Last night, HHandbasket and Farmer Lew came over and we packaged up five of my roos to go away: Riley, Not Riley (both RIRs), Patrick and Michael (ummmm... big ol' mixes), and Albert, a Mille Fleur D'uccle. Albert has a wife awaiting him at their house, a Porcelain D'uccle named Portia. Both his and her former partners died a few months ago, so the widow and widower are perfect for each other. The other four roos are in Freezer Camp until they are ready to provide us home-raised, home processed, home cooked meals. Riley and Not Riley were originally part of Kate's group of minions, the "packing peanuts" shipped with her from Ideal Poultry. Their brother minions were very tasty.
Patrick was a rapist and chased pullets into corners, never taking "no" for an answer. Michael was just unlucky, having been hatched a roo. I have had to reduce the number of crowing roosters in my flock. Including Michael in that group was painful for me. I loved on him some before we boxed him up for his trip to live with a bunch of bachelors and eat some really good food for a while. He likes having his comb and wattles massaged. Farmer Lew will sing each of them a Native American Traveling Song before they leave their bodies to forage in the Sunny Meadow. Their bodies will nourish us.
Roosters which will always have a home with me are Carl, Charlie, Nugget, Frick, Wilbur and Hitchcock. Probably Bernard, too. He is a large buff Brahma and hasn't crowed yet. I would like to re-home Cardigan, Joey and Ross (all brothers, from eggs laid and hatched by my bantam dark Brahma Little Bit) if at all possible. They're larger than their mother and Nugget, Frick (both bantam Cochins) or Charlie, a bantam buff Brahma, could be their daddy. George and Alex, Silver Sebrights, NEED to be re-homed, despite my affection for 'em. They're LOUD crowers.
<*sigh*>
John's going to measure for the deck tomorrow and go shopping for lumber and other supplies to build the deck off the side of the house where the new French door opens. After the deck is completed, he'll enclose my front porch with mosquito screen and install a screen door at each end. (My flock will be allowed access on the new deck, instead, as it will be easier to clean.) In our telephone discussion this evening, he said "You know we're going to win every single battle in The Great Chicken War." When I mentioned he might be missing his nail gun some day, he sounded confused. That's because HE knew I would need the air hose from the compressor and I forgot that fact. It would be pretty lame of me to threaten somebody with a hunk of metal that wouldn't do anybody any harm unless I threw it at 'em.
We discovered we both thought Rocky & Bullwinkle were the best cartoons ever created; we each have copies of some of them in our video collections. Reminiscing about Frostbite Falls, Boris and Natasha Badinov, Bullwinkles university: "WhatsaMatterU, and various other details about the series made us both laugh with each new "Yeah! I remember that!" Hysterically funny adult humor. We both recall, as kids, missing much of the humor until we saw the episodes again, later in our lives.
Our favorite commercial from the past is the one where the two squirrels high-five each other after causing auto accidents. He said he's SEEN squirrels on the side of the road planning those maneuvers.
I believe him.
<*snicker*>
The 23 chicks are going back out to the Chicken Kindergarten this weekend. They're currently free ranging in my guest room. Four of the BO chicks apparently forgot how to get back into the brooder during the day; when I opened the door to the room, those four came out from under the daybed where they'd been sleeping under a flap of the bedspread the dogs had previously dragged partially off the bed. They were in a cozy little cave under it and emerged, stretching. REALLY cute. Zorro has been chastised for lunging at any chick on the floor and is now ignoring them. Mostly. He gets a wistful look on his face and then gets on the daybed and goes to sleep. Dooley simply avoids the guest room and burrows into blankets on the sofa in the living room until I emerge from the Den of Chicks.
Right now, because the light is on and they're active, the JG chick is scratching on a paper bag on the floor. It's a little Chicken Dance. A BR chick is standing on the warm adapter for the EcoGlow. A BO and a Delaware chick just faced off in a mini-battle before they went scampering off around the brooder bin. I pick them up and put them back inside it, they jump to the edge and balance before hopping out again. I put them back. They jump out. It's great fun. I keep a roll of paper towels handy.
It's time for me to gather errant chicks and put them back into the brooder one last time. I'll turn the light off and close the guest room door immediately afterward.
