Yep, almost a week since I posted. I notice a lot of folks slowing down on posting in their journals. Hopefully because you are outside enjoying Spring.
Ian was off this past weekend, so I wasnt on the computer much. I didnt get much of anything done outside either. It rained and rained for days. The news says we are not in a drought anymore, except for the area lakes. Still, the water restrictions are on. Maybe if there werent so many people using the water in Lake Lanier...it could have a chance to fill to pool, but I don't think that is going to ever happen. Not to mention we send water to the endangered protected clams on the coast. There has to be some sort of common sense here. We aren't in a drought, USAGE is UP! But what do I know, I am just a lowly country bumpkin nobody. ANYWAY....
We got a break from the rain, sun was promised on Sunday, but we did not see the sun. Its pretty bad when your solar lights around the flower beds don't have enough sun to work. We thought they were broken, but it turns out after half a day of sun yesterday they worked for about half the night last night before pooping out. That is the way I feel when I don't get enough sun. I feel like a starved solar light!
Monday I did manage to do this...
No, thats not snow on the ground, its lime. If you look on my sidebar list of TO DO's that was one of them. I managed to lime most of the areas I wanted to lime. This should kill off any yucky bacteria lurking in the mud that might make the chickens sick. It seems that Pete has taken over the role of King of the yard. He is a good young rooster for the job. He is a big boy too. He is learning not to be so grabby with the hens now that he is over a year old now.
The four polish I originally had hatched for Debbie that she let me have are getting so big and beautiful. I am not quite ready to put them out in a pen yet, so they are still in their box...but on the screen porch, on top of the cattery pen...
I managed to get the trio of Hamburgs in a much larger carrier. They are quite comfortable for now until I build them a breeding pen. I have already gotten two eggs from the girls and one is for sure fertile...it already had veins when I candled it! I have also been placing eggs from the silver laced polish, when I get them. They are sporadic in their laying, but I snatch up every egg I can. Kuckoo has not attacked me, but I still can tell he is thinking about it when I go to get the eggs. I guess he is in mating season mode...oh well, hopefully he is doing his job. ;)
The cat...Mocha...loves the dogs bed...she scrubs all over it and lays in it like this.
So where is Tip? Oh she doesn't care if Mocha is in her bed, because...
You see...Tip is in OUR bed! Whats better than our bed? The cat got second choice..lol.
There is nothing much going on during the week this week. We are just trying to get through this rain. Saturday is supposed to be in the seventies and sunny. I won't be home though. My niece is having a shower for her wedding that is on May 9th and Shelby, Mama, and myself are going. Erin, my younger sister, hasn't decided if she is going or not yet. That means at some point I hope to cross off washing and waxing my truck on my TO DO list on the sidebar. I like to have a clean vehicle if I am going out of town.
Ian will be going back in time this Thursday. A friend of his that he still keeps in touch with from high school has asked him to go to Fort Lauderdale, to an Iron Maiden concert. Iron Maiden is Ians all time favorite heavy metal band. I don't think Bruce Dickenson even sings with them anymore, so I don't really see the point, but they are going. Kenny, his friend, has a fifteen year old daughter he is taking also. I wonder if she really like Iron Maiden, or if she is just humoring her Dad. So they are going to drive for twelve hours to see that, and then turn around and come all the way back...without stepping foot on the sand at the beach.
You know what I told Ian. I told him if it were me, I would stop at our hotel we stay at when we go to the Atlantic Coast. I would get a room for the night, get some good sleep, and then just as soon as I could see outside good I would be walking down to the beach to step foot in the sand and the ocean...soaking in the sunrise and the sounds of the ocean. Why deny yourself? If your going to be passing right by there anyway? I would do it if it were me. He says he probably won't do it, that he will just want to get back home as soon as possible. Thats sweet, but we know how much this family loves the beach. To pass right by it and not sink your toes in for a bit, just doesnt seem right. I am flattered he will just want to get back home, but still. Either way, I hope he has a good time. Often when you go back and see and do things you used to do as a teenager, like rock concerts, its not as much fun as it used to be. We will see how it goes.
I leave you with a picture of Derby and one of the emus enjoying the last bit of sunshine before it went down yesterday evening...
Thank you everyone for your kind words on Hanks passing. He was a good rooster through and through. He was special. It means a lot that y'all stopped in and said a few kind words to this crazy chicken lady. I did call Mama and tell her that her favorite rooster had passed, and then it all came out. My face screwed up into a tortured look, I know it had be awful looking...then I started bawling. Mama consoled me, telling me I did everything I could. I am okay now, but I will miss him for a long time.
Its raining here this morning, but I knew it was coming. Its a bit windy to go with that rain too. No outdoor fun today. I don't mind. When it rains I can stay in and spend a little more time visiting your blogs. I can also get a bit more housework done seeing as the outdoors does not call me when its raining outside. Only when the sun is shining and its warm does it call me.
Monday the three of us went to visit Tex and Debbie. Tex has a relative that gets a deal on chicken (to eat) and was kind enough to share this deal with us. We came home with over 40 pounds of chicken tenders for about ten bucks. Pilgrims Pride brand too, not a bad brand of chicken.
While we were there I got to see those babies that I had hatched for Debbie...they are growing and getting so beautiful. Here are a few pictures of them...she has had two of those white crested blue polish come out a really light color gray, and they were so beautiful...she offered one to me, but I didnt take it, I dont want to be greedy. She already gave me the four and then Shelby got the only Salmon Faverolle chick that hatched. The other one I thought was one, turned out to be a cochin.
After showing me the chicks we went down the hill to see all her other chickens. Her son has his game chickens down there also. She has been using some of his pens for her chickens and he has been grumbling about it some, but I told him later to be nice to his Mama and share.
She has a pretty pair of splash or mottled cochins, I am not sure if they are splash or mottled. He looks more splash, she looks more mottled. Whatever they are, they are really pretty birds.
Here is a picture of Tex's pheasant below...
Two Black Tailed Japanese roosters...bantams...
A whole flock of Golden Penciled Hamburgs...Dwain is looking to buy these. I sent him this picture and he really likes these...
A couple of Jacobs games down below...
They were also so kind as to dig up one of their yellow bell bushes for us to take home. Debbie has a really green thumb. She has grown a lot of these from just snapping off branches from an existing bush and she says they root really easy. She also dug me up some of her peonies that came from her grandmothers flowers.
She had other chickens, but I didnt get pictures of all of them. She has what I believe to be a nice pair of Seramas. I am not an authority on breeds though, so don't hold me to it. She has a nice pair of Crele Old English too. She also has a flock of bantam Golden laced Sebrights.
She is stressing though, because she doesnt have the room for all these chickens. She does, but remember, she is using Jacobs pens..some of them. She needs to get some pens built, but like me, she is a very busy lady. They are the ones that have the exotic birds if you remember me posting a lot of those pictures before. A lot of these birds have come from an elderly lady up in Commerce, Ga. that had a stroke and can't keep up with all her birds anymore, so she is getting rid of most if not all of them. Debbie and Tex came home with a lot of them this past visit to her house, and Debbie doesnt want to keep them all. The next trip up there Ian, Shelby and I are going with Tex and Debbie to visit her, and maybe help rehome some birds. I can take some, and the ones I don't keep I can easily find homes for them. I did come home with her trio of bantam Silver Spangled Hamburgs. She says that the daddy of the male in this picture below won many awards at poultry shows. If the two girls will lay, I will hatch from this trio and then I will have a bantam breed to show next year.
Better pictures of these three will come later.
Last but not least, Dwains eggs (a second batch he sent to me) have hatched. These are serama babies. I started out with fourteen eggs...two were not fertile and were tossed out. Five died in the shell at some point in development. One died hatching out. It didnt make it out of the shell on its own. A lot of times I will help the baby out of the shell if it looks to be having a hard time. Sometimes they are too big in the shell and cant get turned around to peck out. I try not to though. Its best to let them do it on their own. If you help one out, sometimes the belly button will bleed a few drops and that worries me. I haven't had any die from helping them out, but it still worries me. I helped two out with this bunch, four hatched on their own, and then the one that I didnt help out (and I regret this now) died in the shell. Here are the six babies that made it....
The babies I have been hatching for myself are getting to where they are hopping up on the sides of the box they are in...I tell them to stop being bad and stay in the box...lol. They don't listen very well. I guess I will have to cover them soon, or put them in a larger box...I dont know which I am going to do, but I will do something about it today. Here are my bad babies. ;)
I know this has been a rather lengthy entry for me. I hope it has been a little entertaining today. I am going to go get a fresh cup of coffee and then go see what some of you fine folks are up to today.
Yes, I sound like a five year old...saying "Its not fair!" But it isnt. Now is the time for life and rebirth of the ground, the trees, new life springing up everywhere. The temperatures are warming, the sun is shining.
Hank will not be able to enjoy this Spring. My stomach hurts. My guts are churning. I have not cried any tears yet, but I know it will come. Sometimes, it takes a little while for the whole idea of him being gone to settle in, and then I will sob and hitch and cry. Probably when I call Mama to tell her. Mamas are good listeners when you need a good solid ear to talk to.
I did everything I could. I guess he was just too old to bounce back this time. I gave him shots of penicillin, every 48 hours. He seemed to be getting better. He was eating, drinking. I was not prepared to see him passed away in the big carrier crate I have him in. I picked his body up, and put it right back down. I closed the carrier door and covered the doorway back up with the blanket I had over the carrier. Its not fair. I was doing everything right...so what happened. I don't know. All I do know is that I will miss him a lot, for a long time. Its going to hurt to go out in the yard and not see him strutting around being king of the yard. He was so sweet. He was a gentleman with the ladies too, never jumping on them like young roosters do. He would dance for them and find goodies for them to eat, and then, if they squated down for him, and only then, would he mate with them. He never chased and grabbed them like the young ones do.
So, with my heart in my throat, and my sadness out there like an open wound...this day will always be Hank Day at this farm. We will remember him forever. He would have liked today, its sunny and going to be nice and warm, with a gentle breeze out there today.
These first two pictures are the first ones I ever took of Hank. We had gotten home from being over at Mama and Daddys over the weekend and he was standing on the patio, soaking in his new home. The pictures are not real sharp because these were taken back when I didnt have a digital camera and so it was just from a regular camera with film. The date on these pictures in my folder on my computer was September of 2005. There is no telling how old he was when we got him. I am guessing at least three years old, so he did live a long life. I still believe chickens can live even longer though. I just wish he could have stuck around for this Springtime. So, at about 6 and a half years old, Hank left us.
This is Secret, Donna's jersey cow. Donna is the one that got me blogging in the first place and I love to visit her blog every day. She always has something interesting to see or read. I love her cow. Donna has wanted Secret to breed and there have been several attempts with no results so far. She was thinking of selling her. I told her if I lived closer I would love to have her here to add to my farm animal pets. She seems so sweet and lovable. That got Donna to thinking, and she thought...why not have her for a pet?
We all know the majority of my animals are useless, but I love to have them, love to pet them, feed them, watch them. Its very soothing for my soul. Its therapy right in my back yard. I won't ever eat the goats, emus, or the pigs...they are just there for my enjoyment. The horse is a mini, so I can't even ride him, but it is still enjoyable to watch him and have him come up for a good scratching and a nuzzle as I kiss him on the nose. These small joys are why I keep them around. Without them I wouldn't be a happy as I am. I am hoping this is what Secret will give Donna, a peaceful feeling and some good company. :)
That is how I saved Secret from being sold...my adoration of farm animals as pets has influenced Donna to do the same for Secret.
This does my heart good, thanks Donna for keeping her around for us to see for years to come. I love that cow. :)
I dont understand why busy bodies just can't leave people alone. This man is doing exactly what I did in Forest Park, having a few chickens. Yes, he has a few roosters, but its not the neighbors that were complaining. I left a comment of support for him along with every other person that left a comment. If you read, there are no negative comments towards him keeping chickens. What happened to this world? Why can't we keep a few chickens in the city? That bird flu pandemic scare didnt pan out the way the government officials thought. It was just fear mongering. Just like mad cow, just like the peanut butter salmonella scare...they blow things up to seem like it is the end of the world coming down on us, then, when it doesnt, we are all still so terrified we don't want our neighbors having chickens. Now that is not what the article says, but it is just one example of what fear mongering does to our freedoms. This guy has the mayors approval to keep his chickens, so I am hoping he gets to keep his chickens. People are ridiculous. With the economy going down the tubes you are going to see more and more people planting gardens, keeping chickens, goats, etc...and why not I say. What is so wrong about being as self sufficient as possible. I tell you what is wrong with it, we might actually become independent and not need the governments interference...hmmmm...okay, enough ranting, I am going outside to play, the sun is finally out! :)
This is a picture of a well behaved winning rooster. One that had spent the past two months indoors, out of the elements. He was given a bath and a blow dry without struggle. He went to four shows and didnt attack a judge handling him once. You saw me hold him while he slept on me in that picture. He got to where he was investigating my plate from the perch in the box as I ate my supper each night, and I would share with him! So what happened yesterday? I will tell you what happened.
There was an egg in their newly built pen. Probably a fertile egg. The beginnings of a new line of my show chickens. Like usual I opened the door of the pen, stepped in and closed the door behind me. Leaning over I picked up the egg and WHACK!!!
What the???? what was that??? Did I step on his toe? I wasnt even sure what had happened, until it happened again...and this time he hit home, home being the back of my calf on my leg. OWWWW!!! Dangit! I had been flogged! Ungrateful brute! Had he lost his mind? I KNOW he didnt just do what I thought he did!!!
I turned around and held him to the ground, getting his attention. I picked him up and carried him to the house, straight into the bathroom to have those long spurs removed (You can see them in the picture above), something I should have done before I put them back outside but didnt get around to. I also trimmed and filed his toenails. I learned by accident the spur on a rooster is just a cap of sorts over a tender one growing underneath, a smaller one. It slips right off with a little twist of the wrist and a firm grip with a pair of pliers. There is hardly any bleeding at all, just a few drops ooze from the soft spur underneath. Once that one hardens I clip the sharp end off the new short spur.
The whole time I am doing all this to him he is just taking it all in, not struggling. I looked him in the eye and he was just looking at me, like OH I know you. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity. Maybe it is just Springtime and his testosterone is overflowing and he couldn't help himself. Either way, I had a hole in the back of my leg and a trickle of blood running down it. He really did catch me off guard. I never even thought he would have done that, but he did. Guess thats what I get for thinking...lol. Silly silly man bird.
Okay Donna, you can't leave me hanging like that! How did I save Secrets life??? I went for a visit at your place and saw all about the potatoes and Dennys, and everything. I am going back to read again and leave you some comments, but I didnt see anything about Secret, so please elaborate on what I did to save that sweet little cow! :) Also, I used to use Sevin dust on everyone. It is so messy though. I learned from Jerry and Beth that they use the Frontline Spray on their birds and it lasts a lot longer. They said usually about two to three months. Just a spritz under each wing and above the vent, once on the back of the neck, all under the feathers, on the skin of course, like you would do the top spot Frontline, and it runs off any bugs and prevents any for a long while to come. I have been using that for a while and it seems to work well. Back when I did Hank, I was at Mama and Daddys and didnt have any sevin dust available and I wanted to get him clean too...he SMELLED BAD! I forgot about that until just now...boy did he stink. I dont know why, but he smelled like garbage.
Shelby is actually up early today..so we are going to do school and get it out of the way...so I am off to play teacher. ;) Everyone have a sunshiny kind of day!
Good Tuesday morning. The sun is shining once again after four days of rain and dreariness. Everytime the sun comes out after such a long time I feel like the world is being reborn, or blooming, or something like that. ;)
Jimmy, thanks for stopping in and commenting. You are welcome to any of my pictures anytime :).
Linda, I am so sorry you lost your baby dog. I know it is gut wrenching and heart breaking. Please try and think of all the joy you got out of it. I bet you will remember many good times and it will outweigh the sadness you feel. I am thinking of you and wishing you well.
My loving sweet Hankie poo is getting better! I didn't want to post this too soon for fear of jinxing it, but he is doing so much better he THINKS he needs to get out of the carrier. Not just yet though. I don't want a relapse. I did something for him that I have not ever done before. I gave him shots. That may not seem like a big deal, but I cringe at just the sight of a needle. So to actually use one on one of my animals was, to say the least, a big leap for this sissy girl. I had to do it for him though. I couldn't stand the thought of losing him. I went to Tractor Supply and got a bottle of penicillin injectable, some 22 gauge needles and some syringes. After talking with the ladies at the check out counter I confirmed how much to give him. The penicillin in the bottle was very strong and actually for larger livestock animals, so I would need just a very very small amount in the syringe, just a few drops. I had to be sure he was getting enough, without overdosing him and killing him. That night I got everything ready. I have no experience with this, so I had consulted the girls, and then Ian said too, I had to thump the syringe to bring the bubbles to the top, and then squirt some of the medicine out of the top to release the air. In doing this I got some on my hand. Now, I am VERY allergic to penicillin. It has put me in the hospital before. I went and washed my hands off. As Ian looked on he said to be sure to wash that off good, that he didnt want me having a reaction to it. I didnt either, been there, done that. With everything ready we pulled Hank out of the carrier and I proceeded to jab him in the leg. Chicken skin is tougher than you think. The first jab, I didnt jab hard enough, so I had to do it again, with a bit of squeemishness I jabbed harder, this time at least making it under the skin and into the leg meat a little bit. The next day, I swear it was like a miracle. That bird was up and out and ate two whole pieces of wheat bread at one sitting, without the mucusey drooling, so I knew he was already doing better. Fourty eight hours later I gave him one more injection, this time getting it right. The first time is always the worst. After that you get better. I can say this, from now on, when I have any bird get sick, this is the way to go. If your going to save them, this is the quickest way to get them back on their feet for sure.
Hank came to us through a feed store for those that are newer to Hank. We had already moved out here from the city, but I was in town down there and stopped in to say hello to Mr. and Mrs. Swint, the owners. This feed store has been around for ages. They are good people for sure. This was the feed store I frequented when I had my chickens in the city.
In I walked and I got halfway across the floor and they pointed and said, "There she is, hey! Would you like to take home a rooster?" I took a look inside a small carrier and there sat a really mean looking rooster. He does look mean, if you dont know him. His face looks mean, but he is really very sweet. I was hesitant, but decided to give him a chance. I wanted to hold him and see what his temperament was. Everyone was leary of getting him out of the carrier, getting on some gloves just in case he decided to bite. I just decided to reach in and get him. He was just a big old puppy dog. His story was that a young man had come in with him asking them to find him a home as he was going off to college and could no longer keep him. I liked this rooster right away so I took him home.
First I had taken him back to Mama and Daddys house. I had come to visit them, but had stopped in at the feed store first. At the time I had had Ember with me. She would come with Ian and I on the weekends. We were staying there on the weekends while painting and cleaning up our old house to sell. Ember didnt fit in with any of the flock and they picked on her, so she came with us. There is a funny story about her laying eggs in the next door neighbors laundry basket out in their garage too. This is about Hank though, so lets stick to that.
Upon getting him there and out of the box they had provided for me to put him in, I inspected under the back of the neck feathers, and oh my, he was eat up with some kind of bugs. Yucky, long bodied little mites of some kind. Well, he had to have a bath right away for sure. I did just that. I used some Dawn dish liquid (everyone knows this is used on kittens and puppies to kill fleas so I thought it would probably work on these mites too) and the hose outside. You would have thought I had killed him. He stood there for a good fifteen minutes after his bath, not moving a muscle. Finally he decided to come back to life and began preening. By the end of the day he was dry an bugless and ready to come home to the flock. From the time he got here, he has always been the king of this yard. Everyone, all roosters, give him the respect he deserves and doesnt quarrel with him. In the picture on the last post, Paula, he is indeed doing a dance of sorts...lol. He is telling the Silver Phoenix rooster to 'step off' and keep a distance from his girls. The thing is, he very rarely has had to fight for his place in the yard, everyone just 'knows' that he is the top dog out there.
I have to get some lime and spread it liberally out in the yard and chicken yard area. Reading up I do believe he contracted fowl cholera. This is common at this time of year. With all the rain and mud and then the warmer temperatures, it makes a breeding ground for this bad bug. Generally it is brought in by wild birds or rodents. It could have been either, as we have the little birds that come and snag a free meal out of the chickens food. We do have mice, though I am diligent in keeping the numbers down I know I am always missing some. The lime will kill the bacteria and then Hank will go back out in the yard. I would have put it down already, but like I said before, we have had constant rain since Friday. So far there are no other signs of illness in the flock. It may have gotten to Hank moreso because he is older.
Bottom line is, I need lime, and a lot of it. We need some dryer weather, and a lot of it.
Thankyou to everyone for their wonderful and sweet comments of encouragement for and about Hank. It really does help. Means a lot to me that y'all care. :)
I leave you now with a picture of Tip, yes! I actually got a picture of her. Only because we were outside. She has a terrible fear of the camera. More specifically the flash. I think she associates it with lightening, and storms. She is scared of thunderstorms too. Its hard to believe we have had her for almost nine years now. She will be nine on August 15th of this year. You wouldnt know it though, she still has that border collie spunk. :)
Everyone have a great day today. If you have sunshine, get out and enjoy it! :)
Most of you know who Hank is. The video above is one of his fine crowing moments. Hank is not feeling well. He is an older man around here, but I think he still has a while to go before he leaves us. I am really attached to this rooster, as is Mama. I am doing everything I can to see that he gets better. I am pretty sure I know what he has and how to treat it. I have him a penicillin injection last night and he will get another every 48 hours. I have never given an injection before to any of my animals, but I had to do it. I really don't want to lose him and I am trying everything to save him. He is eating. He is trying to drink, but it is hard for him to keep liquids down. This worries me terribly. I am afraid he is dehydrated. He has lost weight also. Please keep good old Hank in your thoughts. He just has to get better.
That is the meaning of Onagadori. This fowl is considered a Living Monument of Japanese culture and is protected by the Japanese government. The picture above is one of these revered birds. To read more on these beautiful roosters here is a link.
http://www.longtail-fowl.com/html/onag1.html
Sorry about having to cut and paste...I can't seem to get the link option to work today.
I got an email from my sister Patti yesterday asking if I was doing alright. She had checked my blog and saw I had not posted in a week. I am doing great, no worries. :) We have been having some fantastic weather and I have been outside a lot. All that is supposed to come to an end and the weekend will be rain filled, but I have had a nice time soaking up the sunshine and getting some things done.
Last Saturday and Sunday I set my sights on getting the double wide pen built for my four Polish that were still in the house on their shavings in boxes, even after the show. I wanted a secure new pen for them, and I needed a larger one to accomodate all four for breeding purposes. It was hard to let them go back outside. Yes, I was vacuuming up shavings everyday, yes, there was pine shaving dust on everything, but I enjoyed them being right there for me to pick up and love. Kuckoo had even gotten to where he wanted me to share my supper plate with him. He soon learned that when the tv tray went up and I sat in my rocking chair, that meant food was coming. I caught him eyeballing my plate one evening, as he stood at the edge of the perch, still in the box like a good boy though. Coco was on the floor of the box, eating chicken food. I put some corn and peas on the perch for Kuckoo and he ate it right up! He didnt even share with his mate. Usually when a rooster finds something really good he alerts his mate and gives it to her, but not this time, he was keeping it all for himself. I did end up giving her some anyway.
Here is the pen I built for Kuckoo, Coco, Laverne and Shirley. I have the tarp on it for wind and rain protection, but since it has been warming so much I didnt completely cover the pen with it. Instead, I had found rolls of that outdoor shade material at Lowes on clearance for five dollars a roll. That is what I put on the front for shade from the sun, but will still let in the air.
Before I started this pen this past weekend, that Friday I spent the day putting up a fence inside the pretties fence to seperate the three giant cochin boys from the rest of the flock. They dont mean harm, but their testosterone is kicking in and the girls, and even some of the boys (poor serama boys) are showing this development. I will show you in some pictures to follow. I have named the three Larry, Curly and Moe, because they are indeed three silly stooges. ;)
In the last two pictures above you can see where the boys have grabbed the head of this hen to top her so much she is going bald. Eventually the feathers on the back would disappear from too much mating too. In the last picture you can see one of the little serama males has some feathers missing on the back of his neck. The cochin cockerals will grab anything and try to mate it apparently. Poor tiny fellas were getting the short end of the stick on this one.
Look at the brown and black hen in the middle of the last picture. I have three of these hens. They are a made up chicken of mine. A cross between white silkie hens and a golden phoenix rooster. One of these girls got sneaky on me and had a nest of eggs in Derbys barn behind a bin under the pigeons cage. I candled the eggs and kept five of them that were already developing. What this hens offspring would look like was a total mystery to me. She could have been mated by any number of breeds of rooster, from a serama to a giant cochin, to a golden phoenix rooster, to a polish. I thought it would be interesting to see these five eggs hatch and grow up, so I put them in the incubator. Here are some pictures of the mystery chicks. Along with them in the brooder right now is Shelbys Salmon Favorelle, named Oscar. I found out by reading on where else, the internet, that at about two weeks you can easily tell the male from the female on this breed by looking at their wing color. Black, a boy, brown, a girl. Oscar is a male, and in Ians words I quote "GREAT, another rooster!" as he rolls his eyes. Also in with them are two of the Brown Red Modern bantams.
Just so you know what your looking at, here are the two brownreds...
and here is Oscar...
This little chick has a bumpy head, so I am guessing he is part polish...I love its little blonde fuzz on its head..
Here is a picture of a brownred just born this morning...
So moving on through this week...Monday the two kitties went to the vet to be spayed. Shelbys cat Fergie is not a very good patient so they gave her a shot to knock her out to shave her belly to look for a scar. Why you might ask? Because since she has come to live with us she has not gone into heat. Now I know most cats dumped by the roadside are not fixed and this was very unlikely, but this time, it just so happened there was indeed a scar, and she was already fixed. Since she was already knocked out and needed a teeth cleaning I went ahead and had that done instead. Mocha on the other hand, we knew was not fixed as she came to us as a tiny kitten on the run and has gone into heat several times (its very annoying too). With Mocha fixed, Fergie and her shiny white teeth, booster shots taken, I picked them up at the end of the day and we came home. Mocha is resting up in our bathroom on a comforter and Fergie is already back into the groove of things.
Being away from home all day Monday, and dedicating the whole weekend to building that pen, my house had become quite a mess. It doesnt take long around here for that to happen. I also needed to clean out the chicken boxes and take them out of the house. Tuesday and yesterday was spent catching up, or trying to at least, catch up on laundry, dishes, cleaning, that sort of thing.
So here I sit, finally making an entry. I hope it wasnt too long. I usually try to keep it a little shorter than this, but it has been a week after all. I took some pictures this morning of the peafowl, goats, emus, and horse. I havent posted any in a while and the peafowl have grown so much. I leave y'all with some pictures from this morning. Have a great Thursday. :)
I had an incident happen over the weekend happen between the peafowl and the emus. Do you see this emu? They have big ole bodies and little tiny heads. In those little tiny heads they have a tiny little brain. They do the best they can with what they have. You see, the emus protect my animals. Anything foreign that is not supposed to be in the yard is promptly chased down and stomped if at all possible. Birds that are penned are not recognized when they escape their pen. The emus cannot make this connection. I learned this valuable lesson over the weekend when I pushed the doorway to on the peafowl pen and the wind blew it back open while I was fetching water for the peafowl and the white peahen ventured out of the pen. I turned and the emus had surrounded her and were raring up and trying to stomp on her. I went running over to save her before they killed her. I thought they had already done her in, but I held her and checked her over and she was going to be fine. Meanwhile the peacock has escaped during all this commotion. He took flight and the wind easily carried him high in the air. First he flew to the fence and perched for awhile. Then he easily flew (wow can peafowl FLY) onto the roof of the house for awhile. It was quite windy and warm and the roof was hot. Eventually he flew from our roof across two and a half acres to the neighbors shed and under the overhang onto a large plastic paint can. I couldnt risk him flying back into the yard while I was trying to catch him. The emus were aware and would be on him before I could do anything. So, I enlisted Shelbys help to stand guard inside the fence while I went around to the neighbors shed with a net. Luck was with me and he came quietly. I got within a few feet of him and put the net over him easily without a struggle. I took him back to the pen and everyone was once again safe and sound.
In light of this development, I can see that the peafowl will always need to be in a covered pen area. Right now the pen they are in will do, but they are growing and will need to have more room very soon. I am waiting on some fencing I made sure Lowes had on order to come in and then I will be able to make them a bigger enclosure where I can see them much better and they will have a lot more room, and be safe at the same time.
NOW, I am going to end this entry...y'all have a good one. :) OOPS, forgot to add the Eddie and Troy into the picture flow..
I am a 42 year old woman that is about as happy and content as one person can be. My husband of 21 years and our 15 year old daughter live on five and a half acres out in the country. We moved from the city four years ago and never looked back. I homeschool our daughter. We also love our animals. Our daughter has a miniature horse and two rabbits. We also have a border collie, two cats (again), two pot belly pigs, four peafowl, three emus, 2 llamas and an undetermined number of chickens, lets just say ohhh about 200. I have many breeds, from layers to fancy chickens. I love poultry shows, I love fowl in general as I have come to find out through having more than just chickens. Chickens will always be my first love though. I do show some of my birds occasionally.
