Pipd's Peeps!

[ronott1]

It is good to be feeling better about the processing!

I need to get busy on processing he quail so that I can make quail stew

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Good luck with your quail processing day! I may have asked already and don't remember, but how does quail taste?

Honestly, at this point I'll probably stick to just the chickens, but I still think about putting up an aviary for a few quail every now and then, just to see what they're like.

 

[ronott1]

Good luck with your quail processing day! I may have asked already and don't remember, but how does quail taste?

Honestly, at this point I'll probably stick to just the chickens, but I still think about putting up an aviary for a few quail every now and then, just to see what they're like.

It is a bit stronger than chicken but not as gamey as pheasant.

I like eating guail!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Interesting! My family is still very much used to store-bought chicken as far as flavor, so I don't imagine it would go over too well with them, barring my dad because he'll eat anything.

That just means if I did get into quail I'd have to keep them all. Instant quail math!

 

[ronott1]

Interesting! My family is still very much used to store-bought chicken as far as flavor, so I don't imagine it would go over too well with them, barring my dad because he'll eat anything.

That just means if I did get into quail I'd have to keep them all. Instant quail math!

Quail are short lived They make it to about two years old but many die before then

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, I've heard that. That's one of the reasons I shelved the idea of getting them a while back, apart from thinking about them every now and then. Oh, well. The OEGBs are tiny and adorable enough, I'll just build them an aviary instead.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It has been a very long and difficult day and I'm not feeling up to talking about it much yet, but in short we said goodbye to Freema today. After a several-month-long fight with illness compounded by her advanced age, it became evident that her quality of life had dwindled and I had to make the tough call to end it. 9-and-a-half years ago, I fell in love with this bird and truly, truly became the chicken-crazy lunatic I am today. I just can't believe that I'll wake up tomorrow, after so much time of her consistently being there, and I won't open the coop to her grumping at me for her breakfast or grumbling for her hugs. To say that her loss is devastating is such an understatement.

As if 2020 hasn't been an awful enough year. It already took my Elly from me, and now my Freema, too. I'm just... crushed.

 

[ronott1]

It is hard to lose them!

Almost 10 years is a good long life for a Hen

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thought I'd check in here. Not sure why, but my cold weather article started getting comments again over the weekend, so I was drawn back to BYC anyway. I assume it was in the BYC newsletter, but I don't appear to have received the newsletter, so I can't confirm. Oh, well!

Anyway... If it wasn't obvious, I decided that, for the first time in 5 years, it was time to change my avatar. I may end up changing it again with a better picture or perhaps just some text added to this one, but I felt like Freema really deserved the highest honor of occupying my avatar picture, at least for now. I still love and miss my Frou-Frou, and Elly was my very heart and soul, but after thinking about it over the past few weeks of mourning her, I realized that it's likely I wouldn't have even joined BYC if I hadn't gotten Freema and her broodmates that year. It was their bout with coccidiosis that helped spur on my creating an account way back when. I have learned so much from the posts and the people here since, and I have my Freema to thank for that.

Goodness, I miss her. Her baaaawks, her grumbles, her tough gal attitude made a little hard to believe because of her love of hugs. I was not exaggerating when I said that she made me into the chicken lady I am today. That bird was truly royalty in this flock, and it sure feels like something is missing without all that personality out there.

I would like to give a shout out to @casportpony (I think you've posted on my board before? I apologize for calling you over here if not!) for all the guides and info and support that she's posted for others regarding tube feeding. I'd never actually communicated with her about that, but I had dabbled in tube feeding before. I hadn't really done an actual tube feeding, however, until Freema fell ill, and all of that material was so helpful in answering my every question and steeling my nerve to do it. It probably gave me about two months more time with her, which as a percentage of 9-and-a-half years isn't much, but it meant the absolute world to me and for that I'm so grateful.

I feel like I've neglected BYC for a few years now. I struggle a lot with anxiety which has kept me mostly to my own thread, here, and often when I stop posting even here, that's the biggest reason why. But I do love this community and I do want to give back to it as well with the knowledge I've picked up not only from this site but from my experience raising these birds, so I'm making it a goal to post more often. Outside of this thread, I might add.






Just to keep updated on my flock, well, molting season is certainly here and the daily egg count has plummeted. Possibly related, Rooska had a bout with what seemed to be sour crop, though it cleared up unusually quickly with treatment. It really resembled the annual crop troubles that Elda would have, but thanks to the treatment regimen I'd developed for my Elly, it was simple to get things moving again. At least, hopefully it was just that simple, but... well, let's just say I'm keeping a close eye on her for now.

Also, the cockerels are being, well, cockerels. The OEGB boys have had to be separated from the flock for showing increasing interest in the pullets that the pullets aren't ready to receive, and Buzz, oh, Buzz has BITTEN me THREE TIMES through the fence when I've just been trying to open and close the pen he's in!! I've given him a stern talking to and informed him that it's not too late for him to join the others in freezer camp, and as if he's understood my warning, he's seemed to back off for the time being. I hope that's that, as I'd really wanted to keep that little weirdo around.

 

[ronott1]

Thought I'd check in here. Not sure why, but my cold weather article started getting comments again over the weekend, so I was drawn back to BYC anyway. I assume it was in the BYC newsletter, but I don't appear to have received the newsletter, so I can't confirm. Oh, well!

Anyway... If it wasn't obvious, I decided that, for the first time in 5 years, it was time to change my avatar. I may end up changing it again with a better picture or perhaps just some text added to this one, but I felt like Freema really deserved the highest honor of occupying my avatar picture, at least for now. I still love and miss my Frou-Frou, and Elly was my very heart and soul, but after thinking about it over the past few weeks of mourning her, I realized that it's likely I wouldn't have even joined BYC if I hadn't gotten Freema and her broodmates that year. It was their bout with coccidiosis that helped spur on my creating an account way back when. I have learned so much from the posts and the people here since, and I have my Freema to thank for that.

Goodness, I miss her. Her baaaawks, her grumbles, her tough gal attitude made a little hard to believe because of her love of hugs. I was not exaggerating when I said that she made me into the chicken lady I am today. That bird was truly royalty in this flock, and it sure feels like something is missing without all that personality out there.

I would like to give a shout out to @casportpony (I think you've posted on my board before? I apologize for calling you over here if not!) for all the guides and info and support that she's posted for others regarding tube feeding. I'd never actually communicated with her about that, but I had dabbled in tube feeding before. I hadn't really done an actual tube feeding, however, until Freema fell ill, and all of that material was so helpful in answering my every question and steeling my nerve to do it. It probably gave me about two months more time with her, which as a percentage of 9-and-a-half years isn't much, but it meant the absolute world to me and for that I'm so grateful.

I feel like I've neglected BYC for a few years now. I struggle a lot with anxiety which has kept me mostly to my own thread, here, and often when I stop posting even here, that's the biggest reason why. But I do love this community and I do want to give back to it as well with the knowledge I've picked up not only from this site but from my experience raising these birds, so I'm making it a goal to post more often. Outside of this thread, I might add.






Just to keep updated on my flock, well, molting season is certainly here and the daily egg count has plummeted. Possibly related, Rooska had a bout with what seemed to be sour crop, though it cleared up unusually quickly with treatment. It really resembled the annual crop troubles that Elda would have, but thanks to the treatment regimen I'd developed for my Elly, it was simple to get things moving again. At least, hopefully it was just that simple, but... well, let's just say I'm keeping a close eye on her for now.

Also, the cockerels are being, well, cockerels. The OEGB boys have had to be separated from the flock for showing increasing interest in the pullets that the pullets aren't ready to receive, and Buzz, oh, Buzz has BITTEN me THREE TIMES through the fence when I've just been trying to open and close the pen he's in!! I've given him a stern talking to and informed him that it's not too late for him to join the others in freezer camp, and as if he's understood my warning, he's seemed to back off for the time being. I hope that's that, as I'd really wanted to keep that little weirdo around.

BYC and help with you journey with poultry!