Feel Pretty Bad

Just a quick note...I feel pretty poorly. My earache is gone, the throat is still dry. My face feels like someone took a hammer to it, meaning my sinuses are hurting something awful. I can't sleep for any length of time. The dry throat sets me off into a coughing fit. I want to tell all about the show, but I am just not up for it, so I am going to go lay down, maybe I will feel better in a day or two.

Just to get it out there..one of my girls did win something. Never have won before...so this was a big deal for me. She got Reserve Champion Continental, Best of Breed, and Best Variety. Very nice indeed. :)

Got to go lay down now...

Today's Slideshow

There were over 1200 birds there Saturday. I took pictures of some of my favorites that caught my eye. Here are a few of those in this slideshow today. Many more to follow as the week goes on. Enjoy these beautiful birds. :)

If for some reason the slideshow doesnt work for you (this has happened before), just click on view all images and it will take you to the photobucket page with the slideshow and it should work there...I hope.

I will post more about the show later, right now I need to lay down for a while. I got to try and sleep off this sickness.

Good Monday Morning

I have a lot to show and tell today and the following days, but first thing is first. I said I would pick the names I liked the most today and send that person a little something in the mail for helping me out. I have rolled all the names around in my head and I have chosen.

LINDA over at Starting Life Over At 40 is my choice. She had two suggestion, but the first one was just right on. I loved this suggestion from the very beginning. I guess you could say she had and advantage and didnt know it. She and I are the same age you see, and so she grew up watching the same tv shows I did. Linda, do you remember? First, Happy Days would come on, then Laverne and Shirley! Loved that hour of television!

So, their names will be Laverne and Shirley. Thank you to everyone that gave wonderful suggestions. They were all very good and I appreciate your efforts!

Linda, I know I had your snail mail from way back when I sent you those cotton seeds? I couldnt begin to tell you what I did with it, so shoot me an email when you get time and give it to me again if you would. I will get your prize out in the mail by the end of this week. :)

I brought back more than I wanted to from the Poultry show...I brought back an ear ache and a sore throat! Last night I woke up about midnight. My ear hurt so bad, it felt like someone was driving a hot poker through my ear...and that side of my throat was already getting sore.

I immediately hopped up and got the hydrogen peroxide, poured a capful into my ear...and it fizzed like mad, so it was infected. It doesnt hurt now, but I have been up and down all night and morning with this sore throat. It hurts just to swallow. You know how it is though, if you put off swallowing, your throat dries out and then it hurts even more to swallow. I guess the congestion will come next. I almost wish for it over the sore throat. Lets get on with it and get it over with is what I say. I got to get through with this because I have THREE, yes THREE! more shows to go to in February! Y'all are going to go into chicken overload here by the end of February!

I have lots to tell...but I am going to close this entry and start a new one with pictures and lots of talk of the show I attended on Saturday. I will make slideshows each day of some of the pictures I took at the show and spread them out through this week.

Congratulations Linda! :) Thankyou so much for naming my two beautiful girls.

Laverne...



and Shirley...



These were taken Saturday once they were cooped in. Notice the blood stain on Shirleys body below the wing :(. They have to be tested for diseases before cooping in. They prick the skin in the bend of the underside of the wing...and it always bleeds like crazy. I cleaned it up the best I could. I checked last night and it was bruised. :( Poor girl. Laverne had some too, but it didnt show in the picture.

Good Thursday Evening

Let me tell you what folks, its no foolin around serious COLD outside, and it hasnt even dipped into the single digits yet as they predict for tonight and tomorrow night. The wind out there will cut through you like a knife cuts through hot butter. My two polish girls are warm and happy in the living room tonight. Ian brought me some boxes home from work and I put together an indoor pen for them. After the bath they can't go back outside, its just too cold and they are still damp underneath in spots.

Now this is not my first go around, but let me tell you what I know to be true from personal experience. Polish are DRAMA QUEENS. Oh at first they put up a fuss about getting their bath...then they usually give in and try to drown themselves by sagging their head into their bathwater. You have to hold it up for them, because they act as if you are killing them. I use baby shampoo and warm water, thats all. No torture devices were used in bathing them, though you would think it. The bath really is the worst part for them. The first girl was really very good considering she has never been through this before. Her sister...well, not so much. She was stubborn and didnt want to give in. She was flappin and I was soaked. It was only when I was rinsing her that she relented and let me do what I had to do.

Not only do they get a bath, but I take a soft bristle toothbrush and clean their nostrils, beaks, scales on their legs, under toenails, between toes...scrub a dub dub all the way. ;)

Before I gave them I bath I went over every scale on their legs for stubs. I found a couple in between the toes, but that was it. I think as they mature and get older I will find more of them and have to make sure to pluck every little one.

Now they are resting quietly and sleeping off the trauma...it really isnt that bad. They are really good and as you can see, I took a video of me blowdrying one of them. They really do like this part. The dryer they become the more they begin to perk back up. The video I have of Rod being blow dryed last year for a show is really good, you can really tell he was getting into that warm air blowing on him.

Tomorrow I will do some more fluffing and blow drying any underparts that may still be damp. Then it will be time to put on the shine stuff, put the mineral oil on the legs and feet. I will take all this with me and probably do it again once I get there Saturday morning, fuss fuss fuss over them til time for the show at 9.

Okay, enough babble, here are the pictures I took. I only took pictures of the first girl...as it would be somewhat redundant to do it the second time around with the other girl.




"I am so humiliated...can you believe what that woman did to my hair, I mean REALLY! Did I say I wanted a mohawk look? Noooo I did not!"




"This has to fall under the category of torture, it just has to."




"The Spa Treatment for the Stars this is NOT lady."




"Okay, the blowdrying was kind of nice, but I am wore out so I am hitting the old roost bar for the night folks, now its my sisters turn...he he..."

Here are a couple of pictures of her sister after her bath. She was not so cooperative and thrashed about in the sink and acted as if I were drowning her as her neck went limp and her head hit the sink bottom as if she were dying. (I promise, I was very careful when rinsing their heads. Just like I used to rinse Shelbys hair when she was little, I held their head back and rinsed away from their ears, eyes and nostrils) She miraculously came back to life and enjoyed her blowdrying session...and here she is bedding down for the night. I took a close up of her head. It is just so stunningly perfect, like someone painted those feathers.





Paula, I keep forgetting to tell you...I had thought of using a putty knife spatula thingie, but I hunted for one all over the house and garage and came up with nothing, so we were thinking on the same line, I just didnt have the right tool for the job. ;)

Night night...sleep tight...don't let the bed bugs bite.

Oh I almost forgot...the video is still loading on Photobucket, very very slowly...so I will just post that later.

Just A Quick Note

If you wanted to give any suggestions to the two polish girls names and haven't post it here. So far I have:

Laverne and Shirley
Millicent and Matilda
Lucy and Ethel

I will choose on Monday and whoevers names I choose I will send you a little something in the mail for helping me out. :)

A Postaholic Today?

I don't know whats up with me today...but I just seem to be a little chatterbox! I will just go with it, because there are days I don't have a thing to say and pull back into my shell for a while. I think it is just the anticipation of shows, it makes me giddy. ;)

This afternoon after I got everyone taken care of outside I set to cleaning out Bonnie and Clydes abandoned house. This is on the screened in porch. I have a bad habit of leaving things like this if not in use and cleaning them only when I need to use them again.

First thing to do was take the plexiglass guards off and get to scooping out the old shavings....




You can see why I have to take the plexiglass guards off...shavings get trapped in between the chicken wire and the guards.

Next we have some places where the shavings collected in a damp spot and got stuck..this happens when they scratch around and expose the floor...and then promptly poo in that area...then go to scratching again and it gets covered up and hidden, which dries to the consistancy of CEMENT.


So I take a flat head screwdriver and scrape it all off the floor of the house...cause thats what screwdrivers are used for right? It has many many uses! ;) After scraping and spraying with 409 and a wire bristled brush...I got most of it...as you can see below. Next I sprayed every nook and cranny with Frontline spray, just to be sure no mites would stow away and then get on my birds later, or if there were some already stowed away, in hiding, lurking, waiting for some birds to be put in...either way, they are dead meat now.



Next I put in a perch, fresh shavings, a platform raised on bricks for their food bowl and waterer, put the plexiglass guards back on, covered the pen with a fleece blanket to keep out the wind and cold...and last but not least I put my two girls in there. After their bath tomorrow they will have an indoor facility to stay in where it is warm until after the show...then they will go back out to the house shown here until February 7th and 21st for those shows. Hopefully I can keep them clean and won't need to rebathe them.



Here they are above checking out their new digs





How about that CLOSE UP!!! ;)

Night night girls, sleep well...



The one at the far end is not dying...lol...she is looking around. All those feathers make it hard to look around...so she turned her head upside down. If they are perching I see them do that a lot.

My Religious Upbringing

A touchy subject indeed. A lot of people are very open about their religion on their blogs. I am one of the more reserved ones. Today this entry will take you back to my childhood growing up in my church.

Columbus is where I was born. Its where my parents were born and raised, its where their parents were born and raised as far as I know. I have deep roots in Columbus, Georgia. From birth my family and I went to Wynnton Hill Baptist Church. I looked and looked for a photo of the church, and do you know...there isnt one? Isn't that unusual in this day and age of computers and the internet?

I grew up in the nursery as a toddler. We went to Sunday school and then adults went to hear the preachers sermon. Children had their own sermon geared to keep us a bit more interested. We had our own worship hall to boot. We all know how hard it was sitting quietly in church with your parents without speaking and squirming, trying to be respectful. Once a teenager you had to sit with the adults though. I participated in the youth group. We went to Wednesday night supper and worship. This was my favorite time to go to church. There was ALWAYS fried chicken...along with many other side dishes. Everyone brought covered dishes on Wednesday night. Everything home made. It seems like Wednesday nights were not so formal, things were more relaxed.

When I was fifteen we moved from Columbus. Mama was ready to go, to make a new start. Erin, Daddy and I were not so enthusiastic. I had convinced myself that I wasnt going to get in the car, then we couldnt leave. As you can see today, it didnt work. We had to move because Western Union in Columbus was closing down. The one Daddy was going to work at when we moved was in East Point. Western Union was not the same as what it is today. Daddys work was full of ticker tape machines, lots of machines and equipment. It wasnt a mail service like it is today.

I got off track there for a minute, sorry about that. We moved to Jonesboro, Georgia. We had always gone to church...and once we settled in to our home we searched for a church to go to. First Baptist Church of Jonesboro was where we landed. We went a few times...but it just never really clicked for my parents or us kids. We still held onto our values and beliefs...but never really found a church to feel at home in again. To this day, I have not gone or belonged to any house of worship, but don't be sad for me. God is not in a building. God is in your heart. God is all around you.

Ians mom and I talked a lot about religion and our beliefs when she was still alive. I still hold those conversations close to my heart today. When Ian was a boy the two of them would go to church together. His dad had to work a lot, so that was probably why he didnt go with them.

Roz and I both believed the same thing about this subject. We believe that if you keep your faith strong in your heart, and you try to be a good person and do the right things every day...that you don't need to go to a building with a bunch of people every week. I understand that many think that doing so strengthens your bond and faith with God. It may do just that for a lot of people. I am not very tolerant of crowds and people these days. I like my solitude. I have found that I feel closer to God just being still...listening, observing the outdoors. Sometimes it overwhelms me and my heart will swell with the love of the nature He has made for us.

In this day and age...the times are busy ones. Its hard to find a moment to relax and be together as a family. Every other Sunday when Ian is off, this is the perfect day to just be together as a family. I don't mean to sound disrespectful when I say, I would rather be with my family having some quality time than spending it in a crowd of people...some I know, some I don't.

The reason I don't shout my religious beliefs from the rooftops to everyone is not because I am ashamed, it is because there is a reverance and privacy to my thoughts and feelings regarding it all. Today, I have opened up that privacy for you to see. Whether you are happy or disappointed in me...it doesnt matter. What matters is that I am comfortable with my convictions.

Ian is agnostic, and I have always been alright with that. He respects my beliefs and I respect his. I do not push my beliefs on him. Shelby has been taught the basics by me...and as she gets older, she can make up her own mind.

Ian and I both agree on one thing. No one should push their beliefs on others. An invite to a local church by someone is not pushing. Keeping on about coming when someone declines the invitation, is pushing. Forcing religion on people will run them off, trust me. Its kind of like the teacher in Charlie Brown...all you start to hear is that droning wah wah..wah wah wah wah..wah wah wah..

So there it is...all layed out on the table for everyone to see. I believe this is the most revealing thing I have ever written about myself.

I thought about it, and I would like to add something. Ray, over on Dads Tomato Garden, or now called Tomato Gardening with Dad has Sunday meetings. I didnt realize until a few months ago that they had the meetings at his house. To me, this is more intimate and special...I like this and would be more inclined to go to a meeting like this, held at someones house and that is a close friend...just a thought that I wanted to put down here.

Another Sunny Morning

It may seem uncalled for to some, but I have to start my entries with the fact that the sunshine has graced us once again this morning! Its so beautiful to see, I do love sunshine. It was in the twenties again this morning. I think winter is finally coming this weekend. We are in for some really cold nights...down into the teens, Wednesday on through the weekend. Winds are coming with that Thursday night...which will make it feel like we have taken the plunge into the arctic tundra.

Yesterday I got the two silver laced pullets (pullets simply means any female chicken under a year old) looked over yesterday. They didnt appear to have any pesky mites but I sprayed them with Frontline spray under the wings, on the back of the neck, and above their ummm, well you know, where the eggs and poo come out. ;) You have to be careful where you spray the Frontline, you dont want to spray it at the base of the tale on their back. That is where thier oil gland is. It is what they will rub their head on and then rub on their bodies to keep their feathers looking nice. I went ahead and checked Coco and Kuckoo over and found they did have some bugs...so I sprayed them with the Frontline spray too since I was already out there with the bottle. Today I am going to clean out Clydes old house and put in fresh shavings, fresh food and water and put the two girls in there tonight. Wednesday they will get their bath and blow dry. Thursday they will be looked over for STUBS (fifth paragraph down on this link). Any final grooming will be done. I have some 'shine in a bottle' you could call it that I use on my birds. You can get this at Sallys Beauty supply...it is for human hair, but is great for making the birds feathers shine. You have to be very careful not to use too much though, or you will end up with an oily looking bird. Their legs will be shined up with mineral oil. Their toenails clean. The two girls will look very nice. Friday I will probably just fuss over them...just out of sheer anxiousness. ;) Saturday morning I will leave out around 5 am, just to be sure I get there in plenty of time. Cooping in deadline time is 9 am. The birds have to have under their wing pricked and be tested for any diseases. They will then get a band on their leg that is good for three months. That means they will be ready to go and won't have to be tested for the other two shows I will attend in February.

The eggs in the incubator that I am hatching for Tex are doing well. Five were fertile out of eight. One of the five is questionable as far as its development. The amount of veins are less than the others. It doesnt appear to look as strong and thriving as the other four. We will see how that one turns out.

I had a sick Red Star...one of my layer girls. I didnt even mention her in my past entries. Sometimes these things happen over the winter. Winter is hard on any animal. She moulted, but did not grow in her feathers as well as the others. Moulting is so hard on a bird. They need all the nutrition in their feed to go straight to the feathering out, that is why they stop laying eggs at the time of moult. She was in a weak state. I gave her all the usual things, antibiotics, a vitamin and mineral supplement, high protein food, but she was just too weak and didnt make it. I used to get very upset when any chicken died. Its still disheartening. I have to admit that I am attached to certain ones more than others. They pick me, I don't pick them to be buddies with. The ones that have these big personalities are the ones that become more of a pet to me. In the case of this Red Star, she was not one of the ones that I was close to. Like I said, it was disheartening. It always is, to lose any of them, but not gut wrenching pain like I feel when one of my buddies goes.

The Golden Phoenix pullet is all healed up. She wants out of her pen. I have tried once already to put her back in the flock she came from, but they were not nice to her at all. I ended up pulling her out by the end of that day. She retreated to the roosting pen most of that day just to be left alone. I don't know what to do with her. I could try to put her in with the layer flock. I have silver phoenix hens over there, so why not a golden phoenix. It is hard for just one hen to be incorporated into a new flock. She takes a lot of abuse before settling into her place in the flock. I am still up in the air about what I want to do with her right now.

I will close todays entry with a few morning pictures I took, because the sun is shining, and that alone is enough reason to take pictures. Oh, before I forget, Bill, you asked about those chicks I raised up a while back? The last ones I raised were over last Spring and Summer. They were a mix of giant cochins, golden phoenix, serama, white crested polish, and some of my own mixes I made up. They are together in what I call the "pretties pen". I have taken pictures of them before, but not recently. I hope this answered your question. I will see about taking some pictures of them today and will post them tomorrow for you okay? :)

On with a few pictures...




Eddie on the left...Troy on the right. With those thick winter coats the cold doesnt seem to bother them much.




Tiny says good sunny morning to everyone

Now this robust big young rooster here...will be rehomed soon. A friend of a friend needs a strapping young man for his flock of hens and he seems like the man for the job. He is not a bad rooster, just overzealous with my ladies, and is really just an extra out here, so he needs to go to a new home. He will be well cared for and very happy. I am hoping they will be coming to get him soon.




Thats all I have for today...everyone have a fine Tuesday and I will be back tomorrow morning with some new pictures of my progress towards getting ready to show my two girls. I think they need names. I already have a Thelma and Louise...the two silkie girls. How about y'all give me some good names for these sisters. Tell you what. Y'all give me names, and I will pick what I like the best. The ones I pick, I will send a little prize in the mail to you...how about that? So a contest then. Put your thinking caps on and get creative for me. :)

Sunshine This Morning

I went outside this morning like I always do to let the chickens out of their coops and was greeted with....THE SUN! Oh that glorious ball of fire in the sky. How I have missed it. It looks like we are going to have a full day of sunshine and I am in such a good mood because of the sun shining. It is COLD out there though. It was 25 when I went out, and its not much warmer now. The sun inspired me to take a few pictures. This was originally what I ran in to get my camera for...it just looked neat to me...




Just a fence post...with frost on it...but I thought it was pretty sparkling in the morning sunshine.

Everyone else seemed very happy to see the sun. One of the emu girls even let me give her a good scratching on the back of her neck up to the back of her head. They will let you touch them, maybe even rub their neck a couple of times, but this was different. She was actually ENJOYING this. She was all leaned up against the fence, you could see it in her eyes...it felt goooood. ;) I was looking through my pictures and saw that I havent taken any recent pictures of my emus...so I took some pretty headshots this morning and they were very accomodating.





Then Buckbuck was posing for me in the morning sun...he just stood there basking...looking beautiful...this morning was a good morning to be a cochin. They have a lot of insulation for this cold weather we are having.





Shelbys cat Fergie (yeah, we gave up on the name TOO as in The Other One) is no fool...she is in her bed under the heat lamp this morning...



I made Clyde a new indoor facility for winter. His house on the porch, which used to be for both Bonnie and him, is just too big and lonely for just one little chicken. He seems very happy to be inside. I am looking towards putting a trio of modern game bantams in his old house...if I can find a nice trio to buy at one of the shows I go to. So Clyde and Phoenix are now both officially 'house chickens'. I need to make Clyde a chicken diaper outfit before he gets to roam the house like Phoenix does. I made him a wide perch, you can see it on the right of the pen. It is a piece of 2 x 4 that is wrapped in newspapar and then I put a protective 'wipeable' cover of clear packing tape over the newspaper. Screw in the ends hold it on the sides of the pen. Poor Clyde, he will fall asleep on that branch that he is perching on and fall right off. He ends up on the floor of the pen sleeping. This is why I made him a nice wide perch...but he has yet to use it...he loves that stick. Its one of those that has washers, a wingnut and a screw in it...like you would get for a parrots cage.

Ian is home today...and its getting late, time to do some things around here and be productive. I hope everyone has a great day today and I will hopefully see y'all tomorrow morning with coffee. :)

No Company This Coming Weekend

Well..my older sister was going to come and visit this coming weekend...but, she is sick. :( She has been in the bed with a flu/bronchittis for days now. I am sad that she won't be able to come, but she is sick, and I don't want her to 'share' what she has, and I especially want her to get WELL! :) I love you Patti and we will get together when you are feeling better again.

In light of this development, I have decided to go to a poultry show in Jefferson, Georgia this Saturday. I am going to enter two of my finest birds! The two daughters of Coco and Kuckoo. I am so excited!!! I only have a few days to get them bathes and check for stubs and all the other finer points of showing to do...but I will be ready.

Many pictures coming very soon! YAY! I am so happy to be going to a show! I am very sad that Patti isnt coming and that she is sick, but, I am happy to be going to a show!