Thank you everyone for the condolences. I've now lost 3 birds in just a few months - the first two were both favorites but both times I couldn't help but think, "I'm
so glad it wasn't Carolina," as bad as that sounds...but today, I'm spending all day in bed because I don't know what else to do. I don't want to get out of bed. I don't want to do anything but lay here. I never thought it was possible to be so sad over the loss of a bird. But she was my baby girl, my favorite, my friendliest bird, and the only one that I loved the bring into the house just for kicks. My flock will never be the same.
I'm down to...I don't know how many...
1 Splash Andalusian
1 Light Brahma
1 Crested Cream Legbar
1 Olive Egger
1 Tolbunt Polish
1 Black Copper Marans
4 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes(only keeping one)
The legal limit here is ten and since I'm only keeping one of the BLRW, I can add 3 more birds to my flock. I'd like to hatch them out or buy an adult bird. I know for sure that I want a Lakenvelder.
There's problems with hatching them out AND with buying an adult. If I hatch them out, I have to keep the chicks until they're old enough to sex, and then I have to figure out how to get rid of the extra boys, which can be hard. But on the bright side I get to hatch again(it's been a while)....If I buy an adult I risk bringing diseases such as Mycoplasma into my MG-free flock, and I don't really have a way to quarantine birds for 2+ weeks. The area I could have quarantined in my garage is now a studio for my photography. If I buy from a trusted source I wouldn't have to quarantine(right?) but it's hard to introduce new birds into an existing flock. Much easier to introduce babies IME. They get picked on less and my flock is used to little babies coming into the mix. I just let my 2.5 month old Olive Egger into the flock and she's been pecked a few times when she tries to eat with the adults, but besides that they leave her alone.
I think I also want a Pita Pinta and I don't know what else. At this point I'm thinking I'd like to hatch out instead of buy adults, but I don't know where to get the eggs from for these breeds without having them shipped as I don't want to spend all of my money on eggs that may end up not hatching.
Buying eggs is going to take up all my money but I guess that's what happens when you're a college student with a hobby - you have no money. lol. Any suggestions on where I can get eggs for any of the breeds I'm interested in? Lakenvelders(DEFINITELY want), Jersey Giants(maybe), Pita Pinta(maybe), and I don't know what else...I'm open to suggestions. I like a colorful egg basket and/or unique/interesting breeds.
Sorry for the super long post. I'm kind of thinking aloud here, but would like suggestions on where to get hatching eggs for these breeds
I'm going to look through Jeff's breed list again and see if anything there interests me...but I really want Lakenvelder eggs.
