Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I was so tired last night that I went to bed without uploading these, but here's the almost-6-week-old Marans cockerel's saddles coming in

He's getting to be such a big guy already!

It is a tough call on eggs with wonky air cells!

If they are detached, there is not much you can do about it. Saddle air cells can do better with a day or two of resting.

I rested these for 24 hours before starting to turn them because they seemed okay. They definitely got worse over that first week of incubating and turning. I wouldn't classify them as detatched, just jiggly (or maybe jiggly is a type of detatched air cell? I don't have a good grasp on all these terms ). I don't know how long they'd been sitting at the post office before I got the call, but maybe they started to reattach enough to look better when I candled them before resting / setting, but turning undid all that? Add it to things to keep in mind for next time: rest them longer if they're even just a little jiggly!

That's amazing! What do you usually do with your roosters?

It depends on a lot of factors, honestly! If they can get along with Winter and Reuben, the main flock roosters, and they don't harass the girls, they can stay in the main flock. If not on either on those counts, but I have the space and they get along well with other roosters, they can live in a rooster flock together. If they can't get along with other roosters, or if they're aggressive at all toward me, they go to the processors for freezer camp. I can't have human-aggressive roosters because my niece and nephew play outside around the chickens all the time and I will not risk them being attacked.

At the moment I just don't have the space to keep any more extra boys without needing them for breeding, regardless of their behavior, but I so far haven't seen any aggression in the cockerels I have now, so I'm hoping I can find someone who wants some pretty OEGB boys and maybe a Marans cockerel, too. I had to have a couple good ones processed because of lack of space last fall and it broke my heart, so I'd prefer not to do that again. I know there's a risk they'd be processed anyway by whoever takes them, but at least I can feel like I gave them more of a shot than they'd have here, where they'll definitely have to be processed eventually.

 

[Amer]

I was so tired last night that I went to bed without uploading these, but here's the almost-6-week-old Marans cockerel's saddles coming in

View attachment 2680948

He's getting to be such a big guy already!

View attachment 2680957





I rested these for 24 hours before starting to turn them because they seemed okay. They definitely got worse over that first week of incubating and turning. I wouldn't classify them as detatched, just jiggly (or maybe jiggly is a type of detatched air cell? I don't have a good grasp on all these terms ). I don't know how long they'd been sitting at the post office before I got the call, but maybe they started to reattach enough to look better when I candled them before resting / setting, but turning undid all that? Add it to things to keep in mind for next time: rest them longer if they're even just a little jiggly!





It depends on a lot of factors, honestly! If they can get along with Winter and Reuben, the main flock roosters, and they don't harass the girls, they can stay in the main flock. If not on either on those counts, but I have the space and they get along well with other roosters, they can live in a rooster flock together. If they can't get along with other roosters, or if they're aggressive at all toward me, they go to the processors for freezer camp. I can't have human-aggressive roosters because my niece and nephew play outside around the chickens all the time and I will not risk them being attacked.

At the moment I just don't have the space to keep any more extra boys without needing them for breeding, regardless of their behavior, but I so far haven't seen any aggression in the cockerels I have now, so I'm hoping I can find someone who wants some pretty OEGB boys and maybe a Marans cockerel, too. I had to have a couple good ones processed because of lack of space last fall and it broke my heart, so I'd prefer not to do that again. I know there's a risk they'd be processed anyway by whoever takes them, but at least I can feel like I gave them more of a shot than they'd have here, where they'll definitely have to be processed eventually.

I don't know why but seeing saddle feathers on cockerels is like the number one "they're getting so big!" for me.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

For me, it's feathers in general, not just the wings, tails, and shoulders, but when they start filling in on their backs and chests and start looking like actual chickens. The tiny baby fuzzy stage is one of my favorite stages in their lives, though, and it's way too short.

 

[Amer]

For me, it's feathers in general, not just the wings, tails, and shoulders, but when they start filling in on their backs and chests and start looking like actual chickens. The tiny baby fuzzy stage is one of my favorite stages in their lives, though, and it's way too short.

Same. I should say, usually mine only get saddles after they have all their juvie feathers. Your Marans is definitely unique.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, the only other birds I have that saddle super early are my OEGB boys, but he's got a couple weeks on them if I remember right. Those OEGB boys also try to mate my hands at like a month and a half old, so, uh, they mature really fast.


It seems like I get a lot of weird ones from my Marans, though. The parents were both supposed to be Black Copper, but the father is golden Birchen (as far as I can tell), and the two of them have thrown a lot of weird offspring; a cockerel that wasn't really rumpless but never grew tail feathers, a hen that also looks 'golden' (but obviously that can't be the case), a solid black hen, etc. I was hoping this last hatch would give me some more clues as to what was going on with my rooster's genetics, but of course this cockerel was the only one to hatch and he's from the original pair. I was trying to hatch some from the golden-looking hen and golden Birchen rooster as well, but none of them developed.

 

[Amer]

Yeah, the only other birds I have that saddle super early are my OEGB boys, but he's got a couple weeks on them if I remember right. Those OEGB boys also try to mate my hands at like a month and a half old, so, uh, they mature really fast.


It seems like I get a lot of weird ones from my Marans, though. The parents were both supposed to be Black Copper, but the father is golden Birchen (as far as I can tell), and the two of them have thrown a lot of weird offspring; a cockerel that wasn't really rumpless but never grew tail feathers, a hen that also looks 'golden' (but obviously that can't be the case), a solid black hen, etc. I was hoping this last hatch would give me some more clues as to what was going on with my rooster's genetics, but of course this cockerel was the only one to hatch and he's from the original pair. I was trying to hatch some from the golden-looking hen and golden Birchen rooster as well, but none of them developed.

Wow, I don't think any chicken’s ever tried to mate my hand.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, they can be rambunctious little buttheads at that age.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

The Silkied Cochin eggs have begun drawing down for hatch!

....And the brooder isn't ready yet!


Okay, but hear me out, the AC has been out for the past week and naturally this comes at a time when it's been hotter than usual here, so my motivation to get anything done has been super low.

I'm confident, though, that I'll have the baby bin set up before those babies need to come out of the incubator. The towels to line the floor are in the washer as I type this! So excited for little footsie-pajama babies!!

 

[ronott1]

The Silkied Cochin eggs have begun drawing down for hatch!

....And the brooder isn't ready yet!


Okay, but hear me out, the AC has been out for the past week and naturally this comes at a time when it's been hotter than usual here, so my motivation to get anything done has been super low. View attachment 2688120 I'm confident, though, that I'll have the baby bin set up before those babies need to come out of the incubator. The towels to line the floor are in the washer as I type this! So excited for little footsie-pajama babies!!

I replaced a window AC with an Heat pump mini split. It works so much better than the window AC!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

We had a guy out today to look at it right after I posted that and, would you believe, the AC is fine. Someone flipped the breaker that it's on and forgot to switch it back on. Luckily, the AC guy didn't charge for his time, because that was a pretty stupidly simple fix.

Now it feels too cold in the house because I'm used to it being like 85 F in here.


Those mini-splits sound nice, though! I wonder if it would be worth getting one just for my bedroom, since my room tends to be warmer in the summer and colder in the winter than the rest of the house.