Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Ribh]

You have all set me reading about chicken breeds. I had to spend a half hour sitting in the Chicken Palace run because the Princesses kept changing their mind about whether they were don with wandering around outside and there was a fox about so I passed the time reading about chickens.
Apparently there is something called a 'Heritage Leghorn' - which is supposedly the Leghorn before it was bred for mass production.
Probably all you experienced chicken folk already knew this but 'Heritage' breeds are available and are bred for longevity not production.
Now finding out where to get them seems tricky. @rjohns39 did I remember right that you are involved with heritage breeds?

He is. Delawares I believe ` & others. They're pretty birds too.

 

[Ribh]

OMG. Really? No, I did not know that. I WANT ONE!

Edited to add: I know we destroyed their genes by making them high production, but I did not know you could still get the original ones. Are they from Italy?

Leghorns were standards out here before ISAs came along & they were *proper* Leghorns that didn't keel over @ the drop of a hat.

 

[Ribh]

I know "Exchequer" is one of the leghorn colours. Maybe there are many other colours too.

Google says:
Both the American Poultry Association and the American Bantam Association recognize a number of Leghorn varieties including white, red, black-tailed red, light brown, dark brown, black, buff, Columbian, buff Columbian, barred, and silver.

I remember blacks being quite common.

I think here sells Heritage in America: https://justfowlingaround.weebly.com/breed-profiles/white-leghornheritage-breed

 

[BY Bob]

@BY Bob, did I ever mention I was on an all-girls racing team? It was in those 24 hours of lemon races. Not super fast, but real cars on real tracks. I’ve only been on Thunderhill and Sears Point. Cars are meant to be “lemons “meaning, not valued higher than $500, not including safety equipment and tires. we drove an 84 Porsche 944. Even the more experienced drivers had trouble not spinning that thing. So many fun and crazy stories from those days.

View attachment 2342141

View attachment 2342142

View attachment 2342143

That is really cool. I bet that was fun! In fact I'm a little jealous.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes! See, Bob, hopefully we can still have our Leghorns by diluting down the production gene. LOL.

Exactly! Get that personality with fewer eggs. It's a win.

 

[BY Bob]

You have all set me reading about chicken breeds. I had to spend a half hour sitting in the Chicken Palace run because the Princesses kept changing their mind about whether they were don with wandering around outside and there was a fox about so I passed the time reading about chickens.
Apparently there is something called a 'Heritage Leghorn' - which is supposedly the Leghorn before it was bred for mass production.
Probably all you experienced chicken folk already knew this but 'Heritage' breeds are available and are bred for longevity not production.
Now finding out where to get them seems tricky. @rjohns39 did I remember right that you are involved with heritage breeds?

I also did not know that. I wonder if we could locate some without being fed a bunch of hooey.

 

[BY Bob]

So this is totally not chicken related, but I wanted to share… I’m seriously considering getting some hot wires. I planted my tomatoes really late and they are starting to turn color, which is very exciting! A lot of love, patience and care has gone into this project, which is my first real veggie garden. Well, the last two nights, rats ravaged the garden and started gnawing on my first ripe tomatoes! I’m so disappointed! I need to figure out how to get on top of the situation.

View attachment 2342172

View attachment 2342174

View attachment 2342175

View attachment 2342176

I would kill them. Traps I think. Bait if I could be certain only the rats would get it. I would not stand for that.

 

[BY Bob]

Bob, I forgot to mention… That is such a cute car. Cute is probably not the word you want to hear, but… Anyway, what is the story behind it?

I am not a car buff by any means. As long as it functions and gets me from point A to point B, I’m happy. My brother, on the other hand, is fanatical about making custom engine parts and tweaking things for performance.

I think it is OK to call the Alfa Spider Veloce cute. It's not a muscle car. It's a small convertible.

You opened the door for me to tell a story and I never turn those down.

I never intended to own an Italian sports car, well I did dream of owning a Ferrari as a young lad, but that is another story.

I came across this car back when my youngest was getting ready to turn 16 and we started looking for a used car for her. We were looking in the newspaper one Sunday (remember when you used a newspaper to find a car?) and I came across an ad for a 1985 Alfa. I had not seen one in forever at that point. I said to my daughter, let's go check this out. I just want to see it. It's probably a pile dust and barely runs.

So we spoke up at this guy's house. He has a 1 car garage and the Alfa is sitting in the driveway in front of the door. It looked great. There was a little rust behind 1 wheel but otherwise spotless. I get in the car to take it for a test ride and the driver's side window crank is a pair of vice grips but aside from that the car is pretty put together. The seats aren't cracked, the roof is perfect. I'm starting to think that it must have engine or transmission issues.

It's time for the test drive and she fires right up. Sounds good. I run her up onto the highway and she flies. Shifts beautifully. What a dream to drive. I am quickly falling in love and when we pull back in to the driveway I'm trying to figure out how much cash I can free up and still get my daughter a car!

So I start chatting him up trying to figure how bad he wants to sell the car when his wife pulls up in minivan. She is obviously pregnant, goes around the side of the van, gets another child out of the car seat, grabs two bags of groceries, and heads into the house. So I'm thinking they need a second car and a place to put it. I might be able to get this guy down to where I can accomplish a toy for me and a car for my daughter.

His wife then opens the front door and delivers the car into my hands by screaming at him "YOU SELL THAT PIECE OF S$%T CAR YET?"

His head dropped and I pulled out my checkbook. I wrote him a check for $3,000 and drove off with the car.

I've had it 16 years now and it is a joy to drive when it runs. I've been chasing problems on her for 2 years now but I may finally have the upper hand after the way she ran today!

 

[BY Bob]

I know "Exchequer" is one of the leghorn colours. Maybe there are many other colours too.

There are many leghorn colors including brown.

 

[BY Bob]

Yes, there are Brown Leghorns. This is my "Beetov-Hen" Lead hen in my flock.View attachment 2342339

Another in charge leghorn.