Welcome to my page! This is just a starting point, as I hope to get lots of information/pictures of my flock up soon! My name is Brandi, and I live in the New Orleans, LA area. I have a crazy, hectic schedule right now with 3 jobs(USPS, LA State Racing Commission and a vet clinic) and a full-time school schedule at UNO studying Business. My boyfriend and I have 3 dogs(2 Staffordshire Bull Terriers, 1 Pit Bull mix), 1 Thoroughbred mare, 11 cats and lots of chickens. I have Lavender Orpingtons, Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, and a mixed layer flock. Once we buy a house/land(hopefully late 2011/early 2012), I will expand my chicken breeds further, lol! Chicken math at work...

My passion has always been horses, specifically the Hunter/Jumper world, but a few years ago I had an accident that really shook my confidence. Since then, my horse-ownership has had some tragedies with beloved horses dying suddenly, so I haven't been as involved in them as I wished I could be. However, I am ready to start getting back into the game, and am planning on starting to lesson at a new barn ASAP. Also, since my mare had a bad injury last year and probably will not be up to strenuous work, I will likely find another horse to work my way back up with. I have always had a love for Thoroughbreds off the track(OTTBs), and am involved in an organization that assists in helping the racing industry find new careers for their retirees. So, naturally, my next horse will be another OTTB, since I almost exclusively deal with them.

I also have a love for cats and have acquired quite a few barn cats since people think that it is an attractive place to dump them! But I love all my kitties and try to spoil them as best an outdoor cat can be. I am also a lover of bully breed dogs. After working for a vet who owned a Staffordshire Bull Terrier(the English Staffy aka "Nanny Dog", not an American Staffordshire - which I also like) in 2005, I fell in love with the breed and found a dog in the summer of 2006 that was needing to be rehomed. Lexie came to me from Idaho(after having been born in TX and living in CA previously). She settled in the first night I got her as if she had been with me since puppyhood, and I was completely sold on the breed! In the summer of 2007, my boyfriend saw an emaciated, pathetic looking dog propped up against a tree in the median on a road on his way to work. He called me to go "see what it was and help it", and after a blood transfusion, plasma transfusion, and multiple days in the ICU, we have a Pit Bull mix(?) named Gator who was brought back from the brink of death and is now a wonderful member of the family. Then, in 2008, I happened to be working at the vet clinic when a client brought in a litter of Staffy puppies. The owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse on the runt of the litter, and so I acquired Tessa! So, now we have our 3 brown dogs, lol! I will have a page for them and pics soon! We also have a love for Catahoula Leopard dogs, but do not currently own any after our older ones passed on. I hope to get a pair when we get property so we can have some farm dogs again.

And as for chickens....here is the story. Last summer, the summer of 2010, there was an accident. I was on the riding lawnmower, clipping the grass in my horse's paddock around the barn. As I went through some tall grass, I saw feathers fly, and saw a baby chick running for safety. Of course, I freaked out and called my boyfriend over to inspect, and he found that I had run over a hen that was sitting on her next with a chick. Then he proceeds to ask me what was for dinner...and we were actually going to have chicken, uggh! So naturally, I catch the chick and go to the feed store to buy it some friends. I raised 2 Barred Rocks, a Brown Leghorn, and the orphan bantam/game mix. I lost one BR, but then got a couple Buff Orpingtons, one of which got killed as well. The little orphan, who of course ended up a rooster eventually disappeared as well. And people wonder why I don't want raccoons and oppossums around my house! Once the hens got bigger and I started getting eggs, I was hooked. Now I have 75+ chickens and will be concentrating on rare/uncommon colors/varieties of select breeds as time/space allows. For now, my breeds of choice are Blue Laced Red Wyandottes and Lavender Orpingtons. I hope to get some Silver Pencilled and Partridge Wyandottes eventually, as well as some Ameraucanas and who knows what else! Oh, and I am trying to come up with a farm name of some sort....