Pipd's Peeps!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

What kind of a name is that?

Haha, it's a bit of a story, but basically a group of my friends from a gaming site where there's a yearly tournament every June and we all join the same team named all of those birds except Sumi (who was named by me) and Armada (who was named for our guild). It was decided that they were the chicken nieces and nephews of the team and everyone who named one was a chicken aunt or uncle. It was a whole thing.

Glutty's name came about before they hatched, when we were joking around about naming the chicks after the seven deadly sins since there were at least 7 eggs developing. Someone specifically brought up gluttony, and I jokingly went, 'Okay, so I should put you down for that name, right? ' Well, they said sure, so I was obligated. I honestly mostly agreed to that name because I figured I wouldn't be able to keep all the males from the hatch anyway, so it was a name for one of the boys. Then, I found out that my sexlinked cross (Silkie male x Cochin female) kinda failed because part of the females inherited dominant white from their father and it made their skin lighter so they appeared male at hatch. A few weeks down the line, suddenly a bunch of my 'cockerels' had slate legs and hardly any comb growth, so as it turns out, Glutty's a hen.

Anyway, yeah, sorry for the ramble there. Long story short, Glutty's name was kind of a joke that went awry on me.

Btw, your OEGB are beautiful, and so are your gorgeous silkied Cochins.

Aw, thanks! I love them to bits!!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Another random post for today, I just made my first batch of cold process soap!!

That's not a very exciting picture, but there it is. I only made a small batch to try it out. I really wanted to get into soapmaking because I'd heard that you can use eggs in cold process soap, and, well, I've got lots of those around! This is just a basic batch of sustainable palm oil, coconut oil, and olive oil to start, though. We'll see how well it went over the next month, as it cures.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I cut the soap into bars this morning to finish curing! Don't mind that they're kinda wonky and not very evenly cut... I tried to eyeball it but still ended up with a variety of sizes.

When I rinsed the knife off that I used to cut them, it got all sudsy, so that's exciting!! I can't wait to try one of these out and see what they're like! I'll probably do that in a few days just to give the sides that were against the mold or each other time to harden a bit more. They technically can be used at any point now, but will continue to lose water and harden for up to 4-6 weeks; the longer I let them harden, the longer they'll last, so I definitely don't want to start using them too soon!

 

[Amer]

I cut the soap into bars this morning to finish curing! Don't mind that they're kinda wonky and not very evenly cut... I tried to eyeball it but still ended up with a variety of sizes.

View attachment 2709296

When I rinsed the knife off that I used to cut them, it got all sudsy, so that's exciting!! I can't wait to try one of these out and see what they're like! I'll probably do that in a few days just to give the sides that were against the mold or each other time to harden a bit more. They technically can be used at any point now, but will continue to lose water and harden for up to 4-6 weeks; the longer I let them harden, the longer they'll last, so I definitely don't want to start using them too soon!

That’s so cool! What do they smell like?

 

[ronott1]

Happy Birthday!!! View attachment 2705873 View attachment 2705874 Or, happy BIRDday, if you will.

It's Amaretto, Armada, Gluttony, Peanut Butter, Rosey, Feldon, Louis, Sumi, and Troll's hatchday (belated by one day for part of them, but close enough), so we had a chicken birthday party! Here are this year's cakes I used watermelon, cucumber, bell pepper, and a tiny bit of yogurt as always, plus zucchini, some of their feed pellets and a little scratch grains this time around. Two things I think worked out better this year than previous years are, first, the pellets! They bulked out the watermelon because they soaked up the juice, and the girls went nuts because they love soaked pellets. And second, zucchini! I actually think the girls might prefer zucchini to cucumber based on how they ate their cakes this year.

View attachment 2705822

Some mini cakes for all the pens, too, of course!

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I let Peanut Butter, Armada, and Amaretto at their cakes first. They were... unsure.

View attachment 2705829

Then they realized it was food!

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Yum!

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Gluttony would have joined her sisters as well, but of course, she's in the broody buster! Here she is with her biological mother, Abra, eating their mini cake.

View attachment 2705819


I showed Louis their mini cake before setting it in their pen. He puffed out to intimidate this new threat, of course.

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Not to worry, Louis, Feldon, and Troll quickly surrounded that dangerous cake!

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...Oh, wait, that's just food.

View attachment 2705823


Vega and Altair were unsure about the cake for their pen, but birthday girl Sumi charged right through them and started to eat!

View attachment 2705835


...And then she turned around and gave me this look like she wasn't satisfied with my offering.

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Rosey, Buzz, and Russell got their cake, but Russ took over and hogged it until I made him share

View attachment 2705833View attachment 2705834


And it wasn't just the birthday birds and their roommates who got a little something today Here's Gus calling the girls over because, gasp, he found a mini cake all on his own!

View attachment 2705821

The girls were... not so sure about this thing, though

View attachment 2705820


The OEGB cockerels were the same. Bunch of chickens!

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Meanwhile, back at the main cakes, I let the flock loose once the birthday girls had had their share, and they went bonkers as always! Peanut Butter was not going to be intimidated away from HER birthday cake, though Love that sassy girl!

View attachment 2705827View attachment 2705830

The cakes are nothing but a few millimeters of watermelon rind now, but I think the birds had fun for their once a year hatchday party. Here's one last picture of Peanut Butter, looking lovely as always, even though her wattles have yogurt on them and her chest is soaked with watermelon juice.

View attachment 2705832

What a fun party!

 

[ronott1]

I cut the soap into bars this morning to finish curing! Don't mind that they're kinda wonky and not very evenly cut... I tried to eyeball it but still ended up with a variety of sizes.

View attachment 2709296

When I rinsed the knife off that I used to cut them, it got all sudsy, so that's exciting!! I can't wait to try one of these out and see what they're like! I'll probably do that in a few days just to give the sides that were against the mold or each other time to harden a bit more. They technically can be used at any point now, but will continue to lose water and harden for up to 4-6 weeks; the longer I let them harden, the longer they'll last, so I definitely don't want to start using them too soon!

Nice job on the soap!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

That’s so cool! What do they smell like?

Actually, nothing! I didn't think to sniff them until you asked, and honestly, there's not really any scent to them except maybe a tiny hint of a sort of waxy, soapy smell! I didn't add any scent or anything because it was my first time and apparently scents and colors can mess with how they cure, so these are just a basic, unscented soap. Still, I was expecting there to be some sort of smell to them! I wonder if the lather will have any more noticeable of a smell?

What a fun party!

Nice job on the soap!

Thanks, Ron! The girls had lots of fun, and I'm way more excited about soap right now than any normal person should be

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Totally devastated. I had an alarm set to get the OEGBs put up a bit early because there'd been evidence of a raccoon coming by to eat their spilled food in the evening. Today was also the day I decided that baby Bee could be loose in the pen with her older sisters, as Altair had gotten into her section of the pen a couple times and didn't seem to be bothering her.

Apparently my alarm was not set early enough. When I went out there this evening, the raccoon had come already, and rather than eat their feed, it got Bee. My baby Bumblebee. The only OEGB pullet to hatch this year. I'm so heartbroken to lose such a sweet little lady, and so young. She was only about four months old. That's two for two on my Khaki OEGB pullets being grabbed by predators. I'm just sick over this.

The raccoon didn't take the hint being chased off from her remains, and it returned when I was closing up the coops to try its luck again. Well, its luck ran out there. That raccoon will not be killing any more chickens.

Now I've got to move that pen after all the work it took to put it up. No way am I putting my tinies out there again unsupervised. They'll just have to deal with having less greenery in their pen in a safer location for now. That pen is smack dab where I wanted to put the run for the OEGB coop later on, too. There's way too many trees to make a securely enclosed run here without it being too small for many birds. Guess it's high time I look into electric fencing for it. I can't risk my tinies again.

 

[Amer]

Totally devastated. I had an alarm set to get the OEGBs put up a bit early because there'd been evidence of a raccoon coming by to eat their spilled food in the evening. Today was also the day I decided that baby Bee could be loose in the pen with her older sisters, as Altair had gotten into her section of the pen a couple times and didn't seem to be bothering her.

Apparently my alarm was not set early enough. When I went out there this evening, the raccoon had come already, and rather than eat their feed, it got Bee. My baby Bumblebee. The only OEGB pullet to hatch this year. I'm so heartbroken to lose such a sweet little lady, and so young. She was only about four months old. That's two for two on my Khaki OEGB pullets being grabbed by predators. I'm just sick over this.

The raccoon didn't take the hint being chased off from her remains, and it returned when I was closing up the coops to try its luck again. Well, its luck ran out there. That raccoon will not be killing any more chickens.

Now I've got to move that pen after all the work it took to put it up. No way am I putting my tinies out there again unsupervised. They'll just have to deal with having less greenery in their pen in a safer location for now. That pen is smack dab where I wanted to put the run for the OEGB coop later on, too. There's way too many trees to make a securely enclosed run here without it being too small for many birds. Guess it's high time I look into electric fencing for it. I can't risk my tinies again.

I know how horrible that feels! I have raccoon problems too, and you just feel helpless!

 

[ronott1]

Totally devastated. I had an alarm set to get the OEGBs put up a bit early because there'd been evidence of a raccoon coming by to eat their spilled food in the evening. Today was also the day I decided that baby Bee could be loose in the pen with her older sisters, as Altair had gotten into her section of the pen a couple times and didn't seem to be bothering her.

Apparently my alarm was not set early enough. When I went out there this evening, the raccoon had come already, and rather than eat their feed, it got Bee. My baby Bumblebee. The only OEGB pullet to hatch this year. I'm so heartbroken to lose such a sweet little lady, and so young. She was only about four months old. That's two for two on my Khaki OEGB pullets being grabbed by predators. I'm just sick over this.

The raccoon didn't take the hint being chased off from her remains, and it returned when I was closing up the coops to try its luck again. Well, its luck ran out there. That raccoon will not be killing any more chickens.

Now I've got to move that pen after all the work it took to put it up. No way am I putting my tinies out there again unsupervised. They'll just have to deal with having less greenery in their pen in a safer location for now. That pen is smack dab where I wanted to put the run for the OEGB coop later on, too. There's way too many trees to make a securely enclosed run here without it being too small for many birds. Guess it's high time I look into electric fencing for it. I can't risk my tinies again.

I am very sorry!

It will be worth the work to have them more secure.