~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

[gryeyes]

Hey linda, I was wondering, i haven't finished catching up lol but im really want to know if pricilla ever came back? I got some ducklings today and it reminded me of you for some reason. I hope she did. =/

No, unfortunately, Priscilla never returned. Elvis is a widower. He seems content with the rest of the ducks, but as the Cayugas (and now the geese) are starting to breed, he has to sneak in a little whoopie of his own with one or another of the Cayuga girls. I am also wondering if Kate is actually a gander, as "she" has been making whoopie with a Cayuga girl now and then. There is one Cayuga duck who is besotted with "her" and follows her everywhere. Yet, Kate and Angus also have honeymoon swims in the stock tank together so I am quite puzzled.

 

[gryeyes]

Last night I tried to post some photos and the BYC server wasn't cooperating. Grrrr. Tried without success for over an hour before I went to bed. The plan for today was to nestle inside (except for flock chores) ALL day, because The Storm was forecast to come in around midnight and last into Thursday. I had traded my usual every-two-weeks Monday off for Wednesday because I had to be present on Monday for a huge project implementation. (It went well, some bugs tweaked away on Tuesday, more to discover by the end of this week, I'm sure.)

The rain started after 1 AM. Lots of wind before that. I got up around 8-ish and padded around in my nightshirt and slippers over to the sofa recliner to watch recorded TV.

Got a surprise call from the UPS Store where I keep my mailing address - "Linda, your chicks are here. please come get them because their chirping is going to make me crazy."

Uhhh..... I was "watching TV" in my sofa recliner and the cat was sleeping on my phone.... I retrieved that message almost 2 hours later than it was delivered. Chicks? I have chicks?

So I called back to say I was an hour and a half away and on my way. And I was! Despite the fact The Storm had arrived.

14 WCB Polish chicks from dickhorstman! WAHOOO! He e-mailed me YESTERDAY to tell me they were on the way, but I hadn't opened my e-mail during the "upload this post" fiasco. Ooops.



There's a new employee at the UPS Store where I get my mail. She was VERY excited about the chirping box o' chicks. I opened it there so she could take a picture.



She said "Keith says you raise chickens." Yup. "Do you have any ducks?" Yup. "Do you sell their eggs?"

Well, I haven't yet, because the four girls have JUST started laying, and folks usually don't want duck eggs. But I love the taste and they are so good in baked foods!
The gal said she'd love to buy some regularly if I would sell them to her when my Cayuga girls start laying regularly.

I took out one chick to take a picture




and then I repackaged everybody and headed home again.

Now, my personal opinion of The Big Bad Storm is huh? The news was all upset about this? Granted, I am below the snow line, but it's just wind and rain, folks. I've driven in worse when I first bought the house, during the surprise May snowstorm which was just rain at the altitude where I drive. NASTY rain, that was. This one? Wuss. For "the first storm of the season" it's nowhere near as tremendous as all the flatlanders seem to think it is. <*smirk*>

Although there was some sleet on the drive back... I had a stop first; I gave six of the fourteen chicks to HHandbasket. Then I zipped home and put my 8 chicks in with the Silkie chicks in the brooder..... Leaving my car at the foot of the driveway because the rain had made the pine needles on the steep drive too slick for me to get the car up to the house. That will be not so fun when I need to go to work tomorrow morning. Oh well.

At first, the 3 Silkies were afraid of the Hoard of WCB Polish chicks rushing them - they tried to run away from them (in the brooder bin). The chicks followed. The Silkies kept moving. The chicks kept following. I tucked the chicks under the EcoGlow. They came out and continued to huddle around the silkies. Finally the silkies just huddled in a corner with all 8 chicks snuggled around them, still peeping. Because they were at the cold end of the brooder.

I tucked the chicks under the EcoGlow again. This time they stayed there.

I was worried the silkies might peck at the chicks.... so I'll keep a very close eye on them tonight. I just don't think it's gonna be a problem, though.

 

[rrrmamma]

Linda, that is just the cutest little chick. Don't have any Polish yet,but that picture has sure made me want some

 

[suebee]

I raised some Polish years ago. They are so fun but a little too aggressive for my Silkies. Here's girl "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful" and boy "Kramer".

 

[coloradochick]

Polish are one of my favorites and they haven't been too bad in the laying department either. All the girls I've had have been a little on the airheaded side but they are such sweeties

 

[HHandbasket]

Well, I was *very* excited that Linda shared chicks with me! We had just bought 2 chicks at the feed store a couple of days before, so it was convenient that our brooder was also already set up and ready for more chicks! I had a white crested black Polish that we had gotten as part of an all-pullet assortment from MPC last summer, and I named her Phyllis (Diller, of course... some of you may be too young to know who Phyllis Diller is). Anyway, she was very sweet, personable, would eat treats from our hands, and we really liked her; but in November, one of the ladies who came out to the ranch to buy some pullets from me fell madly in love with her and just HAD to have her. I told her no, that she was one of my babies and was not for sale. The lady really was nice, though, and she fed Phyllis a treat and was obviously very enamored with her. She offered to give me double what I normally charge for pullets if I would sell her this one. I didn't double the asking price, but it was obvious that she would give Phyllis and the other pullets a really good home. Besides, as she pointed out, all her chickens are either brown or green egg layers & she didn't have any that laid white eggs... I let her talk me into taking Phyllis home. I've regretted it ever since... I'm sure she's a happy chicken in a good home and part of a happy mixed flock of layers! But I regret it because I really liked that chicken. You know what it's like.

Now we have these beautiful straight-run chickens! I seem to end up with a lot of black-and-white chickens. We have our flock of white faced black Spanish, then we had Rico the Mottled Java (who got to be the first chicken in the yard to take a ride in the new EZ Plucker we just acquired) and several of his offspring, and now the Polish! Hehehe.

Now all I need is a couple of silkie girls & we're good to go! Of my 4 silkies that hatched last year, one pullet went to the lady that bought Phyllis & we still have the other 3. Alas, two are boys & only one is a girl, so I need at least one more girl so poor Honey doesn't end up dead. We have a silkie chick that one of our broodies recently hatched, but it'll be a long time before we know what it is!

 

[Jferlisi]

=( im sorry. We just got ducks so it reminded me of yours. I hope kate is a kate and not a he. lol

*eta cute babies btw.

 

[NYRIR]

Gryeyes,
So glad to hear things seem to be going well for you. I will be updating myself on your thread when I am at my home computer....this thing is just too s-l-o-w. Takes FOREVER to change pages...
Are you still as excited about your geese as you were when you got them? I absolutley love my dear Chloey...she is the best friend ever...

 

[gryeyes]

Gryeyes,
Are you still as excited about your geese as you were when you got them? I absolutley love my dear Chloey...she is the best friend ever...

Oh, my two Toulouse geese are just wonderful and gorgeous! I love to watch them get the Zoomies and run, wings a'flapping, honking with glee as they run across the front yard, up the driveway on one side, and then across in front of the house as if they might late off aloft into the air. Pre-flight equipment check. All of six inches into the air....

And their personalities! In addition to the other antics they perform, Kate's behavior in the stock tank with the Cayuga duck (female) appears to be a domination thing, not an actual mating behavior. Kate and Angus do have their own honeymoon swim sessions.

John was here today,(errr, yesterday NOW,) and he witnessed a Cayuga drake "winner's lap" in a kiddie pool after a session with one of the girl ducks. He's the one who has witnessed goose on duck action, remarking about it. After all, he's here during daylight hours on weekdays. (However, the clock and calendar are moving forward and there are less then six months before my retirement actually begins.)

The first coat of deep green paint has been applied to the deck.



In the second picture, the single step to the deck has been removed to be painted the same color. It's sitting on saw-horses awaiting its second coat of paint.

Now, isn't that a WORK OF ART? And I am not just enthusing over it because John built it - it's really better than anything I've seen anywhere else. You can look at it from any side and it's level, gorgeous, with perfect symmetry.

The railing matches the existing front porch railing, and the cover section matches the pergola style. It MAKES the house.



We discussed a dual purpose project: growing frames for grasses. (Check some BYC threads for these.) I explained the rectangular frames with wire coverings allowed grasses to grow - establish themselves in the soil - and then grow up through the wire for the chickens to eat. He asked, "And you want to let weeds grow .. because....??"

For erosion control AND for the chickens to have some green growing plants to eat.

Ahhh. Makes sense with the slope of [my] property. Certainly much more useful than straw wattles!!!!

 

[NYRIR]

You always can make me laugh Gryeyes! Weeds....lol....sounds just like something I would do!
But my, isn't that porch looking fantastic! You must be very excited to be retiring soon. I am sure you have earned it! *sigh* Won't it be nice to sit on the porch in the morning, watching the birds and drinking your coffee? Sounds like the life to me!

Ah well, I just haven't earned it yet! I shouldn't complain as I only work part-time right now anyway! I have another 22 years to retirement...ugh.

The poultry thing is starting to take off for me...well...bird wise...not money wise!

I have narrowed it down to certain breeds for each species to breed and sell offspring and eggs from. I hope to be able to pay for the hobby at the very least!
I will be breeding Narragansett turkeys, Toulouse geese, Buff geese, Bantam Cochins, Silkies of various colors for fun,(and broodies for people) Ancona ducks, my restricted gene mallards and buff ducks.

The last but not least...I ordered 25 BLRW's from another BYC'r to arrive hopefully soon...these are better quality than any of my stock so far...so maybe they'll help pay their way!