Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! Gideon's Got a Girlfriend! She Isn't Pleased!

[sumi]

New pics of Gideon today at 26 weeks old. He's becoming quite a stud-muffin, though none of the hens nor his daddy are pleased with his antics.

He's a beautiful boy! Love his comb.

 

[speckledhen]

I love the way he's filled out as he's matured. His new owner says she will be coming to pick him up this Friday. In a way, I will miss him. He is calming down nicely, though Isaac almost kills himself trying to keep Gideon away from all the hens and none of the hens willingly submit to him, not even Druscilla, the Barred Rock pullet he was raised with. And Dru even began laying two weeks ago and squats for me. If Isaac would accept him as second in command, I would just keep him, but alas, that isn't happening.

 

[chickenn@@b]

Oh what a handsome boy. I love roosters. I can't wait for my little EE roo to grow up and do his roosterly duties.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you! I hope your EE rooster is a good boy for you!

 

[speckledhen]

Well, Gideon fans, he has gone to his new home in South Carolina. His new mom is going to take wonderful care of him, I can tell already. So, I guess this will be the end of our Gideon thread, unless overthetop (Karla) wants to continue it or start her own for him. She promised to send along pictures of Gideon with his seven new hens when he is settled in. I know he will be happier without Daddy Ike chasing him down all the time. Thanks to Karla and Michael for giving Gideon a fabulous new home!!

 

[sumi]

I'm sure he's going to be very happy there. Tell Tiny it's safe, she can come out now

 

[speckledhen]

It's so quiet here today! I sold 7 pullets and a bantam rooster today, in addition to Gideon yesterday. For the first time in years, I have only one large fowl rooster (and 1/4 rooster, aka, a bantam). Just a year ago, I had 8 roosters, 4 standards and 4 bantams, crowing.

 

[sumi]

I've reduced my flock of just over 100 to 1 roo, 16 hens and 9 youngsters. It's really quiet here since I sold the last 2 extra roosters. I'm not planning on selling any more though. We'll be taking them to my friend's house within the next 3-4 weeks and I want to hang on to all of them until then. It's going to be really strange not having any chickens after all this time. I'm going to be looking for a house with a nice big yard LOL

 

[speckledhen]

That's a major reduction, sumi. I bet it's much quieter right now, but in your situation, you could do nothing else. I am thinking of what to repopulate with next year, especially if I lose some older hens over this winter. I dread that, but I know it's coming.

 

[sumi]

I got some "sweepings" from an employee at the the farmer's co-op a few weeks ago. It's a mix of animal feed that come from the damaged feed sacks that they sweep up and give us when we go buy corn for our chickens. I stored it in the barn, thinking I'll give it to a friend of mine. When he came round today I turned the barn inside out, but the feed's gone. The barn is closed up all the time and locked with a padlock. I think refusing to leave any of my chickens here was the right decision. With this kind of nonsense going on I'll worry myself sick about them. The gardener who, apart from me and DH is the only person who goes into the barn was all innocence. We seem to have a thieving ghost here then.
It's difficult to pick breeds! Some are so pretty, some lay very well and then some lay beautiful coloured eggs, some are tough and will handle any weather...

All I know so far is I want some Blue Orpingtons. They are so beautiful! I'll have to spend a lot of time studying the different breeds, so I can decide what else to get. But at the moment my mind is like a bird, hopping around too much! It doesn't help that I'm not familiar with 95% of the breeds you all talk about, as we don't get them here. But I'm taking notes.