Ralph: Sounds like you are feeling better -- I certainly hope so! Your rooster stories are too funny. But Ole -- oh my. He's gorgeous. As is your cream legbar. I'm a sucker for Crele coloring. So if you're ever shipping eggs this far...
MM: My nine year old also is unrecognizable. I swear it's not the same child who resided under my roof last year. Not at all.
Morrigan: Welcome back!
Turkeytruff (Hope I spelled that right): Welcome, and bottoms up!
Jessica: I misunderstood in my previous post, but now I understand your business endeavor. Your posts remind me of the "Free Range" commercial flitting around, which cracks me up every time I see it. Please continue with the chicken smuggling tales!
On the chicks and Cornish this year:
I really want to focus on rearing my own Cornish X variation. Unfortunately, fate isn't helping me out in that department. Lori had some obvious circulatory issues -- her waddles and comb slowly turned purple. (No other symptoms of anything to be that respiratory thing that causes this.) I found her three days ago in classic "Chicken Flip". The next morning, the same thing with Lola. Only one of those two ladies was producing fertile eggs. Lulu is still with Jerry, but hasn't laid since her sisters passed. The eggs I've put in the incubator are coming up with 1/3 fertile -- all out of the same type of shell. Lulu is clearly Jerry's favorite (I really need a saddle!) but I'm uncertain whether she's the actual productive hen. AND, my incubator and I have an ongoing battle. Presently it is winning. So my project meaties may not come into fruition. Everyone please say a little prayer that the 7 eggs I have in the incubator make it through hatch day this time. Sigh.
That means I likely will have some Cornish this year. It will probably only be the bigger birds that the local farm store can't sell off -- my best friend's mom works there and will pick them up for us when they get to the "unsellable" stage. So it won't be many CX.
Instead, if I lose Lulu, or even if we don't, I think we're looking for straight White Cornish. Anyone happen to know a breeder who will ship eggs? I want quality, not just hatchery stock though.
My eldest alien-possessed demi-demon, however, has a pet Dark Cornish, and he has informed me three times now that he wants to take on a flock of Dark Cornish. This bird lays exceptionally well. I told him he could so long as he did two hours worth of reading and studying about the breed each week. The same thing I told my youngest for the quail eggs we're cooking up for him.
Right now, it's also really hectic trying to get this heirloom farm off the ground and running. We *finally* got the mature Orps in their house this last week. And I snagged a lovely pure black English roo to go with them alternating with my BBS English roo. He's evidently all rooster, compared to Odin (the BBS) who, although a god, is very... docile. Bacchus, (the black) evidently killed two roos the week before he came here. And he'll evidently breed anything that moves. You can see it in his face too, he has a tough as nails scowl. Heh.
The lavender orp chicks are soooo pretty. Although now my brooder is overcrowded and I'm working on finishing up a nine-foot long brooder for the office. I also picked up some Ameraucana's this week, to add to my layers and my EE breeding pens when they mature.
And, my own rooster story of the week. Meet Marshmellow. An adorably fluffy white silkie who weighs all of a pound or so. I pulled all his pen mates from him for a day, separating a few of our breeding pairs now that they are mature. Then, that night, I put in four young birds with him and his beloved hen, Cotton. The young birds are two polkies (one naked neck), one silkie, and one frizzled silkie turkin. Sex unknown on all of them. Anywho, that first night they were terrified of Cotton. The next day, they were all getting along at morning feeding. By that night, Marshmellow had plucked every single tail feather out of both Polkies!!! He's now in isolation in the house, waiting for the flock in the coop to forget about him, so he can come in as low man on the totem pole and get knocked down a peg or two.
Anyway... chicken adventures, right? Laugh. Gotta love them, good or bad.
I haven't tried it yet but he sure makes it look easy.
