7/11/12-So, this is the story of the girl who was NOT allowed any large pets a child. My parents finally caved when I was young and let me have a "pet", a gerbil, which I named ZigZag. No more pets allowed until in my teenage years a friend of the family's cat had kittens and they were convinced to take one. This was a gray calico named Patches. They let me add a goldfish tank shortly after that. Once I got on my own I think I went crazy with the freedom of making my own decisions on pets. Now in my 40's I have 9 of my own dogs, 2 foster dogs and recently added this year, 8 chickens. I can see this chicken thing getting addicting too. <SIGH>
So, back to the dog thing...I started off with a Sheltie from a pet store (hindsight is 20/20 right?). He was a good pet but didn't handle it well when the kids came along. I gave him to my Grandmother and he was a great pet for an older person. Then, I got a Golden Retriever, yet again from a pet store (obviously hindsight wasn't 20/20 for me). Well, not only was she a poor example of the breed, but she started nipping and growling at the kids if she had food or a toy...off she went to a farm. At this point, my now EX-husband says, "Just get a pit bull, that's what I had as a kid". So I did a small amount of research and off I drove (from PA) to Tennessee to pick up a young male pit bull named "Loney". And thus began my love affair with the breed. I ended up adding several more within the next few years, and began showing them all over the East Coast. 15 yrs and multiple champions later, I have come to a point where I think I need a break from showing.
So, a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless because once in a while she browses this website
), had starting getting more interested in chickens and turkeys and red pheasants. Well, I attended an auction or two with her before I caved into this crazy obsession, but it has now struck me down as well. <insert another SIGH>
I started by bidding on (and winning) a Japanese Bantam pair (buff/black tail), who became known as "Ozzy" & "Harriet." Not knowing much about chickens, I think I got some elders, and Harriet has never given me even one egg, LOL! Ah well, such is life, pets they shall be.
So, then, I met on this here forum a lady, (who shall remain nameless because she visits this website daily!
), that had some Langshan pullets for sale. <insert one more SIGH here>. Well, this lady got me wanting MORE chickens, LOL. And, so then I had 2 Japanese Bantams, 2 LF Langshans and one bantam langshan.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I picked up a SL Wyandotte(LF) 4 week old pullet (hatchery stock), whose name is now "Wynonna".
So, then I was reading the forums here as I do every day, and came across a thread about a MD swapmeet. Well, MD is not that far from me. I swore I was just going to LOOK. I got there late (10:30am) say and many vendors had sold most of their stuff, but the chickens that were donated for the club raffle were still at the booth, and what gorgeous chickens they ALL were. VERY nice of some people to donate such fine birds for the good of that club I must say. I decided I "needed" to bid on a beautiful young (Feb hatch) pair of Bantam Columbian Wyandottes. Gosh, they were/are beautious! And they made the journey home with me much to my satisfaction. Here is where I will stop for today. Next entry maybe my failures at incubating...
So, back to the dog thing...I started off with a Sheltie from a pet store (hindsight is 20/20 right?). He was a good pet but didn't handle it well when the kids came along. I gave him to my Grandmother and he was a great pet for an older person. Then, I got a Golden Retriever, yet again from a pet store (obviously hindsight wasn't 20/20 for me). Well, not only was she a poor example of the breed, but she started nipping and growling at the kids if she had food or a toy...off she went to a farm. At this point, my now EX-husband says, "Just get a pit bull, that's what I had as a kid". So I did a small amount of research and off I drove (from PA) to Tennessee to pick up a young male pit bull named "Loney". And thus began my love affair with the breed. I ended up adding several more within the next few years, and began showing them all over the East Coast. 15 yrs and multiple champions later, I have come to a point where I think I need a break from showing.
So, a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless because once in a while she browses this website
I started by bidding on (and winning) a Japanese Bantam pair (buff/black tail), who became known as "Ozzy" & "Harriet." Not knowing much about chickens, I think I got some elders, and Harriet has never given me even one egg, LOL! Ah well, such is life, pets they shall be.
So, then, I met on this here forum a lady, (who shall remain nameless because she visits this website daily!
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I picked up a SL Wyandotte(LF) 4 week old pullet (hatchery stock), whose name is now "Wynonna".
So, then I was reading the forums here as I do every day, and came across a thread about a MD swapmeet. Well, MD is not that far from me. I swore I was just going to LOOK. I got there late (10:30am) say and many vendors had sold most of their stuff, but the chickens that were donated for the club raffle were still at the booth, and what gorgeous chickens they ALL were. VERY nice of some people to donate such fine birds for the good of that club I must say. I decided I "needed" to bid on a beautiful young (Feb hatch) pair of Bantam Columbian Wyandottes. Gosh, they were/are beautious! And they made the journey home with me much to my satisfaction. Here is where I will stop for today. Next entry maybe my failures at incubating...
