Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Me to!My Pet Chicken sells those chick packs, and the Sexlink one can Possibley come with a Chocolate Orpington or Easter Egger, and BOY WOULD I DIE FOR THOSE CHOCOLATE EASTER EGGERS!

Crashie just looks tooooooo adorable I remember last year, two months after I joined and I saw your thread, I read every single page, And the baby Crashie pics where SO STINKING CUTE

Oh, believe me, I've drooled over the sexlinked chocolates over at MPC more than a few times! Been close to ordering some, too, but darn if I don't have the strongest willpower of all chicken keepers!

Ah, Crash is the cutest, isn't she? She's been playing with me on my DS lately. She loves pushing buttons and trying to grab things off the screen. Silly duck!










A few tidbits of news over here. I'm very disappointed and frustrated to say that the mites are back, or more likely, still here. The worst part is that they have returned with a vengeance--they're crawling on my arms after I've picked up any of the birds, they're crawling on the eggs and in the nests, and poor Flury is LOADED with bugs and eggs. I'm just so tired of fighting with these mites, and especially tired of feeling like I can't be around my birds because I don't want to be crawling. It's time for the big guns. There's a lot of argument about whether it's okay to use with chickens or not, but I'm desperate at this point, so we will be buying Frontline to use on the girls. I don't even care if we're never able to eat eggs from the flock again, I just want to be able to hug my beloved girls again! PLEASE let it work as well as people say it does!

We finally had some clear weather today, so I was finally, finally, FINALLY able to take the babies outside for the first time. Holy cow, was that overdue! I took lots of pictures, will post them in a moment. Vida, who has been having issues with her throat, went out as well and had a blast, though the bigger chicks were a bit rough with her, Perdita, and Echo, poor babies. I cleaned the brooder while they were out, and separated those three into their own section so that they wouldn't be harassed. I'm finding that all three of the Dark Dorking cockerels are turning into buttheads already. I'm really hoping this is temporary, as I was going to keep one of them along with one Red Dorking boy. The Red Dorking boys are SO sweet, though! Maybe I'll just keep both of them instead!

Anyway, back to Vida, she had her course of antibiotic and the lump in her throat went down to almost non-existence, but she's still been having a hard time eating dry crumbles. I've been feeding her soaked feed, which she had been eating on her own and doing great, regaining weight, growing, seeming so much better! That is, until today, where she's been suddenly struggling to eat on her own again, even with the wet feed. I have no idea what I'm going to do for her. I'm continuing to help her as much as possible, but I may have to switch over to tube feeding just to make sure she's actually getting enough in her. Not sure how well that will work once the fall semester starts and I don't have enough time to think, but we'll worry about that when we get there...

And, well, now it is absolutely downpouring and my internet connection has cut out. I'm not sure if this post will even get through, but if it does, just so y'all know, I will post the pictures of the babies from today as soon as possible!

 

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Looks like we're back on, so here are the pictures! Look at these dinosaurs!

So they are about 7 and a half weeks old, and at this point I'm fairly confident that I have 6 girls and 8 boys. The Black Copper Marans I've been going back and forth on I think is a girl, and so is the Wheaten Marans. Not naming the boys until I know for sure who is staying, but I've been working on names for those two girls over the past few days. I have one for sure, but haven't found anything I'm 100% committed to for the other. All of my Marans have had French-origin names, so I'm sticking to that theme for now.

Anyway, since I now have another named baby, please let me introduce this sweet little Black Copper Marans lady, now named Nadine. She didn't want to stand up and show her fluffy feet, so this is as good as I got of her. (Also don't mind the goofy cockerel in the background. )

Our other little lady, the Wheaten Marans, as of yet unnamed. I've tossed around Odette, Yvette, Reinette, basically a lot of -ette names, but nothing has quite felt right just yet. I'll let y'all know what I come up with.

Here are our other girls. Echo:

Perdita Precious little Perdi

Tessa:

Miss Vida, who was too busy sunbathing to pose pretty like the others:

Fabulous.

Is it weird for pets to have middle names? I started calling Vi by a 'full name' when she's been uncooperative while I'm working with her, sort of like a parent calling out a misbehaving child. Her 'full name'? Vida Mae

Aaanyway...

The girls and I bonded while the boys roughhoused. Here's Pretty Perdita making herself at home:

Nadine climbed onto my leg as well. This was a first for her! I believe that was Echo in the background, but it's really hard to tell for sure.

Vida wanted a higher perch, apparently.

All the while, Perdi was getting comfortable.

Tess is a bit more distant and preferred to explore in the grass:

Nadine again--she really liked perching here, in spite of the crowd!

A couple of the boys. This is one of the Red Dorking cockerels. Not sure which is which anymore, though! I will have to go back and check.

The oddball Rose Comb Dark Dorking. He and his single-combed brother were picking fights left and right, the naughty boys!

And that's all I got because I needed to get their brooder cleaned up while they were out! Since it's super late now, I'll just finish by saying good night! Time to go collapse somewhere for the night!

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

Your just like me I'm always drooling over Chocolate birds and rare breeds I think I have expensive taste, even with chickens

Lol!Crash is a hoot!

Oh dear!Not the mites again.I am so sorry Pipd.I will keep everything crossed that you will get rid of them.Poor Flury!

Keeping my Fingers Crossed for Vida!

Beautiful birds and photos as always Pipd!Vida looksabsolutely fabulous in her sun bath post(cant you see the sarcasm there?! )

Reinette Would make a very pretty name for that little Wheaten!

Nadine is so ABSOLUTLY PRETTY!I love Copper Marans

Echo, Perdi and Tessa are fabulous as always!Tess has some pretty markings!

Don't worry, a few of my birds have middle names

That red Dorking boy is so handsome!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, yeah, I definitely have a taste for super rare, super gorgeous breeds! Although, I personally never got the appeal of the Ayam Cemanis, the ultra rare, completely black ones that were going for like $1000 for a pair. They just don't do it for me, I guess. I could go for their counterpart, the Svart Hona, but that's probably because they can carry the Silkie gene, too. Some day I'm going to have an entire flock of silkied chickens in various breeds.

Reinette was the name I was most leaning toward, and I've called her by that a few times... Yeah, I think I will go with Reinette for the Wheaten Marans pullet.





Good news on Vida today! She's back to eating with gusto! I'm not sure what was going on with her yesterday, but fingers crossed it was just a fluke and she'll be good to go from now on!


Edited to fix something.

 

[shadow rabbit10]

Ah, Crash is the cutest, isn't she? She's been playing with me on my DS lately. She loves pushing buttons and trying to grab things off the screen. Silly duck!


A few tidbits of news over here. I'm very disappointed and frustrated to say that the mites are back, or more likely, still here. The worst part is that they have returned with a vengeance--they're crawling on my arms after I've picked up any of the birds, they're crawling on the eggs and in the nests, and poor Flury is LOADED with bugs and eggs. I'm just so tired of fighting with these mites, and especially tired of feeling like I can't be around my birds because I don't want to be crawling. It's time for the big guns. There's a lot of argument about whether it's okay to use with chickens or not, but I'm desperate at this point, so we will be buying Frontline to use on the girls. I don't even care if we're never able to eat eggs from the flock again, I just want to be able to hug my beloved girls again! PLEASE let it work as well as people say it does!

Haha Crash is so cute.
Ugh not the mites again. Good luck with the Frontline treatment. My rabbit had an awful case of mites a few months ago while I was at school. Have you tried Ivermectin? I got some cattle Ivomec from Tractor Supply and fed it to my rabbits orally (it's supposed to be injected but it really doesn't matter), and it took care of the mites within 2 doses. It's really powerful stuff. Not sure if you can use it on chickens, but if a rabbit can handle it I'm sure it would be fine.

Haha, yeah, I definitely have a taste for super rare, super gorgeous breeds! Although, I personally never got the appeal of the Ayam Cemanis, the ultra rare, completely black ones that were going for like $1000 for a pair. They just don't do it for me, I guess. I could go for their counterpart, the Svart Hona, but that's probably because they can carry the Silkie gene, too. Some day I'm going to have an entire flock of silkied chickens in various breeds.

Good news on Vida today! She's back to eating with gusto! I'm not sure what was going on with her yesterday, but fingers crossed it was just a fluke and she'll be good to go from now on!

Edited to fix something.

Yeah I never understood the appeal of the Ayam Cemanis either. They're pretty birds, but for how much they're priced? Eh. Glad to hear Vida is doing better. And as always, beautiful pictures. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha Crash is so cute.
Ugh not the mites again. Good luck with the Frontline treatment. My rabbit had an awful case of mites a few months ago while I was at school. Have you tried Ivermectin? I got some cattle Ivomec from Tractor Supply and fed it to my rabbits orally (it's supposed to be injected but it really doesn't matter), and it took care of the mites within 2 doses. It's really powerful stuff. Not sure if you can use it on chickens, but if a rabbit can handle it I'm sure it would be fine.

Yes, I've tried Ivormectin, the drop-on kind. Three applications over the course of 3 weeks, and I didn't see a sign of mites for weeks afterward. Then, coincidentally a few days after Umru escaped his pen one morning and I had to catch him and put him up again, they're back. Umru always had them the worst, so I'm thinking he must have been the last holdout on them and spread them to the flock again. Before the Ivormectin, I tried Permethrin dust, before that Permethrin spray. I've even tried wood ash because it comes so highly recommended from the all-natural chicken crowd, but that didn't do a thing. I'm seeing now that there is a stronger 'cousin' to Ivormectin meant more for external parasites (Eprinomectin or something like that? Brand name Eprinex), so I may take that route before Frontline. Frontline is so expensive, but it isn't as expensive as Elector PSP, and it's a one-time application to last a month rather than having to retreat every week, so that's why I was looking at that next. We'll see what we can find tomorrow while I'm in town. Whatever I end up using, I just hope it actually works this time.

In other news, a couple of the little guys were crowing this morning so I grabbed videos of them. Aren't they just so impressive?

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

They sure sound.....

I guess the word would be interesting.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Well, after I posted last, my mom came in and handed me a box of Frontline, so I went that route for the mites. I applied it on Monday night, going at a rate of 1 drop of Frontline per kg body weight of the birds, rounding up (for example, if a bird weighed 1.9 kg, they would get 2 drops, but if they weighed 2.1 kg, they would get 3 drops, etc.). There were many people who just said 4 drops per bird, but I didn't like the idea of putting the same amount on my giant, fluffy Cochin girls as on my teeny tiny Sebright bantams, so I dug further until I found a more sensible dosage. Tuesday, I went out as usual and was finding that even after picking up birds to move them around I wasn't seeing mites crawling on me like I had been. I only noticed mites on my arms after moving a plastic bin that was sitting in the coop. Tuesday night, I looked at Flury and she was completely mite-free around her vent, which was swarming before I treated. Last night, I checked as many of the hens as I could reach and didn't see a single mite on any of them except Poppy, who had one mite on her vent. I smashed it and checked her over more without seeing any more bugs. I've checked Ramsay and Lucky (Rigby's pen makes it harder for me to get to him, so I didn't get to him) and don't see any on them. I checked Reuben and Winter and don't see any on them. I'm just completely astonished! The best part? It should last 30 days rather than having to be reapplied every week!

Now, Ben and Roscoe (and most likely Umru, but I didn't check to be sure) did still have a few on them, but fewer than they did before treatment. I think it's just because they're in pens on the deck, no contact with soil or any ability to dust bathe. We have planned and gotten the supplies to start building rooster pens for them so that I can get them off the deck and into the dirt. These pens will have roofs for shelter, hardware cloth walls for predator security, larger fencing underneath to prevent digging predators while still allowing lots of dirt contact, and be 4 foot by 4 foot for adequate room for a single bird to live in. Umru's pen will be 4x8 instead of 4x4 since he's massive, but dividable for smaller birds later on since I don't intend to keep him over the winter. I'm hoping, praying, begging the forces of nature that that will solve it and we'll finally be done with these pests!

Editing to add (Friday evening, about 36 hours after originally posting this): Guys, I didn't seen any mites on me, on anything in the coop, or on any of the birds (including Roscoe, but I didn't check Ben again) tonight. We've started the rooster pens and will hopefully finish them this weekend, and I do plan to treat the coop after that's finished and Ben and Umru have moved out, but... I'm not sure it will actually be necessary at this point. Wow. Frontline really does the job!





In other news, any extra rooster pens we have built will be put to use even after I've lowered the number of roosters in the flock, specifically as broody busters. This is pertinent now because we are witnessing the revival of the Broody Brigade at the moment! It started small with Flury and, for the first time since she first started laying, my sweet Elly. Elly broke quickly, but the ball kept rolling. Marka and Margaret joined the Brigade, followed by, for the first time ever, my Blue Ameraucana Izzy! Then Poppy joined in, Cazzie took a round, Donna started up, and even Rowena was screeching about every little thing! Flury, Poppy, and Cazzie settled back, but I'm not sure I'm convinced that they're done with their alliance to the Brigade. On top of that, it's only a matter of time before Indigo gets in there, and who knows when She Who and Lady Wyandotte may turn sides! Needless to say, it's getting pretty crazy over here.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

We have one of the rooster pens (with 2 spaces for birds) complete! Well, complete enough that Ben and Umru will be moving into it tomorrow and I'll work on the finishing touches over the course of the day. I'm both relieved and nervous about this. If I see any mites on either of them while I'm moving them, I'm just going to be so crushed! So far, I haven't seen a sign of any mites anywhere since Friday. None on any of the birds I've checked, none on any of the things within the coop, none on any of the eggs, just none! Fingers crossed the same goes for those two roosters!


As for the broody brigade, the numbers have slowly been dwindling. Marka, Izzy, Flury, Cazzie, and Donna have seen the light and left the Brigade, and Rowena never actually went broody after all. Margaret remains quite broody, and while Poppy has not been sitting all day, she's been clucking away and I had to pull her from the nest tonight. The Lady Wyandotte has gone broody, as predicted, and on top of that, Callette turned sides on me! The real shocker, however, was Endymion. Endymion, of all birds, went broody!! I had another surprise in finding Fancy on the nest tonight as well, but as it turns out she just fell asleep while laying her egg for the day. Once I removed her, she hurried out onto the deck for a quick drink, and then went to bed as she should have. So the Brigade has lost just 2 members, maintaining a decent size with Margie, Lady Wyandotte, Callette, Endymion, and Poppy. Who's next?


Oh, and Trudi, my Call Duck hen, also went broody. Lately, she's been looking worn from Malcolm's attention, so I thought maybe if she hatched some ducklings, and maybe if some of those ducklings were females, it would be a good thing. Unfortunately, she does not seem to be a very good broody and has spent a lot more time off the nest than she probably should. For one reason or another (mostly because of wonky shaped eggs or cracks, but some loose air cells as well), I've had to remove most of her eggs. She's gone from 7 eggs to just one, and that last one isn't looking very lively for as long as she's been sitting on it. I'm giving her another week, but if nothing happens in that time, then I'm going to try and break her from brooding and see if she'll go back into lay so I can do the incubating properly. It's a toss up, as she usually goes broody about this time of year and then quits laying until the next year. Oh, and also because the last time I hatched from her eggs, well, we got Crashie. We'll see where that goes!



Speaking of broodies, how did Mary Jane's hatch go, @pattyhen ?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Mite free.

​

Did I really say that? Let me say it again.

Mite free.

Can it really be true? I just want to shout it out from the rooftops!

We're finally mite free!!

Okay, so I can't be absolutely certain that there are no mites at all, but I've now checked over all of my birds, including a thorough checking over of Umru and Ben, who have had them the worst, and haven't seen a live mite anywhere in days! Now that the rooster pens for those two are done and they're moved out, I'll be cleaning the coop, treating it with what's left of the Permethrin, and hopefully calling this mite blight done and over with!!

For real, I was so overjoyed by not seeing any mites on those two this morning that I temporarily forgot how to emote. I was crying and laughing and sobbing and smiling, all at the same time! I couldn't believe we finally found something that worked on Umru!! He's been the last holdout on every treatment I've used! I'm just beyond ecstatic! I can hold my girls again, I can walk in the coop without fear of creepy-crawlies! THANK YOU, FRONTLINE!!!