Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I'd actually like to see Ivy or Lemon hatch some chicks, but I then I would need more space (or re-arrange the duck area). Plus, then I would definitely have at least half or more be cockerels.

Yeah, the cockerels are always the damper on hatching, and of course the fewer you want the more will hatch. I'd say just go get some pullet chicks for one of them to raise, but people are crazy this year and you can't find chicks practically anywhere!

Now, I wouldn't mind letting just about any one of my hens hatch given the right timing for me, but Amaretto is the exception. She's the one that was downright awful as a mother and then abandoned her babies early so that Perdita had to take over their care. She is not allowed to hatch anymore after that behavior.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Just a quick picture of Gwenyth today. Fabulous as always, of course

@fluffycrow Haven't seen you check in in a bit - look how gorgeous our girl is looking!


Rangi felt I was paying too much attention to other birds and not enough to her, though

Also not chicken related, but a pretty white crocus I found. Spring is on the way!

 

[fluffycrow]

Just a quick picture of Gwenyth today. Fabulous as always, of course

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@fluffycrow Haven't seen you check in in a bit - look how gorgeous our girl is looking!


Rangi felt I was paying too much attention to other birds and not enough to her, though

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Also not chicken related, but a pretty white crocus I found. Spring is on the way!

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Oh she’s absolutely stunning, as always !
Have you asked her if she’s up for producing some offspring this breeding season?

Apologies for not checking in as much…or at all. Have not been on BYC as much in general

How have you been, pipd?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Oh she’s absolutely stunning, as always !
Have you asked her if she’s up for producing some offspring this breeding season?

She's going to have chicks this year if I have to squeeze the eggs out of her by hand But seriously, I really, really want this to be the year! I may just set any eggs I get from her this summer with the hopes that at least one is fertilized.

Apologies for not checking in as much…or at all. Have not been on BYC as much in general

How have you been, pipd?

No worries at all about that, I definitely understand. I've been so crazy busy that I pretty much only check in on the weekends these days! I thiiiink you were around when I was talking about this last year, but I started back to college in August and have been working my butt off ever since! 7 weeks until summer break! Doing okay otherwise, just looking forward to a break.


How about you and yours? How are the Seramas and Cruella and the Tsouloufati doing? (Did I spell Tsouloufati right? )

 

[fluffycrow]

She's going to have chicks this year if I have to squeeze the eggs out of her by hand But seriously, I really, really want this to be the year! I may just set any eggs I get from her this summer with the hopes that at least one is fertilized.




No worries at all about that, I definitely understand. I've been so crazy busy that I pretty much only check in on the weekends these days! I thiiiink you were around when I was talking about this last year, but I started back to college in August and have been working my butt off ever since! 7 weeks until summer break! Doing okay otherwise, just looking forward to a break.


How about you and yours? How are the Seramas and Cruella and the Tsouloufati doing? (Did I spell Tsouloufati right? )

I really hope that works out! We need Gwenyth babies this summer!

Im pretty sure I was, but soooooo glad to read you’re still going strong! It’s definitely going to be hard now, but I remember you mentioning how much you wanted this, so it’s all going to be worth it in the end! Let’s pretend 7 weeks is 6 weeks, so a month and a half…basically nothing! Not sure if that makes you feel better, but summer break is close!

Everything’s been good here. Been busy as well. The birds are doing great. The seramas are enjoying their life, and so are the many Tsouloufates (yup, you spelled it correctly, I’m just using is the plural), which now have three males in their ranks.

Cruella is doing ok. Still no sign of her going broody, which I was sure would happen. She took Lady Gaga’s passing the hardest, and I don’t expect her to be eager to go broody under any other male for some time; much less a juvenile serama cockerel

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I really hope that works out! We need Gwenyth babies this summer!

Im pretty sure I was, but soooooo glad to read you’re still going strong! It’s definitely going to be hard now, but I remember you mentioning how much you wanted this, so it’s all going to be worth it in the end! Let’s pretend 7 weeks is 6 weeks, so a month and a half…basically nothing! Not sure if that makes you feel better, but summer break is close!

Everything’s been good here. Been busy as well. The birds are doing great. The seramas are enjoying their life, and so are the many Tsouloufates (yup, you spelled it correctly, I’m just using is the plural), which now have three males in their ranks.

Cruella is doing ok. Still no sign of her going broody, which I was sure would happen. She took Lady Gaga’s passing the hardest, and I don’t expect her to be eager to go broody under any other male for some time; much less a juvenile serama cockerel

Oh, goodness, sorry for dropping off mid conversation there! Now it really is only 6 weeks left in the semester! It's definitely been a lot of work and I'm ready for that break over the summer.

I'm not sure if I was aware you lost Lady Gaga, so sorry to hear that either way He was a special little guy. Hopefully Cruella can open her heart to another fella and go broody for you again. Glad to hear your other birds are doing well, too!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's been a week, y'all. My mom's surgery was Wednesday. Everything went well and she's recovering just fine, but they did determine she will have to continue chemotherapy a little while longer. It is unfortunate, but things are still looking positive overall and we're hoping that everything will be back to normal for her by next year.

Meanwhile, I don't remember how much of this I mentioned here, but my beloved boy Casper had a relapse with his Feline Idiopathic Cystitis that he had a few weeks back, so I spent much of yesterday at the emergency vet with him again. He has been totally fine behavior-wise and is pretty much back to normal as far as his litter box troubles today, but we're going to switch his food to a urinary health formula and look into some other things like getting him some water fountains to put around the house to make sure he's keeping well hydrated.

On the chickens, I do think that Rowena is on her way out. She's been very dusky since the mink attack and is acting a lot like her father did at the end when his heart was failing. Poor girl. She's my last silkied Red Cochin and such a spark of personality in the flock, so it'll be really hard to see her go.

I realized during this week that one of the cockerels in one of my bachelor flocks, who has seemed paler and quieter than the others for a long time, has what appears to be a patch of necrotic tissue on his front. I believe over the wintertime that he was dripping water down his front and ended up with a patch of frostbite there, poor guy. The other guys have not necessarily been bullying him, but in the midst of their springtime sparring he's sort of been pushed away from the food and water a lot. So, I decided to move him to the mixed flock where he has better access to food and water and I can keep a better eye on that patch on him.

So long story short, meet Hector. As in 'what the heck?' ...tor

Also, this is a picture from over spring break of another cockerel in a different bachelor flock, but I decided to call this handsome dude Sterling. He will be my breeding male in my green-band pen this year.

As for other pictures from this past week, here is Georgia in the blue band flock, who has decided to be an all-star layer so far this year!

Guess who's decided to go full broody on us.

Some cute shots of Gwenyth and Trixie in the feed pan. These two were broodmates, but they so infrequently hang out anymore because Gwenyth is a very active and busy bird, while Trixie is more of a homebody. I love to see that they still have a bit of a sense of that sisterhood, though

Mallow and Vega having a deep conversation

Birchy grew in some very dark patches on him after his molt, better mimicking his namesake I guess. He's so handsome even if he is leaky and improperly patterned I've been thinking about possibly putting him in the mixed flock as well, since I only really have Mallow as a fully active rooster (Roly and Hector obviously aren't, and Pete's been slowing down as an older male). Thus far, I haven't had any trouble integrating these boys together when there are plenty of hens to go around, so hopefully it'll work out

Rangi decided she could not wait for a lap and decided to just hop up on my niece's back instead

And lastly... the flock descending enthusiastically on an old, bruised apple I tossed in there

 

[NagemTX]

 

[Crazy Maizie]

It's been a week, y'all. My mom's surgery was Wednesday. Everything went well and she's recovering just fine, but they did determine she will have to continue chemotherapy a little while longer. It is unfortunate, but things are still looking positive overall and we're hoping that everything will be back to normal for her by next year.

Meanwhile, I don't remember how much of this I mentioned here, but my beloved boy Casper had a relapse with his Feline Idiopathic Cystitis that he had a few weeks back, so I spent much of yesterday at the emergency vet with him again. He has been totally fine behavior-wise and is pretty much back to normal as far as his litter box troubles today, but we're going to switch his food to a urinary health formula and look into some other things like getting him some water fountains to put around the house to make sure he's keeping well hydrated.

On the chickens, I do think that Rowena is on her way out. She's been very dusky since the mink attack and is acting a lot like her father did at the end when his heart was failing. Poor girl. She's my last silkied Red Cochin and such a spark of personality in the flock, so it'll be really hard to see her go.

I realized during this week that one of the cockerels in one of my bachelor flocks, who has seemed paler and quieter than the others for a long time, has what appears to be a patch of necrotic tissue on his front. I believe over the wintertime that he was dripping water down his front and ended up with a patch of frostbite there, poor guy. The other guys have not necessarily been bullying him, but in the midst of their springtime sparring he's sort of been pushed away from the food and water a lot. So, I decided to move him to the mixed flock where he has better access to food and water and I can keep a better eye on that patch on him.

So long story short, meet Hector. As in 'what the heck?' ...tor

View attachment 4085674

Also, this is a picture from over spring break of another cockerel in a different bachelor flock, but I decided to call this handsome dude Sterling. He will be my breeding male in my green-band pen this year.

View attachment 4085677

As for other pictures from this past week, here is Georgia in the blue band flock, who has decided to be an all-star layer so far this year!

View attachment 4085678


Guess who's decided to go full broody on us.

View attachment 4085680


Some cute shots of Gwenyth and Trixie in the feed pan. These two were broodmates, but they so infrequently hang out anymore because Gwenyth is a very active and busy bird, while Trixie is more of a homebody. I love to see that they still have a bit of a sense of that sisterhood, though

View attachment 4085681View attachment 4085682


Mallow and Vega having a deep conversation

View attachment 4085684


Birchy grew in some very dark patches on him after his molt, better mimicking his namesake I guess. He's so handsome even if he is leaky and improperly patterned I've been thinking about possibly putting him in the mixed flock as well, since I only really have Mallow as a fully active rooster (Roly and Hector obviously aren't, and Pete's been slowing down as an older male). Thus far, I haven't had any trouble integrating these boys together when there are plenty of hens to go around, so hopefully it'll work out

View attachment 4085685


Rangi decided she could not wait for a lap and decided to just hop up on my niece's back instead

View attachment 4085686


And lastly... the flock descending enthusiastically on an old, bruised apple I tossed in there

View attachment 4085687

Continued prayers for your mom.

Glad Casper is on the mend.

Sorry to hear that Rowena isn't doing well.

Those cockerels are very handsome.

I always seem to get a chicken on my back, so your niece is in good company.

I broke Ivy of her broodiness this past week, but at first she had to share a space with Cheddar until I set him up a different area. I don't think she liked that, but I had no alternatives.
Cheddar and Rebel are not giving up the fight. Most days I'm getting out before Cheddar gets out of his coop - but he's got a solar/battery operated door and sometimes it opens earlier than I think it should (before I have the energy to go out there). I can program it to open later, but I have to do like Morris code and I'm not good with that. Lol. It's not true Morris code, just reminds me of it. I can't complain too much as the door has been around for 7 years and works well. But, the other day, Rebel got a hold of Cheddar by the back of the comb and it really bled. Ugh. It looked worse than it was with blood streaming down the back of his head.
I'm just not sure they are going to give up until fall (hopefully by then). Or if they never get back to normal, I will have to consider rehoming Cheddar and Lemon as they really are bonded.