Category: The Poultry sagas (Page 1 of 2)

I have been a little busy recently. There have been many changes at the homestead.

In March, I acquired some more ducklings! I was very excited to add some more hens to the family! Ducklings are very difficult to keep alive! They are also very messy. I had a few fatalities within the flock. Unbeknownst to me, ducklings drown very easily. Even in an inch of water in a water bowl! So that saying “like a duck to water” is not necessarily accurate. As sad as it was to lose a few little babies, it is all a learning curve – right?

I’ll try to get the sad news out of the way first though. Not only did I lose a few ducklings but we had an abduction over night in March. 2 weeks after I got the new babies, I was on facetime to my parents back in the UK. I went outside on the front porch to show them the progress I was making on the pond. Now, usually when I go outside the three adult pekin ducks start going bonkers. “Honk, Honk, Honk, feed us human!” they all shout. Well, I realized pretty quickly that it was eerily silent outside and the ducks were no where to be seen, I quickly hung up on my parents and went to investigate. I wasn’t greeted by the three loud ladies, they had completely disappeared. Not a feather insight, just hundreds of small dog foot prints in the mud and clay. It quickly became apparent that during the night, a pack of coyotes had found my ducks, jumped over the fence and carried away all three ladies in the dead of night. i had never seen or heard coyote in this part of town before, so I was very shocked. I was also more confused that they had managed to do this without detections on the motion cameras outside.

I guess this is a big part of owning livestock. It’s always sad, but I had my new babies to take care of and protect!

Ducklings grow exceptionally fast. After a few weeks I realized that I needed to the pond completed ASAP because these guys were going to need to be out on the “lake” in a matter of a month of so. That’s if they know how to swim by then!!!!! So that is where I have been these past few months! Trying to get the pond ready to hold water. It has been a long and arduous process. I still have some leaks that I am figuring out but for the most part, it’s almost complete. The ducks are out and enjoying their freedom!

Pond have been an important part of my life since childhood. I grew up catching newts and tadpoles and watching them grow. I would wake up with my Grandad at weekends and watch the dragonfly nymphs climb up a reed and out of the water. We’d watch them miraculously turn into beautiful dragonflies before our eyes. The dragonflies would emerge from the shell body of the nymph and flip backwards to escape the evil looking creature they had been for years before. Their wings would be cloudy and green but they’d dry them out in the sun and over a few hours they’d turn transparent and all of a sudden, you’d blink and they’d fly away to find a mate! Nerdy? Maybe a little. But it is because of memories such as these, that I wanted to put a pond here at the cabin and dedicate it to those happy memories. My brother made a pond (without my parents permission) before he passed away. My grandad who instilled our love of nature and ponds, smuggled him a liner, pond plants etc so he could build it. I recall the day we began digging…. Dad was snoring away on the other side of the hedges, turning tomato red in the deck chair, while we dug the hole and began making the pond. After he passed away, my parents decided to add on an addition to the pond and then run a waterfall between the two. They then had a plaque put up with ‘Philip’s pond’ above the waterfall. Unfortunately the plaque fell apart after all this time and my parents moved house. Not sure what became of his pond back at Norman Avenue, but I decided he can have a new plaque, here in Waxhaw. The wildlife will be a little different and include a couple of ducks but I know he’d love his name by a pond again.

I am excited to show you the progress of the pond as I go. It needs to establish, stop leaking and be planted with more pond side plants and duck safe foliage but it’s definitely taking shape!

Not only have I been working on the pond, raising ducklings and making plaques, but I have also been working on my vegetable garden! Photos of that to come later!!!!

This title about sums up my week! I hope you have all had a great Christmas and New year! It’s only January 5th but I think I have seen more paint in the last 5 days than I have in the last decade. Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I did use 16 gallons of paint to paint the entire cabin by hand a few years ago. That was ah-lot. Especially as it took me about 5 weeks to complete. Walking up and down a 20ft ladder, battling wasps and other North Carolinian flying insects and camouflaging frogs… it delayed progress… The insects here are pretty Jurassic…. and stingy….

I have been very busy and productive this week. Again, i’ve been putting off admin and other vital paperwork… more to come on that at a later date…. but i’ve been trying to get on top of some DIY’s as well as helping my best friend get his new office redecorated! I also made Percy a new wardrobe for his growing collection of collars and sweaters! Needless to say he loves it! Check out the closet remodel on his Instagram @perseus_the_kat. There is also a cute video of him having fun in the closet!

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A post shared by Perseus (@perseus_the_kat)

I have to say, it’s been a bit of a blue week. Not because I have been feeling blue, but because most of my projects have been BLUE!

I created a theatre room in one of the spare rooms down stairs…. and talking about stairs…. I repainted the stairs in the cabin. We have since been enjoying several classic and new movies in there! When I say “we” I mostly mean the animals and I. Not so much the ducks and chickens. They probably would honk and cluck throughout the entire movie but would certainly enjoy the popcorn more than the cat.

I also made a piece of artwork for my friend’s new office, which was also blue! Took some inspiration from Etsy and made a dash to hobby Lobby to take advantage of their half price canvases this week!

You may wonder why I chose to talk about painting and redecorating this week. Well, I feel it has a lot to do with my creative side but it also has a lot to do with trying to get things done whilst owning pets.

I am not sure whether you have tried redecorating while owning pets, but I am telling you it’s a struggle!!!! Between repainting steps, after little mischievous cats (who we shall not name) have trodden through them and pulling out pet hair from freshly rolled walls, it was a nightmare. Try taping baseboards with a naughty kitten attacking the painters tape or having to shut the dogs out while you are painting a wall, I’m telling you it’s like having toddlers. Or at least that’s what I imagine it to be like!!!

I had just got done with painting the white stripe down the side of the steps so I went to make a cup of tea to quench my parched throat. I turned around to find 11 white foot prints in the hallway. Yes, you guessed it, Percy had walked straight through the white paint and made a beeline straight down the hallway! His little front feet were coated perfectly in white paint so he got a bath in the laundry room sink.

I also had to lock Perseus away whilst I was painting my friend’s artwork. He was a nightmare! He was stealing my paint brushes, paper towels and kept jumping on the table. I found myself screaming “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” a lot! It does seem like the second I start doing anything, he becomes “Curious George”. It is humorous but after a while it makes any task difficult.

SO getting back to my projects this week. I have had boarders to occupy in between but I have got a lot accomplished!

My friend chose an elegant art deco blue and gold theme for his new office. It’s very 1920’s but with a modern twist I think. The wall paper definitely gives it a wow factor!

Check out the gallery of blue works and DIY projects this week! when I look at the photos in the gallery, i’m not sure how I get so much accomplished in such a short space of time. I don’t think I have an off switch sometimes.

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Any who, now that projects have slowed down, i will have more time to write about some other exciting things on the farm. Little Percy has grow a lot over the last month and i’m not just talking about his size. His personality has become very BIG too!!!!

I look forward to telling you more stories about him over Christmas next week as well as uploading the final pictures of the finished office and theatre room!!!!

Valentines day is just over a month away! Each holiday I’ll be bringing out a limited edition mug!

20% of proceeds will go to my favorite rescue, South Charlotte dog rescue!
They have been inundated with surrenders and puppy litters this year already! They need all the help they can get through donations and volunteers!

If you would like to consider fostering or volunteering for SCDR please visit their website:

www.southcharlottedogrescue.com

You may also pledge a donation directly to them there too!

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https://itsahardmuttlife.com/product/valentines-mug

Sometimes it’s very easy for me to forget to take a moment to pamper myself. I am always working, taking care of the farm, the house and the dogs! I try my best to take care of myself! So occasionally I will get my hair done or my nails. It is really a good opportunity to relax and feel refreshed! However, I will admit the past few months have been nuts so my feet, especially, have been neglected! I booked an appointment at my new local nail salon but this time I roped my best friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, into coming with me!!!!

Why do men have such a stigma over pedicures? Do they not think their feet are ugly too and need some TLC? There is nothing worse than a guy who wears Jesus sandals but add in some ugly hang nails and enough heel calluses to pave Rome, then no wonder there are so many singletons on Tinder today!! GUYS! Take care of your feet!!!!!

Now my buddy, let’s call him “Morty” (named after his favorite cartoon) has pretty nice feet as it goes. HOWEVER, I was shocked to find out that he’d never had a pedicure in his life! Shocked by learning this, I enrolled him into a pedi-mani combo!

He wasn’t sure, but he had no choice. He chose a very fancy package, “The Voesh” which included the expected cuticle and callus removing etc but also a very extensive leg massage, mud wraps, hot towels and an aromatic lavender soak and exfoliation!

The initial “foot shaving” freaked him out a little. He was pretty ticklish. Laughing and almost knocking the poor pedicurist out with his knee jerk reactions…. twas pretty comical, but i’m almost certain he lost half an inch in height after she was done filing his heels! once the exfoliation scrub was applied however, he began to relax and I started hearing the groans of enjoyment!

Now, feeling very relaxed after he had his feet rubbed and his legs massaged, we moved over to the nail bar where another gave him a manicure! And boy did he need it! A quick and painless experience, he even had his nails buffed out! He was very impressed with how shiny his nails were! I don’t care what you do guys, construction, surgery, IT or waiting tables, please take care of your cuticles!!!

Morty totally loved the female attention (although he will deny that to me haha) but I know it felt good to chill and be pampered! I think I may have convinced him to do it more often!!

I hope this post serves as a reminder for you guys to take care of yourselves! Don’t be embarrassed, don’t be ashamed and don’t feel silly! You deserve pampering too! Like I said, pretty feet get more right swipes!!!! Have you seen some of the “only fans” profiles!! $$$$$

I am very excited to announce my new 2022 mug collection!
Every holiday in 2022 a new mug with a new holiday logo will be available for a limited time! There are 8 to collect! 25% of proceeds will be given to charity!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the mugs coming this year!

Mugs for Valentines, Easter, July 4th, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and the Royal British mug!

I hope you will collect them all!!!

First mug will be launched for Valentines!!!!!

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In the UK he is known as the Owl man and in the USA, something similar has been called the Moth man. Rumor has it that he appears as a warning when something bad is about to happen. The most famous sighting of the Moth man was just before the Point Pleasant bridge collapsed. Since then Point Pleasant holds a Moth Man convention every year. Trust me, after coming into very close contact with something I feel is the same or similar creature, I do not think I want to ever see him again.

When I was a teenager, my best friend and I would walk home from the bus after school and go to either my house or hers and just hang out, doing teenage things. I remember it was a beautiful summers afternoon and Lil and I had climbed up on top of the garden shed at the bottom of my garden. My garden backed onto a wooded area and a rail way track. We would often sit on the roof of the shed and wave at the passengers going by on the train. We’d sit up there and eat sweets (candy) and talk about school and our friends and who was dating who.

As we were talking and giggling, a huge black blurry shadow flew past us and I distinctly remember the gust of wind pushing me backwards. We both looked at one another and sat there a little confused at what just flew past us. It was not uncommon to see crows or magpies in the garden but I remember thinking to myself, would a crow cause such a big gust of wind?

We sat there for a moment a little confused but then shrugged our shoulders and continued with our gossip. As I sat there with my friend to my left, I turned my head to look at her and in the corner of my eye, I saw a black figure below us, in my next door neighbors garden.
I turned my head and as my eyes focused I said in shock “What the hell is that?!”. A tall black figure with the head of an owl, pointy ears, and red glowing eyes, stood there staring at me. He had no emotion upon his face, but the red eyes just stared through me. His wings were draped over his body and he stood there motionless for a few seconds. Lil turned her head quickly and looked over towards him. The moment she turned her head, he opened his wings and shot up into the sky and disappeared. His wing span was as wide as his body tall. As he shot up I recall seeing his two toed, claw like feet dangling below him. He made no sound. He had no personality, he just created an eerie feeling around us. What had we just seen?

We were both very shaken up, we scarpered off of the roof and climbed off the shed. We ran as quickly as we could to the house. To this day my friend doesn’t want to talk about it. We were both very shaken up.

Did this creature show up for a reason? Was it watching us for sometime? I’ll never know. I cannot help but wonder if visited us as an omen. I have had so many weird experiences since that day. It seemed every house I have lived in, barring one, has had some kind of spirit attached to it. My last house in the UK had an unhappy spirit living there. He would lock me out the house or throw Pastaroni boxes across the kitchen counter. Could all of this possibly be linked to that weird encounter back in 2003?

After that day I didn’t want to go into my garden alone. As most memories from teenage years do, that day faded from my mind until one day I was watching a sci fi documentary and a photo of the Point Pleasant moth man flashed on to my screen… is this the same thing I had seen? Of course I began researching and found so many photos, stories and myths. I wasn’t alone.

Since, I have been seeking answers, unsure if I will ever find out what it was that I saw that day. I wonder how many others have seen this creature? Or what it may mean!? I can assure you though, that I never want to see it again!

I’d like to thank you for your orders from the IT’S A HARD MUTT LIFE SHOP! We Managed to raise $96.11 to go towards Millie’s medical costs! If you didn’t read about Millie here is the link to my blog about her from last week!

Merch for Millie!

I’d love to raise some more funds, so have now extended the fundraiser until December 16th!

20% of all proceeds go towards Millie’s surgery and medical costs!

I have now updated the store with some cute Christmas festive items! Hoodies, blankets etc! Go check them out! Our pet items also launched today too!

Limited Edition Holiday Unisex Hoodie

Holiday Mug with Color Inside

Maybe you’d prefer a mug? Or a fuzzy wuzzy blanket for you and your fur babies to snuggle up in?

Holiday Throw Blanket

Grab yours before they are discontinued!!! I will be keeping you posted periodically on Millie’s progress!

Julian

My 5 year old Standard Poodle. If you aren’t a poodle fan, after meeting Julian, you probably will be. This dog changed my career, he boosted my confidence, and he certainly keeps me on my toes.
Julian was a client’s dog who could no longer keep him. I took him on around one year old. He became my creative muse. He has been colored like candy corn for Halloween, shaved into Christmas canes, sported a mohawk, a “fro” and even a goatee! There are just endless possible haircuts when it comes to a poodle! His stomach issues however are another story. After many tests, I discovered Julian has a motility issue with digestion. So, his royal highness requires special dehydrated food, that resembles baby mush (once water is added), for his stomach to digest it properly. He’s a character. I have many stories to share about him! Like the time he ran after a herd of deer or the time he ate some female sanitary items thus I thought he had puked up a dead mouse at 3am.

Evie

Evie, the Australian Shepherd is a rescue. My friends took her after she had been bred excessively and was living in vile conditions in a barn. When they took her in, they quickly found out that she literally didn’t know how to “dog”. Her stomach dragged along the floor, from being bred back-to-back for money. Her coat was a disaster and she didn’t know how to bark, walk on a leash or even want to snuggle. She hid under the bed night and day. Scared of life! With some training, positive reinforcement, lots of carpet cleanups and some patience, she started barking 11 months ago and has not stopped since. Evie wants to snuggle so much now, that “being inside you” is not close enough. Personal space is not her strong suit! Nearly 6 years in, she is at about 85% dog capacity.

Becky J

My little “butt monkey”… This name has an interesting explanation. To me, she resembles a Macaque monkey. You know the ones that sit in the hot springs in Japan? Yeah that’s her. The “Butt” portion of her name (in person) is pretty obvious. She has a lot of junk in her trunk…. Her butt hole is pretty prominent. However, it goes a lot deeper than that…. Pretty sure this dog passes gas like a human. Every time she jumps on to the couch or the bed, she toots. But then turns her head and looks at me, as if to say “Was that you or me?”. She’s funny. I am pretty certain she is on the spectrum. She is very sensitive to lotion smells, lights and sensations. There is not a bad bone in her body but she is often over stimulated by different sensations that I am pretty sure she would give the “Good doctor” a run for his money!

Perseus

Is my newest edition. He was found on the side of the road crawling out of some bushes. When I found him he was bow legged, full of worms and could fit in the palm of my hand. I bottle fed him for a few days and got him strong again! I almost did not keep him but he became my little buddy. He follows me around, flops over my shoulder when I work on the computer and he panics when he doesn’t know where I am! He loves snuggling up to Becky J (until she farts) and he enjoys stealing my pens and receipts during admin or blogging days. When most people said “Oh my goodness – not another animal!” I just felt he completed the home and balanced the energy in the house! I mean c’mon, what is a red headed lady without a red cat? It was meant to be!

The flock

The Ducks: John Cryer, Jemima Puddle duck and Daphne and the hens: Matilda, Michelle, Lucy, Sandy and Penelope. These guys have been more of a hobby than anything. I was hoping that I could sell their eggs in order to pay for their supplies. Unfortunately, because I spoil them and take them to the vet the second I see that something is wrong with them, I think I am currently in negative egg-quity! I have realized that I am not a farmer. I love my critters far too much!

“Episode: The one where the chicken crossed the road”

Welcome back to the story of Jeff Goldplume. The significance of this name will become apparent very shortly. I need to set the scene for this one…..

After discovering that I had 15 VERY vocal Roosters on my property, I needed to act quickly to re home them! I posted them on local Facebook sites and contacted friends with farms. “How hard must it be to re home free fluffy chickens?” I said to myself. Weeks went by and not single bite. Things started to become serious. I began googling how to humanely cull chickens. After watching at least half a dozen, very detailed, tutorials on YouTube, I was now pretty certain that there was absolutely no way that I was going to be able to sacrifice them.

I had a few roosters that stood out in the crowd:

“Rodolfo” was a very tall and friendly male, “Jeff Goldplume” who was the most aggressive but pretty Rooster. Named after Jeff Goldblum because he had bright golden flecks through his plumage. “Speckles”, and “Freddie” who was a black frizzle silkie, named after Freddie Mercury as he looked like he was electrocuted.

Aside from those named above, I could barely tell the difference between the rest of them. Thankfully I managed to take 10 of the boys to a local waterfowl rescue, who kindly took them! But I still had 5 left stranded behind. I kept the prettiest boys in the hope that I would be more successful in finding homes for them.

Remember “Barb” who i mentioned previously? Well Barb adopted “Rodolfo”! He moved in with some bigger ladies and a Duck. “Speckles” moved in to a client’s house and had an entire harem of new wives!

Ok, so now I am down to just 3 Roosters:
“Freddie”, “Chicken with no name” and the notorious “Jeff bloody Goldplume”.
Jeff and I had a love hate relationship. Every time that I would go into the coop, he’d charge at me! I had to learn how to stand up to an 8 inch tall chicken. My friends would laugh as I argued with Jeff every day. He was just a stubborn ***hole! In the middle of summer I couldn’t go in there with out my wellington boots on because I am pretty sure he would sever my toes.

Out of the blue a friend contacted me on social media, (we’ll call him “Ron”) and said he knew someone that might take the remaining roosters! He reassured me that if she was unable to, he would cull them and cook them. I was so relieved! Ok- i’ll admit, also a bit said that they may meet a bloody end but that’s kind of part of real farming I told myself. I didn’t want to start getting fertilized eggs and if they didn’t go in the next week, that was likely to happen. So Ron and another friend of mine, (let’s call him Todd) came along one afternoon with a crate and collected the three little Roosters to meet their fate.

Ron told me that the lady didn’t get back to him so he and Todd were going to do the “man thing” and cook them. Ron also informed me that he grew up on a farm so it really wouldn’t be a big deal, he had done it 100 times! So with that being said, they packed them into the crate and off they drove. I had finally re homed all 15 roosters (remember that). No more roosters!!!!

I went about my business, fed my remaining ladies for the next few days in blissful silence. Then one sunny afternoon I started receiving messages on my phone. One after another. Each one was the same screen shot titled “Is this your chicken?”…….

I opened up the screen shot and who else could it be, posted directly from the Animal control page, but Jeff bloody Goldplume!!!!!!!!!!

“Bex have you lost one of your chickens?” or “Do you want another chicken?” they all asked. Issue was Jeff was so unique looking there was absolutely no denying that was my chicken! It was literally like a mug shot. My instant reaction ….. “No, not my chicken!!!!” …. I had to slap myself…. “Bex!!!! What are you saying – that’s Jeff!? I thought to myself, feeling so guilty. Then it dawned on me, Jeff was supposed to be dead, cooked, slathered in barbecue sauce or on a skewer along side a pepper and couple of zucchini slices.

I immediately picked up the phone and text “Todd”…..

‘I’m going to kill you!!!!!!!!”

Text to “Todd”

It took a little while to get a reply, but finally Todd called me and after a few seconds of silence calmly said “Why?”.

“Because my bloody chicken is currently impounded at the local animal control and they are trying to find his owner!!!”
Todd erupted into laughter. I asked him “What happened? I thought you were going to kill him?!”

Well I think what happened is that Ron and Todd “chickened” out…..

Turns out Jeff Goldplume was too much for them to handle and made a quick getaway! Not sure where he was trying to get to, as he was about 9 miles away, but a member of the public saw him crossing the road heading back towards home!

Knowing that he was probably lost. They kindly dropped him to the local animal control and they began looking for his owners ….
( now named “Ron and Todd” ).

Lesson learnt: Never trust a guy who says he grew up on a farm.