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What fats did you end up using for the soap? The boiling out definitely would have affected the final product.

How did your soap turn out?

The thing I learned from two rounds of clarifying tallow was to cut the fat into small pieces. It saves you a lot of time and maximizes the surface area for the fat to be expelled from the other tissues. I got my mom to take some pictures of the wood mold we use. We have two like this, and we...

Happens to me all the time. I’ll remember the word I wanted an hour or a day after the conversation ended and my brain finally sifted through all the similar words and got to the one I wanted. 🙄😆

Saponification. You were close. 😁 There’s cold process soap, which you have to insulate and hot process, which I’ve never tried and not sure if you have to insulate. Considering that you are heating it, I would think it a bit redundant, but I have no idea for sure. Hot process always seemed like...

Remember you need to insulate the soap after getting it to trace and poured in the mold. When my mom made her first forays into soaping, my dad made her a simple wooden mold, which you line with freezer paper. It is perfect to keep things from cooling too fast. I’ll have to get a picture of it...

I really like using tallow in soap - it really helps to make the bar last longer than if you just do vegetable-based fats. My mom and I soap together and she was very hesitant to try using it because she didn’t want it to smell like an animal. Once we rendered and clarified the fat, it didn’t...

I’ve only tried goat a couple of times, but it was reminiscent of venison. I love using venison in place of lamb for curries.

I have never tried making chicken sausages, but have found Hank Shaw’s recipes for venison to be fantastic. I tried making sausages for the first time with some elk meat and pork fat. Definitely a learning curve! I’m excited to make more in the future.

And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think Ugly Boy is THAT ugly, at least not from that one picture of him.

I think that’s probably the way forward with what you have. This Ugly Boy may not be the prettiest rooster, but there’s a lot about him that I think would further your project - size, coloring, not the sire of the current generation - that makes him worth keeping. At least for now.

Can you remind me with pictures what your other options are?

That’s a really cool pattern on the feathers. I definitely see the SLW influence on the lacing she’s got in her chest. I have a hatchery speckled Sussex (whose adult plumage didn’t come in speckled, incidentally) that has similar feathers on her back and wings. I’ll have to see if I have any...

Yes, it is definitely a chicken! 😆 Is the pattern pencilled like a Brahma, then?

Not saying you’re a terrible photographer or anything, but I’d love to see a clearer picture of what the patterning on the breast and back look like. 😉 She’s got a pea comb, it looks like? Brahma influence but no feathers on the legs? Those are the colors you’re looking for, right?

Made it to the end! What an interesting project - I have little to offer in the way of advice or experience, but I am impressed with the progress you have made in two years time.