I had planned to take the pups out to romp in the woods this afternoon and take a few pictures of them. But it’s snowing and cold right now, so I settled for snapping a few shots of them in the house. I have to tell you, that was not easy. Getting on the floor around here results in being bombarded in puppies. I did manage to get a few shots of them when they didn’t have their faces right in the camera.
Everything is a chew toy to them – especially to Dolly.
Diesel likes to chew on Dolly best of all.
And I included this last picture so you can see Diesel’s eyes – they are really pretty, and depending on the lighting they can be blue, green, or hazel. Mostly their just adorable though and this picture doesn’t do them justice.
Last night the pups slept all night long. Unfortunately, we didn’t sleep much at all because we woke up every hour on the hour thinking “They’re going to want to go out any moment now.” When we got up at 5:30AM we had to wake them up to go outside and potty. They are really doing great with the potty training. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that sleeping through the night wasn’t just a fluke.
Just a quick update on Duke’s frostbitten comb – the smaller back points have fallen off and that portion looks extremely healthy right now. He still has three larger points that are black, and they look to me as if they will fall off very shortly. But don’t feel bad for Duke. He has a heaping pile of self confidence and isn’t even slightly fazed that his comb is messed up, or that he has black backhoe grease all down his neck, or that his tail feathers look funky. Duke is nothing, if not self confident.
You may remember that I’ve mentioned I thought six of my hens were in molt. Well, I talked to my cousin Julie (who has had chickens forever) and then emailed her some pictures of them, and she informed me that my hens are not molting. They have “rooster tracks”. In other words, my roosters are pulling/ripping their feathers out during mating. It really breaks my heart. My little Phoenix hens are bald as apples right now. They all look just awful. After talking with Julie and reading her email, it doesn’t sound like there’s much I can do about. I can trim the roosters’ spurs so they are not so rough on the girls’ backs, and I probably will, but it won’t help with the bald heads. If chickens are in your future and you plan to get roosters, you may be interested in learning with me. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.
It’s snowing like crazy right now. The chickens are in their coop, the puppies are sleeping like babies, the cats are still pouting, the woodstove is pumping out heat like crazy, and Bernie and I are happy to be living here on our homestead.
Bee Free,
Penny
Great pictures! Thanks for the puppy fix. By the way, I’m glad YOU are the one gonig through raising puppies and not ME! It would be fun if we were close enough for a play date with all our pups, though. Dolly and Diesel are growing so fast they could probably take on my big boys any day!
I’m definitely no chicken expert, but I would say you might want to consider separating your hens from your roosters. I know you can only get chicks if you have roosters around, but do they have to be together 24/7? Sounds like the girls need a well deserved break.
Yes indeed Lilla – I know you certainly ARE happy it’s me raising puppies instead of you! And I don’t blame you one bit. They are so cute and so fun – and I am too old for this! But I wouldn’t give them up for the world.
The truth is, the chickens really do need be together 24/7. Separating them for any amount of time results in a real mess concerning the pecking order. Even when I bring one inside for a day or two, all they want is to be back outside with the rest. Other than rooster stew, there’s not much I can do to stop it. Julie says once the roos get a little older, they’ll likely be a little more gentle. If any of the hens end up with more than just missing feathers, I will have no choice but to separate her for a while. The hamburg I kept inside refused to eat until she got back to the flock, so it does complicate things. *sigh* I think puppies may be easier than chickens! But I wouldn’t take the world for my chickens either!
Love the pictures of the adorable pups!! My children have been begging for a puppy for years…but the time has just not been right. Someday soon hopefully….in the mean time I can just show them pictures of yours..hee..hee.
Ohhhhhh…puppy paws. And puppy teeth. I remember finding puppy teeth all thru the house when they began to lose them….Those were sharp little buggers toom those puppy teeth.
I have friends who have been having the same issue with their roos and hens. The roos tend to have favorites it seems. Poor gals.
Hi Amity – I’m glad you like the pictures, and hopefully it will hold your kids over for a bit longer
I agree with you – the time really needs to be right. As fun as they are, they are a lot of work!
Frugalmom – yes ma’am. These puppies have teeth and nails as sharp as cats! And they like to use them at every opportunity. I’ve got the scars to prove it! And it really is not uncommon to have hens with missing feathers from over-amorous roos. I just really hoped it would not happen with mine! It’s so sad to see those sweet girls so beat up. But that’s nature and that’s chickens. Man, nature can be tough! Hey – did you keep those teeth?
I did not keep those teeth. Are you gonna keep the ones that you find? I just remember finding them all over the house. And even after the first few, I was always surprised to find them. It was just funny to me that they would just be laying around! Little puppy dog teeth.
frugalmom – I think I kept our other puppy teeth for a short while. Just because. I may keep these in a little bottle for a while, until the novelty of it wears off
Or maybe I can think of something crafty to do with them. Like glue them to their doggy collars or something. BTW – as much as they are already chewing on us, I am NOT looking forward to the whole teething thing.