Happy Easter Everyone-
This is the first Easter I have ever been alone. My husband had a bad episode of what started as a small bump on his wrist- and has ended up being another MRSA infection. I took him to the hospital on Thursday, they cleaned, lanced and packed it and on Friday when i removed the bandage- it was bad bad bad bad and I knew I had to get his butt right back to the hospital and they admitted him. He is on mega-antibiotics now by IV and he is doing well. My girls are staying at my step-daughters because of all the running back and forth I have had to do from here to the hospital.
Friday morning I came home from work early feeling like someone had beaten me up. Fever, chills, aches, nausea...stopped at the pet store to get parrot food. ANd they had the cutest ducklings and chicks there- and a whole crowd of clueless kids and adults buying them. I educated a couple who were only buying ONE chick...told them to get it a friend, etc etc...and the kids that were picking out ducklings made me shudder. I wish the pet store would not sell them. We are all suburban, and they are illegal here and most of the cities around me. I dont mind everyone having illegal poultry- obviously not at all, but I just know that when people buy them on impulse like that at a pet store, most are not set up to provide for them...except for the few like me. One lady I talked to DID have chickens already...but the others only see the cute and fuzzy and will be dumping the ones that survive once the novelty wears off. Especially because the pet store isnt handing out care sheets and they have no idea what breeds they are, etc.
Myself, I can understand how they get sucked in. I was able to resist the chicks....easy enough. I have just moved all my babies outside and I am loving that. yay yay yay...but I couldnt resist the ducklings. They had no heat lamp, and no water. I watched the two smallest ducklings choking down the food, the waterer was dry...and I turned to mush. I impulse purchased. I did- I asked what kind they were. I trick-questioned, I said, "Are they Pekin?" and they said, "Yep"...sure they are. I saw a gosling in there, and tried to pull it off. I said, "OH you have a gosling." They told me it was the last one and it was sold already.. so I brought home one little chocolatey yellow and one yellow with chocolate splotches on its face. And I gave myself the speech. "This is why they sell them every year...because people like YOU buy them"...but I wasnt listening.I drove home with two little ducklings sleeping in my lap and then spent the afternoon snuggling them and napping off and on. Now when i put them up, they cry. peep ppeeeeep peeep peeep. So cute.
My muscovy eggs are due to hatch in TWELVE DAYS...whooo hooo! Sevenchickens we are almost in the home stretch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh no, you all...my brother in law was at the hospital visiting my husband yesterday and told me he needs hens.
heh heh heh..."no problem, I am hatching for you", I tell him. He said that last year all I seemed to hatch was roosters and now he has to butcher almost his entire flock...and I told him that that must mean this year I have earned the right to hatch out mainly pullets for him. However, three of my four Jersey Giants are cockerels and looks like out of the seven other chicks I hatched, at least three are male and the others I cant tell yet...I ordered six long-crowers eggs as an April Fools joke. I will hatch them out and send them to him once they are feathered out- and just watch..the ones that I want to end up with a rooster in will be all female. I have six JG eggs under my broody Turken. Hopefully I can get a couple pullets out of all these JG I am hatching. I have a dozen more JG eggs coming the end of April. That hatch can come with me to chicken stock if anyone wants some.
I want a couple silkies. I want bearded splash with beautiful puffy heads and butts. I do not want to hatch them because I have no choice but to send the extras and the roosters over to my brother in laws...and feather-footed chickens do not fare well over there. Too much mud. If someone has a pair of pullets they would like to part with at ChickenStock, let me know.
Thats my weekly novel- I really have enjoyed seeing the baby chick pictures everyone is posting and hopefully soon SevenChickens and I will be posting pictures of muscovy ducklings..
Everyone have a wonderful holiday.
