Morning (okay I know it is almost afternoon) Everyone!
Sounds like everyone is recovering from the holidays with chickens in tow.
My BF and I went to visit Elwood Lightfoot (aka Bill) yesterday. It was a great visit, man makes me feel like a lazy bum with all his projects he is working on. Thanks again Bill for having us over. The llamas freaked out when they smelled the piggy snot on my jeans.
Dexter kept smelling my pant legs then looking up at me really confused. It was so funny.
Well I am going to fire up the new food dehydrator today. Planning on tomatoes first since they will not take long. Once they are done I am going to pack them in olive oil and store them in the fridge. Yummy!!! After that I am going to make apple and pear chips. Double Yummy!
Now that we are officially in the new year what is everyone's plans for their flocks? Inquiring minds want to know.
Next week I am going to set up a breeding pen to start the ameracochin project. Been up in the air about how I want to go with this but think I finally got the traits hammered out that I want to develop. So far I have decided I like the cochin comb more so then the ameraucana's but I like the blue legs better then yellow. Since the blue/green egg breeds is a dominate gene I am not worried about losing that until third gen. so will probably have to breed back again at that point.
Any of you more experienced breeds have any input on this I would be greatly appreciative. Of course the feathered legs and beards are the main trait I am breeding for.
For those who have not heard me talking about my ameracochin project. I am attempting to breed a bird very similiar to the salmon favorelle but with the addition of the above mentioned types. I love the favorelles but because of the limited gene pool they are a difficult bird to raise and maintain. I also want more variety in the colors available. At some point in time I do plan to breed in the favorelle to the line to try and get the extra toes but that will be a few years before that is going to be done. First working on stabilizing the traits and types first. I know this probably sounds silly but I figured if I am going to have chickens then I may as well have a project to work on to create the ultimate chicken. Okay ultimate in this case is a relative term I know.
Anyone who is interested in joining this pursuit is more then welcomed. I will hopefully have splash, black and blue 1st gens by the spring.
Well last day of Winter Break so I better go get some work done.
ive wanted sebastopol geese for a long time.
