Pipd's Peeps!

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We lost Frannie overnight. She hadn't been herself since the massive prolapse she had this summer, but she didn't seem THAT far off... I had been keeping an eye on her because I was concerned she wouldn't do well once winter really set in, and since it seems Elda is likely to spend the winter inside, I had been considering bringing Frannie in as well. I guess I didn't act soon enough.

Poor Scooter is the last of the Sebrights now. Now I'm wishing I had gotten some OEGBs so that Scoot wouldn't be the only little bantam in the flock. There are still the Cochin fuzzies, but they're bigger and tend to be a bit more cliquish with each other. Here's hoping Scoot does all right in the flock without her sister.

Poor little Frannie... She had been debeaked so badly that she had no upper mandible. She always had issues because her nostrils had been destroyed by her botched debeaking, so she often got dirt and feed stuck in them. Some consideration for her with the depth of feed in the feed dishes, and she thrived for 6 years, though the poor darling never truly got to free-range because she simply couldn't peck up anything while foraging. My only hope is that I made up for the cruelty she faced early in life with the care that I tried to give her. I don't know quite how old she was when she arrived, but I assume she was a late winter or early spring pullet in 2011. She arrived here around March or April of that year if I remember correctly.

Her and Scooter preening in the sun one spring:

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

We lost Frannie overnight. She hadn't been herself since the massive prolapse she had this summer, but she didn't seem THAT far off... I had been keeping an eye on her because I was concerned she wouldn't do well once winter really set in, and since it seems Elda is likely to spend the winter inside, I had been considering bringing Frannie in as well. I guess I didn't act soon enough.

Poor Scooter is the last of the Sebrights now. Now I'm wishing I had gotten some OEGBs so that Scoot wouldn't be the only little bantam in the flock. There are still the Cochin fuzzies, but they're bigger and tend to be a bit more cliquish with each other. Here's hoping Scoot does all right in the flock without her sister.

Poor little Frannie... She had been debeaked so badly that she had no upper mandible. She always had issues because her nostrils had been destroyed by her botched debeaking, so she often got dirt and feed stuck in them. Some consideration for her with the depth of feed in the feed dishes, and she thrived for 6 years, though the poor darling never truly got to free-range because she simply couldn't peck up anything while foraging. My only hope is that I made up for the cruelty she faced early in life with the care that I tried to give her. I don't know quite how old she was when she arrived, but I assume she was a late winter or early spring pullet in 2011. She arrived here around March or April of that year if I remember correctly.

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Her and Scooter preening in the sun one spring:

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Oh no.
I am so sorry you lost Frannie, she was so cute.
RIP little one.

 

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She was. Her sister Scooter has been looking for her a bit, but I also see her free-ranging a lot more than she used to. I think she tried to stick with Frannie, who couldn't free-range because her beak was so horribly destroyed. Scooter has better luck with foraging, though, and at least now she can take advantage of that.

Did some work on the rooster pens today. They're STILL not all done just yet, but the two that are occupied are now winterized so the boys in them (Ben in one, and Roscoe and Lucky in the other) are set for now. All that's left on the last one is to fence it. Every chance I've had to do that, something has come up. Oh, well. There's only about two weeks remaining in the semester (next week and the week after), and just one homework assignment left, so I should have time to finish it up if the weather holds out. This non-busy semester got kinda busy. Anyway, I'd hate to be fencing pens in frigid weather, YUCK!

In other news, I took Elda outside for a flock visit on Monday since we've been having such unseasonably warm weather. That didn't last long. She picked a fight with Merlin and ended up with a dinged up comb, what looked like a bruise by her eye, and a broken nail that bled all over me because she needed cuddles to console her. Oh, Elly!

I grabbed a few pictures while I was out there, too. Only a couple of Elly because I took her inside after her spat with Merl, but more of the rest of the flock. Here's Elly BEFORE she picked a fight--isn't she looking fabulous?

And after she picked a fight, hiding under my arm.

Poor baby was scared and held my hand with one of her feet. (The little spot of blood came off her comb, I think. It was her other foot that had the broken nail bleeding...)

After I took her in, I tried to get some good shots of the rooster boys, because they tend to be neglected when I take pictures and someone on another site was asking about them. Well, Murph didn't want to pose, and Darwin and Theo were standing still, but not being handsome for the camera. So here's what I got of them.

Dante:

Darwin:

Theodore:

A close up, because okay, he is handsome.

Tygo:

And some of the girls. Here's Endymion filling in from her molt. She's a pin head.

Flury floofle-poofle, her floofiness, the floofiest of them all!

Freema giving me looks for not giving her my full attention.

Pretty precious Perdita She is too sweet!

Here's Perdi enjoying a nice lounge on my lap.

Rangi has performed her annual magic trick of making her comb disappear.

Sweet little Scooter, just being pretty.

And finally, Abra at her absolute cutest. Oh my goodness, how is this bird so stinking cute at all times?!

 

[Cluckcluck1215]

She was. Her sister Scooter has been looking for her a bit, but I also see her free-ranging a lot more than she used to. I think she tried to stick with Frannie, who couldn't free-range because her beak was so horribly destroyed. Scooter has better luck with foraging, though, and at least now she can take advantage of that.

Did some work on the rooster pens today. They're STILL not all done just yet, but the two that are occupied are now winterized so the boys in them (Ben in one, and Roscoe and Lucky in the other) are set for now. All that's left on the last one is to fence it. Every chance I've had to do that, something has come up. Oh, well. There's only about two weeks remaining in the semester (next week and the week after), and just one homework assignment left, so I should have time to finish it up if the weather holds out. This non-busy semester got kinda busy. Anyway, I'd hate to be fencing pens in frigid weather, YUCK!

In other news, I took Elda outside for a flock visit on Monday since we've been having such unseasonably warm weather. That didn't last long. She picked a fight with Merlin and ended up with a dinged up comb, what looked like a bruise by her eye, and a broken nail that bled all over me because she needed cuddles to console her. Oh, Elly!

I grabbed a few pictures while I was out there, too. Only a couple of Elly because I took her inside after her spat with Merl, but more of the rest of the flock. Here's Elly BEFORE she picked a fight--isn't she looking fabulous?

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And after she picked a fight, hiding under my arm.

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Poor baby was scared and held my hand with one of her feet. (The little spot of blood came off her comb, I think. It was her other foot that had the broken nail bleeding...)

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After I took her in, I tried to get some good shots of the rooster boys, because they tend to be neglected when I take pictures and someone on another site was asking about them. Well, Murph didn't want to pose, and Darwin and Theo were standing still, but not being handsome for the camera. So here's what I got of them.

Dante:

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Darwin:

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Theodore:

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A close up, because okay, he is handsome.

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Tygo:

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And some of the girls. Here's Endymion filling in from her molt. She's a pin head.

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Flury floofle-poofle, her floofiness, the floofiest of them all!

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Freema giving me looks for not giving her my full attention.

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Pretty precious Perdita She is too sweet!

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Here's Perdi enjoying a nice lounge on my lap.

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Rangi has performed her annual magic trick of making her comb disappear.

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Sweet little Scooter, just being pretty.

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And finally, Abra at her absolute cutest. Oh my goodness, how is this bird so stinking cute at all times?!

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Did you end up keeping Vader?

 

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No, sadly, Vander began attacking the hens because they would ignore him when he tried to flirt with them, so he had to go. I ended up keeping Theo, Tygo, Dante, Darwin, Murphy, Roscoe, Lucky, Ben, Winter, and, of course, my main man Reuben. That was two or three roosters more than I meant to keep, I think, but it was just so hard deciding! It's been a lot more peaceful around here without all those extra boys, though, so at least that's nice.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

You have some beautiful birds! I'm sorry for the loss of Frannie.


Have you ever considered starting a rooster flock for any extra roosters? I made an article about it that you might want to read if interested: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/rooster-flocks.72998/

 

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Oh, it was actually Scooter's sister, Frannie, who passed away. Scooter is still with us, though!


Dante, Darwin, Theo, Tygo, and Murph are actually together in a rooster flock already. They have their own little yard next to the girls' yard, and their own section of the coop until I finish their pens up. The boys get along quite well, hang out together on their grape vine perches, and even play with one another sometimes. It's actually pretty cute to see these big, dignified guys letting loose and having fun!








Editing to add, hey, I forgot to post this after all! Here is the video of Elly purring that I mentioned a few posts ago! It's pretty quiet, so you may need to turn up your volume to hear it.

 

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Lately Elda has been crowing in the morning, this pitiful, choked, squawking sound that is really hard to take seriously. So, I knew that her hormones were doing something because of that. Today, she decided to come back into lay, and so I found a pretty white egg in her hospital pen with her. She laid it all the way at the back of the pen, however, and panicked when I tried to roll it to the front with a long stick, so I picked her up and set her on my desk by the window so that she could look out at the flock while I retrieved the egg. It's gotten pretty cold today with a bitter wind that just won't quit, and the forecast is not looking any better for temps, so I think she's had her last visit outside for a while at least. Poor thing is going to have a long winter. But at least she's safe and comfortable, and she's apparently recovered fully, if the egg is any indication!

 

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Elly crowed a few times this morning, too, but stopped right as I got my phone out to record her in the act. Oh, well.

We're getting our first snow with accumulation this morning, and the girls aren't having any of it. Most of them rushed off the deck when I opened the door, only to come right back in or huddle in various shelters around the chicken yard. Since they clearly weren't going to do anything, I herded the flock back up onto the deck and closed them back in so that they could take full advantage of the wind blocking we put up. They seem content, or at least as much as they can be.

Here's a cruddy cell phone picture of the part of the flock that did NOT rush off the deck when I opened the doors. In fact, they're not even coming out of the coop onto the deck, thank you very much. Flury's giving me a look like, "Yeah right, lady."

 

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Perdita may have laid her first egg today. I'm not 100% sure because it's kind of too brownish for a Dorking, which means it may have been Marka's egg in an unusual spot for her. If it wasn't Perdita, Perdi is definitely close! Her comb has sprouted quickly over the past week or so, and she's been squatting when I stoop to pick her up. I honestly wasn't expecting her to start laying until the spring with as behind in development as she's been!

We've had our first few days of snow that stuck this weekend. It was only enough to cover the ground, maybe an inch at most, but the girls are having none of it! I've opened the doors to the deck every day so far, and they just side-eye the snow, and then go back to the coop.

Today, they must have been so sick of being stuck in there that they did come out at free-range time when I offered it to them. Still, if they're going to start protesting the snow already, then they're going to have a looooong winter. Is it spring yet?

If anyone is wondering what I've been up to, I've finished my last homework for the semester, so I dedicated some time to revamping my Chick Sexing Experiment page in preparation for next year. I intend to hatch some more silkied Cochin babies next year, as well as crossing Darwin to my Silver Gray Dorking girls to test how viable the cross is for breeeding sexlinked Dorkings (the chicks will inherit sex-linked traits either way, and so their adult plumage should differ, it's just a matter of whether their chick down will vary enough to tell the males and females apart), and test-crossing Murphy and Nadine to find out what genetics are behind Murph's golden coloration (fingers crossed for 'golden'--I want some Black Birchen Marans hens from that cross!! ). I'm intending to hatch around 6 eggs from each cross, maybe more or less if I'm feeling pessimistic about my odds for pullets. I'm hoping for at least two pullets from each cross, knock on wood. We'll see what happens!

Also for next year, I've decided to revamp the interior of the coop. The perches I have are okay, but I always have hens perching on the nests because the top three perches are the only desirable ones and everyone fights over them. I want to change the coop so that the perches are all at the same height. My current plan is to convert the top row of nests into a droppings tray, which will wrap around the interior of the coop in a sort of J-shape, making all perches the same level. Then I intend to put nests underneath most of the tray so that I maintain the same number of nests. I have all sorts of sketches for plans, but I'm not 100% settled on one yet, so this is another "we'll see what happens".

And finally, to wrap up a post that's turning out much longer than I had intended, I finally caught Elly on video crowing! The picture is not great because it was still dark, but the sound is the important part. Y'all ready for this?