North Carolina

[jtbass2756]

Busy day. The barn cat got hurt this morning, and is at the vet needing her tail amputated. It got too hot for me to do what I had planned to do outside this morning, since I had to go to the vet. But I got a free bale of hay out of the deal. I was following a pickup with a precariously balanced load of hay on my way to the vet, and sure enough, one fell off. I laid on my horn, and the truck zoomed off. I guess he thought maybe the hay hit my car and I was mad or something. Anyway, after I left the vet, it was still there on the side of the road, so I pulled over and loaded it up! I'd return it if I could, but no sense letting it go to waste!

RF, hope your day is better. If there's anything I can do, let me know. I have a few empty cages if you need temporary spots for anyone. And crates.

So sorry about your barn cat...but I'm sure you can make good use of the hay

! At this point....except for not getting the best out of your day.....you probably don't know whether your day has been pretty good or the pits!

Take good care of you cat,,,,,they are so helpful with the rodents hanging around.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

I'm doing short stints outside, until a hot flash joins the outdoor heat. Then I have to come cool off. It's slow, but the rabbit/quail barn is getting cleaned out. The vet called. Sherbert is now a bob-tailed cat and will come home tomorrow! I still have to get the hay out of car, but I think I'll let hubby do that!

 

[ramirezframing]

Sorry about your cat, but glad you were there to see it and could thus take action. Glad to hear that Sherbert is doing well and can come home tomorrow. Don't over do yourself.

 

[doubleatraining]

RF...Call if you need help..re-building pens, moving birds. Anything. We will be there.

X2!! I'm so sorry for your loss! I know how you feel.

 

[Tikkijane]

Well...getting ready for the twins 4th birthday party for tomorrow only to get a call that they found my uncle dead in his bed this morning...nursery, bees, landscaping, and chickens on hold...party is a go...he woild want it that way. Sudden but we can handle it...God has a plan...life goes on.

Got to expliain to 4 yr old twin boys why their gruncle Mac...great uncle...is jot here any longer...

Coop...still swapping in you are interested...pretty much looking mutts...nothing in particular!

I am so sorry!

 

[Tikkijane]

Thank you for the input, it is probably a mutt. I was thinking bcm, but he has no feathers on his feet.

French standard = feathered legs. English standard = clean legs. Fwiw.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I didn't realize there was an English standard, or any standard other than French on the Marans since they are a French chicken.
All the cuckoo Marans I've seen are clean legged, but I assumed that had to do with crossing to get the pattern. I know their eggs tend to be slightly lighter than the BCM's as well.
So I'm guessing there's a BCM that has clean legs?
New to me.
That's my favorite trait of them! (Besides the awesome coloring and super dark eggs of course!)

 

[Tikkijane]

Come home after being gone most of the day to find out that my place had been hit by a young pitt bull and some mixed breed dogs. 2 polish hens dead in their pens, my broody blue project polish and a silver laced. One of my silver laced roosters gone. But the worst was my main sumatra pen ...TOTALLY EMPTY except for the one mixed breed hen who is a grand daughter off of my first sumatra rooster.

Followed the feathers across the road to one dog's house and the people tell me that they got one black hen out of another neighbor's pitt bull's mouth and put her on my back steps. I check everywhere and find the polish rooster coming out of the woods and into the field beside my house. I mange to chase him down through the woods without killing myself. Now that I think about it, it's nice to know that I can still chase down my supper if I ever need to. Not that I want to repeat that anytime soon!

I then found one of my dun sumatra hens in the garden. My son was walking in the side yard looking for birds as a black sumatra hen jumped out of a tree. I found another black sumatra hen in the front bushes.

I had to give up the hunt for birds/ bodies and tend to the wounded birds. Most the polish made it out without injuries. A few silver laced hens have some rips in them and one hen's side is filled with air. One rooster busted off one of his spurs. The sumatras that I caught seem ok for the moment, will have to look closer at them in the morning, as dusk was heavily upon us. All the birds are very stressed. Lost eggs from the broody polish and from my broody dun sumatra, even lost a turkey egg in the silkie pen that is beside the sumatra pen. My guess is the silkies also got to going with all the ruckus going on beside them and managed to break the egg.

Even with all the birds I did manage to find, I was still missing the one bird that I wanted back the most (even over all the hens), my dun sumatra rooster. Being almost dark, I came in the house, hoping to find the rest of my sumatras in the morning, including my dun rooster. After a few minutes there was a knock at the door, it was the mute neighbor man. He flapped his arms and pointed across the road towards his trailer. We go over and there is what looks like a hen, as I get closer I can see that it is my dun rooster! My kids and I manage to catch him up, and after a few death screams and biting I give him a quick look over and put him in with his hens (in a cement pen this time so no digging in till their pen is fixed).

Come morning I will see what other hens show up and I'll be fixing pens with a gun close at hand.

Here's hoping I don't lose any to stress from all of this.

Awful!

 

[Tikkijane]

http://www.themaransclub.co.uk/breed-standards/4541956911

I didn't realize there was an English standard, or any standard other than French on the Marans since they are a French chicken.
All the cuckoo Marans I've seen are clean legged, but I assumed that had to do with crossing to get the pattern.  I know their eggs tend to be slightly lighter than the BCM's as well.
So I'm guessing there's a BCM that has clean legs?
New to me.
That's my favorite trait of them!  (Besides the awesome coloring and super dark eggs of course!)

 

[Tikkijane]

http://maransofamericaclub.com/maranstandards.php

^^^This site has the history and good pics:

http://www.themaransclub.co.uk/breed-standards/4541956911