit longer. I really think he needs to get a place of his own. I don't really want him gone, but he is at an age that he needs to be gone.

My sweet chickens.....21 weeks old.... are laying me 2-3 eggs a day now. Sure wish I knew which ones were laying. I know which ones are definitely not as there are a few with pale small combs yet, but out of 15 girls, 10 have nice dark combs. They just wont do the deed while I am around. Only 2 eggs on the ground so far, otherwise the pink and purple easter eggs seem to have shown them the correct place to deposit their precious cargo.

Have a great Monday everyone. Only 5 days till the weekend!

 

[speckledhen]

Tim, what a beautiful picture!



On a sad note, Olivia's sister, Tux, died overnight. Found her yesterday, standing and staring in the pen while the others were out free ranging. She didn't even react when I picked her up, was basically limp. She acted like a human who'd had a stroke, staggering, weak on her right side, no interest in food or water, but would swallow and blink. Put her down she stood where you put her, push her into a sitting position, she'd stay there, too. She was panting like her heart was racing. Sunny even attacked her after looking into her face closely, so she knew. Put Tux in the hospital cage and when Tom checked her this morning, she was dead. She malfunctioned as far as egg laying when coming back into lay after her molt, just like Olivia did, but had gained weight and had no fluid in the abdomen. She was just blank and the day before, even the morning of, she was perfectly fine to our eye.

 

[joletabey]

Cynthia, I am SO sorry about Tux- that does sound like a stroke, doesn't it? Oh dear, you have been through so much this year with these kids-

Kathy- you had BEST share the family chaos- so we can be in it with you up to our necks, too!

Tim- that picture needs to be blown up and hung over the mantel- it's stunning! A picture Darcy will cherish when she is older- if she ever doubts she was loved and wanted, all she will have to do is look at that wonderful portrait.