Pipd's Peeps!

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I tried out vanilla cocoa egg soap today. It may or may not end up smelling chocolatey as well as vanilla-y, but the cocoa should add antioxidants and a nice, silky feeling on the skin.

In other news, look at these six super innocent birds who freaked out so hard that I had to rush out to make sure they were okay, and then I found them standing around like this, just fine.

And why were they freaking out? Oh, because the neighbor's big, scary horses were grazing at the edge of their pasture nearest to our property. Terrible picture because I had to zoom way in, but this horse was looking over at them like 'what the heck's the matter with y'all?'

 

[Crazy Maizie]

The soap looks yummy.

Funny about your chickens. They are certainly characters.

My Maizie is doing good. I'm not really sure what was going on. But, I wormed her and then wormed the flock. I made sure there were separate feeders and gave a little extra vitamin b complex. I will keep separate feeders as I'm almost thinking it was a nutrition issue and maybe for some reason she wasn't eating enough or it was worms. I haven't seen any in poos and I usually do see a little before worming. Idk. I guess I'm just grateful she is doing well. She's laying eggs. One was deformed though. So, she obviously was under some sort of stress.

Oh and here's my mini girl with her big sis.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Glad to hear Maizie is doing a bit better! You could be right about a nutritional issue, either from worms or maybe from being bullied away from the food source? Maybe she was afraid to go to the feeder and eat because of the cockerel? Anyway, at least she's getting back to normal now! They don't always expel worms when they have a worm load, so it's possible they were there and the wormer helped.

Also, that's a pretty cute picture! They almost look like they were up to shenanigans and then realized you were watching. Have you settled on Dixie for sure for her name, or are you still brainstorming?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Glad to hear Maizie is doing a bit better! You could be right about a nutritional issue, either from worms or maybe from being bullied away from the food source? Maybe she was afraid to go to the feeder and eat because of the cockerel? Anyway, at least she's getting back to normal now! They don't always expel worms when they have a worm load, so it's possible they were there and the wormer helped.

Also, that's a pretty cute picture! They almost look like they were up to shenanigans and then realized you were watching. Have you settled on Dixie for sure for her name, or are you still brainstorming?

Yeah, I think the name is staying. You're pretty good at interpreting photos!

 

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Merlin has 'officially' turned twelve now!

Twelve years ago, I picked the last little Easter-egger chick out of the bin at Tractor Supply out of pity for her loneliness, figuring she'd certainly grow up to be a rooster because she was sold straight run. Nope, instead it was the two Rhode Island Red pullets that grew up into roosters! She's been the oldest bird I've ever owned for a few months now, technically, but hitting twelve is certainly a milestone! Here she is this morning, giving me dirty looks for stalking her for a picture.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Merlin has 'officially' turned twelve now! View attachment 3050539 Twelve years ago, I picked the last little Easter-egger chick out of the bin at Tractor Supply out of pity for her loneliness, figuring she'd certainly grow up to be a rooster because she was sold straight run. Nope, instead it was the two Rhode Island Red pullets that grew up into roosters! She's been the oldest bird I've ever owned for a few months now, technically, but hitting twelve is certainly a milestone! Here she is this morning, giving me dirty looks for stalking her for a picture.

View attachment 3050537

Awe. Happy 12 yrs!
That's wonderful to see and hear.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I've gotten the vanilla cocoa soap cut and put it under a box as advised by some soapers to help it retain its fragrance while still curing. Another week or so and I can try it out! I've been looking into selling my soaps a bit more and now I'm feeling unsure again. A lot of soapers insist you should have product liability insurance before you sell any soap just in case someone reacts to an ingredient or something and decides to sue, which has me more than a little bit paranoid about it now. So I guess I'm still looking into things on that front.


On the chickens, Neela is finally starting to show improvement in her legs after being down for a few weeks now with what seemed to be a leg injury! I had a few moments roughly a week ago where I was beginning to think that it was time to let her go because she seemed so miserable laying in her hospital pen unable to really be a chicken, but I'm kind of glad I hesitated on that now. She's got her feet underneath her again properly and is almost standing up on her own again. The pecking wound on her head is healing up nicely, too!

 

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After a lot of mental back and forth, I've made the tough decision to list the rest of the 'extra' boys for sale on craigslist. That's Dawson, Rayburn, Bruner, and Axel. I've still got mixed feelings on it, especially letting go of those big, round English Orpington boys, but I just don't have any good reason to keep them and I could sure use the space for other birds.

Once the Orp boys go, I think Gus and his girls will move out to that coop after I work on the mud issue so their fuzzy feet don't get all caked up and messy. I'm tentatively looking into getting another batch of BBS silkied Cochin hatching eggs later this year. I was hesitant at first to get any more hatching eggs with the HPAI outbreak going on, but I've since read that HPAI doesn't pass vertically and it will naturally die off during the incubation time if on the outside of the shells long before they hatch because of incubation temperature, so I'm feeling a bit more comfortable about that. I just really want to get some more Blues or some Splashes to keep the color going in my flock. I guess it'll depend on whether a Blue boy hatches out of Harley's eggs or not. I need to get some more of them anyway to put together my third group of them for rotational breeding so that I can maintain them here.

Speaking of the eggs, the five remaining are still going strong! This weekend is (roughly) the hatch date for them, so here's hoping they keep going strong. Come on babies!

 

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One of these things is not like the others... That's ol Fifi being a goofy bird as always and Skeeter and Findlay looking rather uncomfortable by her being there.

Oh, and this isn't really chicken related at all, but here are some spring daffodils blooming. I find the ones like these with the two-toned flowers to be so pretty.

 

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Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! Here's our newest additions, a silkied Black Cochin bantam and a naked neck bantam. The Easter Hatchalong curse continues for me--they're the only ones to make it.

That Cochin poked her black beak through the shell and my first thought was oh no, another Silkie mix I didn't think about it, but I'd only had them separated from the main flock for a couple weeks when I started collecting eggs, so it was still in the window where Winter or Reuben could have fertilized their eggs. Fortunately, this baby has a single comb, no crest, and 4 toes per foot, so she's all Cochin.