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bvv, you and your partner and your flock are gifts unto us all
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Mar 2, 2023 03:34
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BaronVonVaderham posted:Frankie is livin it up with his harem and Striper is healing up beautifully!
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Mar 2, 2023 03:34
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All of these ladies have started pulling their weight this week:
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Mar 3, 2023 19:33
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I love "Side Chick" especially. Why do the eggs have their own slide?
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Mar 3, 2023 19:45
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It's an easy way to store a bunch of eggs without taking up a lot of counter space while also keeping them "in order" so we always use the oldest eggs first so they don't go bad.
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Mar 3, 2023 19:47
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How clever!
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Mar 3, 2023 20:03
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Got a hen that won't use a leg and am curious to find out info while we are in a bit of a waiting period. Couple things up front: 1. We can get her into a non-emergency vet appt on Monday. The issue just became apparent this evening. We can do an emergency vet if it gets worse but my partner and I both feel the need isn't there yet. 2. We have a gold Wyandotte hen roughly 3 years old. She's finished moulting a month ago and has been laying again for about a month. Her comb, plumage etc look great. She's nearer the top of the pecking order and has no prior health issues. This evening we let the chickens out of the run for an hour or so before dusk to let them run around and poke at some scratch / get some time out of the coop and run. We noticed quickly that the Gold hen was staying in the run and only when approached did she raise up and then run while flapping. She was able to eat some scratch on the ground but is putting her Right leg heavily far forward and seems reluctant to put any weight on it to walk, but will stand with both feet on the ground. When we picked her up and put her on her back her foot and foreleg mobility seemed fine and there is no evidence of any cuts or bumblefoot etc and she can move the foot around. It almost seems like maybe the hip or something is the issue. After a while she just prefers to sit on the ground so she's clearly not comfortable overall and her tail is down a bit. It's almost nighttime here so we will make sure she is in the roost and keep an eye on her tomorrow. If she starts getting henpecked we will separate her into the garage in a big dog crate under a heating lamp with food and water. Any advice / things we should look for or be particularly aware of?
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Mar 3, 2023 23:34
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I read somewhere that a hen can sometimes get some nerve damage around the hip area from laying an egg, I think it happens more often with an especially large egg. I never had that happen with my many chickens though so I don’t know how common it is. If you dose her with some aspirin it might reduce inflammation, in case that’s part of the issue. Good luck to your hen!
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Mar 3, 2023 23:55
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That Works posted:Got a hen that won't use a leg and am curious to find out info while we are in a bit of a waiting period. Couple things up front: It sounds like her foot is gripping normally and the shank portion is working okay, right? I'd (gently) palpate the area to check for swelling (compare the hurt leg to the other leg) and check her for any signs of a growth or internally laid egg in her abdomen. My hens sometimes pop up with injuries higher up in their thighs, usually where it connects to the pelvis. Most of the time it's from one of my dumb rooboys squashing her while mating, or she's jumped down from a perch and tweaked her thigh. If you don't see signs of injury/abdominal swelling I'll bet that's the case here. But like Joburg said, it could also be a pinched nerve from an egg. Until you can get to the vet, try to keep her from jumping up/down from a roost, maybe hold her in your lap for a bit with a hot water bottle held to the area (careful not to burn her!).
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Mar 5, 2023 18:38
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BTW, here's the link to Chickam when it starts next month!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CteVAyCD2iY Not active right now, of course. Eggs will be set Saturday, March 18th for a hatch date of Easter weekend, April 8-9. As usual, start checking the site on Thursday/Friday hatch weekend, since banty eggs LOVE to hatch early. If you tune in and see eggs, the hatch is on! We're getting more eggs from a friend here in the valley, the same family we got the eggs from last year that hatched Arson. No broodies yet, but we're working to encourage broodiness. If winter would stop snowing and freezing everything we'd have better luck with that... I think I've got the ReptiPro & temp/humidity tool position sorted, the final fussing with the equipment is being done this week--the new equipment we got thanks to Goon generosity (I won't out them without permission) has proved truly INVALUABLE, thank you! 
Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Apr 2, 2023 |
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Mar 5, 2023 18:49
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Awesome! I look forward to Chickam every year and now my nephews are old enough to appreciate it  Thank you for hosting this valuable service.
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Mar 6, 2023 16:24
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Fuckin quail.... I moved Zapdos back to the ladies' hut because he seemed depressed. There are basically two rooster cliques and he was part of neither. The three older hens all rushed to greet him like their pimp just got out of jail (and he immediately mounted Peanut Hamper). Well this triggered a bunch of crowing from Frankie....and from not Frankie  Side Chick and Megatron have been relocated to the bachelor pad after both crowed in front of me and were found to be full of foam. I hoped it was soon enough after the relocation (the day Striper was injured) but evidently not. There was some aggression I wasn't comfortable with so we're on the new introduction protocol again to be safe: noobs are inside the coop part, veterans outside in the yard. In two or three days we'll open the door and they'll be fine. Frankie and Zapdos seem alright. They took a peck at the other in passing but have been avoiding each other since. I'll keep checking on them periodically but I'm not worried. Oh and Striper had his recheck today! Clean bill of health. That busted blood feather was removed (he whacked his wing on the cage door one time) and his remaining sutures snipped. He needs a day or two to let that raw spot where the sutures were removed to scab over then he'll be ready to go back outside. EDIT: loving hell, went out to check on everyone and we had another crow. It might be Quailor Swift. And I'm now thinking it wasn't Megatron I relocated but Tranquail. I need to go out with the images I took and band them. Also we watched Silverbolt lay an egg and she might be a celadon layer 
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Mar 6, 2023 22:37
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BaronVonVaderham posted:Side Chick and Megatron have been relocated to the bachelor pad after both crowed in front of me and were found to be full of foam.
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Mar 6, 2023 23:11
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Full of foam? When you vent sex coturnix quail, you apply light pressure just under their cloaca. If they are a boy, a bunch of foam will come out. If they are a girl, nothing will come out. The foam is NOT quail....seed. Scientists aren't 100% sure what it is, but its thought to help transfer other fluids during mating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DbcoQFrnl8&t=203s
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Mar 6, 2023 23:26
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my beloved boys are suddenly no longer friends. house had to be removed from the enclosure tonight, and he had nasty neck wounds from wilson attacking and trying to hump him. they're separate for the time being and his wounds have been cleaned. i have no idea how to even begin to fix this. they're a bonded pair and so they freak out when they cannot see each other, and yet when they're in the same space they fight like...well...roosters. i don't have the space for the recommended 10+ hens i'd need to ensure they don't get super hormonal, and this rooster colony isn't working out.
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Mar 7, 2023 20:04
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Velvet Sparrow posted:It sounds like her foot is gripping normally and the shank portion is working okay, right? I'd (gently) palpate the area to check for swelling (compare the hurt leg to the other leg) and check her for any signs of a growth or internally laid egg in her abdomen. Shes holding up well. The vet ruled out any bone break or eggbound issues etc and said the issue is likely a nerve. We have had her on aspirin water since sat morning and the only improvement we noticed is that she's able to move better on 1 leg but not regain function of the bad leg. The vet things while likely a nerve issue no obvious cause as to yet, could be due to an infection, cancer, physical injury causing swelling that she can't detect etc. She gave us a stronger anti-inflammatory, maloxicam (sp?) and basically said if nothing improves over the next 3-4 days it's doubtful that it will. In that case we would likely humanely put her down.
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Mar 7, 2023 20:10
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w4ddl3d33 posted:my beloved boys are suddenly no longer friends. house had to be removed from the enclosure tonight, and he had nasty neck wounds from wilson attacking and trying to hump him. they're separate for the time being and his wounds have been cleaned. I'm so sorry, this is awful. Roosters gonna rooster, but I wish you'd been lucky enough to maintain the peace! How are the other roosters doing with each other? I suppose you could set up a system of mini-condos where each boy can see the other boys but not actually interact. Sounds like a lot of effort, I suppose, yet if you're really emotionally bonded to these guys then it's something you could try?
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Mar 7, 2023 21:05
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That Works posted:Shes holding up well. The vet ruled out any bone break or eggbound issues etc and said the issue is likely a nerve. We have had her on aspirin water since sat morning and the only improvement we noticed is that she's able to move better on 1 leg but not regain function of the bad leg. The vet things while likely a nerve issue no obvious cause as to yet, could be due to an infection, cancer, physical injury causing swelling that she can't detect etc. She gave us a stronger anti-inflammatory, maloxicam (sp?) and basically said if nothing improves over the next 3-4 days it's doubtful that it will. In that case we would likely humanely put her down. WOW, I'd give her longer than 3-4 days to recover before putting her down! As long as she isn't suffering, isolate her and give her time to heal. I've had chickens sustain injuries just like this, from something as simple as jumping down off a roost, a rough mating, etc. When ligaments and whatnot get tweaked and injured, they take longer to heal than muscle tissue does (just like with people). I'vd had birds take weeks to recover from injured white connective tissue, but they DO recover!
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Mar 7, 2023 21:31
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Update on my Chickam hatch equipment... After running the ReptiPro and the associated equipment since February 14th, I've discovered two things about the main accessories I've relied on, LOL  :The Spot Check probe thermometer (the one I place in the water weasel) is reading one degree higher than the ACTUAL temperature--so when it shows 99.5, temp is actually 98.5--too cold to hatch chicks! The digital hygrometer I've used the last couple of years is reading 11% too low--when it reads 50% humidity (perfect incubation humidity) ACTUAL humidity in the incubator was 61% (too high during incubation and can kill chicks). It'll be replaced. No temperature spikes/drops by the ReptiPro so far (which is what I thought was happening), but I'm continuing to run it to be thorough. But last year & the year before, if the temps were too low and humidity too high, it would synch up with what we experienced--a low number of embryos forming, and a low hatch rate, along with developed chicks dead in the shell (I'm sure that in 2021 there was some kind of poisoning going on as well, likely the cardboard the brooder box was made from had been treated with something due to Covid concerns...?). I'm calibrating and testing the poo poo out of all the equipment, to cut down on as many dings to our hatch rate as possible--being at a high altitude already lowers my hatch rate to something like 50% as it is. Really hoping that this year, Chickam will be MUCH better!
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Mar 7, 2023 21:51
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That Works posted:Shes holding up well. The vet ruled out any bone break or eggbound issues etc and said the issue is likely a nerve. We have had her on aspirin water since sat morning and the only improvement we noticed is that she's able to move better on 1 leg but not regain function of the bad leg. The vet things while likely a nerve issue no obvious cause as to yet, could be due to an infection, cancer, physical injury causing swelling that she can't detect etc. She gave us a stronger anti-inflammatory, maloxicam (sp?) and basically said if nothing improves over the next 3-4 days it's doubtful that it will. In that case we would likely humanely put her down. Sorry about your chicken. Bummer that the vet couldn’t find the cause. I get where Velvet Sparrow is coming from but I personally wouldn’t keep a limping chicken around if it wasn’t making significant progress. A chicken wants to chicken and thats really hard to do on only one leg.
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Mar 8, 2023 00:52
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Update on my Chickam hatch equipment... I follow Chickam religiously, and its probably both the reason why we pulled the trigger on hatching quail, and what is keeping me from hatching a third round of babies (hey, we're allowed up to 50 quail and only have a dozen hens). I never would have expected hatching eggs to be addicting, but it is. You're going above and beyond to ensure successful hatching and healthy babies. We're rooting for you! Especially my husband. Who does not want me hatching any more eggs.
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Mar 8, 2023 14:02
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Joburg posted:Sorry about your chicken. Bummer that the vet couldn’t find the cause. I get where Velvet Sparrow is coming from but I personally wouldn’t keep a limping chicken around if it wasn’t making significant progress. A chicken wants to chicken and thats really hard to do on only one leg. Yeah the vet basically said 4-5 days on the drug would be enough to see at least partial resolution if it was an orthopedic issue, if it was not improving by then it was likely neurological and would likely not improve. We give our hens a little more attention / care than purely livestock but they aren't quite on the same level as the household pets so our amount of care for an injured one has a shorter cutoff comparatively. Happy to keep helping her along but if its permanent impairment we'd rather just end it as peacefully as we can for her.
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Mar 8, 2023 14:35
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My Bielefelders from Cackle Hatchery arrived!  I ordered 4. I am not sure if I am looking at a free hen, or if one of them is a drat cockerel pack-in. According to their fine print I was above the limit by which they have to ship a cockerel. I'm kind of hoping they tossed in a hen because they weren't sure about the weather between MO and GA, and were just making sure I got my minimum. Christ I hope I don't have a roo. County ordinances forbid it, and I don't have the farmer brutality in me to cull an unwanted bird. edit: I watched some vent-sexing videos, I'll give that a go tomorrow. Poor girls just got off the boat after hatching Monday and I'm fairly sure this is their first couple hours with water, food, space and a proper heat lamp. Double-edit- this is the Bielefelder order I posted about back at the end of January- I'm going to call them 'Team Beefy' for now. 5er fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Mar 9, 2023 |
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Mar 8, 2023 23:36
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5er posted:Team Beefy Cute chicks! Bielefelders should be auto sexing so any chicks that are much lighter could be a rooster. I’m in GA too, near Savannah, in case I hadn’t mentioned it before.
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Mar 9, 2023 17:33
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Joburg posted:Cute chicks! Bielefelders should be auto sexing so any chicks that are much lighter could be a rooster. Cool, hello neighbor! I had a couple Bielefelder owner/breeders in a FB group I'm in tell me about the breed having self-sexing chicks, and I also looked up some pictures. All implications are that I've got hens, with the only way I'd have a roo is if one of em isn't a Beefer. Cackle Hatchery's +1 insurance policy came and collected overnight though, one of the chicks didn't make it, so I'm down to my ordered 4. There was one rather lethargic one that I thought just needed a little extra rest. It really devastated my 10yo, he was mother-hen'ing all over them for hours yesterday.
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Mar 9, 2023 18:56
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my cat is norris posted:I'm so sorry, this is awful. Roosters gonna rooster, but I wish you'd been lucky enough to maintain the peace! How are the other roosters doing with each other? i've just got the two! they're my little buds. after a few days house has gained a little weight and looks way less scraggly than he did before - he had a pretty gnarly neck injury, but after a warm bath and a wipe down with some diluted acv he's looking miles better. their enclosure has two levels, so we've blocked off the stairwell allowing access to the top floor from the bottom floor, turning it into two separate enclosures. they can hear and smell each other, but they can't see each other, and they don't seem to be going buckwild like they normally do when separated. roosters are gonna rooster, but these boys are my babies and it makes me sad to see my little guys fight 
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Mar 9, 2023 19:01
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ahhh poo poo sorry, so much quail chatter lately and i lost track of who had what!!
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Mar 9, 2023 22:06
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Striper is back outside! https://i.imgur.com/oRAlV2i.mp4 Aaaaaaaaaand evidently feeling ecstatic to be out with the hens. I guess he has a type, he went for mom and daughter black hens. That second rooster is Frankie, who always goes for Peanut Hamper first and just had to get in on the action after seeing Striper, I guess. This is my life now....
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Mar 9, 2023 22:09
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overjoyed by the spread of quaos
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Mar 9, 2023 22:54
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5er posted:I ordered 4. I am not sure if I am looking at a free hen, or if one of them is a drat cockerel pack-in. According to their fine print I was above the limit by which they have to ship a cockerel. ... what.
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Mar 9, 2023 23:18
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today is hatching day for 3 of my banty hens. they each have three eggs. there are three out of the shell so far but not ready for pictures yet. i'm ready for them to be done already lol
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Mar 12, 2023 20:24
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City of Glompton posted:today is hatching day for 3 of my banty hens. they each have three eggs. there are three out of the shell so far but not ready for pictures yet. i'm ready for them to be done already lol 
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Mar 12, 2023 20:30
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City of Glompton posted:today is hatching day for 3 of my banty hens. they each have three eggs. there are three out of the shell so far but not ready for pictures yet. i'm ready for them to be done already lol So exciting! I love hatchings. Once they fluff up please post pics.
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Mar 12, 2023 22:45
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12_String just mentioned something I han't considered in my quest to calibrate the damned hygrometers, and I can't find anything about this online... So Goons, I need advice! Since I'm calibrating a couple of digital hygrometers at 4971 feet altitude...does higher altitude affect hygrometer readings when you are calibrating? (I know that we naturally have lower ambient humidity up here) Anything I need to consider beyond basic hygrometer calibation techniques? My gut feeling is that altitude doesn't factor in when you're doing a sealed-container hygrometer calibration...but...DOES it?! Tomorrow we're picking up a dozen local eggs from the same folks we got Arson's egg last year, and collecting eggs from our hens, too. Eggs get set in the ReptiPro this Saturday the 18th! 5er I'd bet the farm that your extra chick is a roo. Hatcheries do that. Sorry. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Mar 15, 2023 |
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Mar 12, 2023 23:33
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Dienes posted:So exciting! I love hatchings. Once they fluff up please post pics. here's what we have so far with more on the way https://www.tiktok.com/embed/7209794507473210666 the little yellow one is loud! the last one on there is the friendliest so far, i went to give mama a chance to drink a little water and eat out of my hand, and baby immediately came out to see me. mama Beans was not happy and kept trying to shove it back under her lol
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Mar 13, 2023 00:42
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we have 7 chicks! one i am pretty sure is a frizzle https://www.tiktok.com/embed/7210238933890862378 tw sad there is one egg that i have put under a different broody hen just in case, but it has no pips or peeps so i do not think it made it. sadly one egg pipped but did not make it. i am afraid it got away from mama in the pine shavings during the night, as it was cold this morning. i warmed the egg back up but no luck. chick was perfectly formed, yolk was absorbed, not shrink wrapped, just...didn't make it i know it happens but it was a bummersometime around the 20th, Clarice the frizzle's eggs should be hatching. she has 5 and last time i candled them they were all developing now i just need Lil' Pep to start laying again so we can save her eggs and let her have a clutch City of Glompton fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Mar 14, 2023 |
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Mar 14, 2023 06:51
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Mar 14, 2023 19:16
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Is the little loaf okay? 
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Mar 14, 2023 21:36
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yes, she is just napping with her babies
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Mar 14, 2023 22:24
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What a magnificent borb.
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Mar 14, 2023 22:36
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