Some of us have been "chicken friends" for a very long time, haven't we? I met Ladyhawk (Cetawin) here on BYC and she became like a sister to me ever since, stayed with me several times and we had a blast. Chickens bring people together! I sure miss her.
I will! Sounds great!
Oh God, I've met future friends at chicken swap meets and one of them actually did a barbque at their house. I've also met people on here who became friends, a few over bidding on some RLBW eggs, well maybe friendly fighting over them. That was fine and really fun. I met some people at shows.
Cyn, you were always interesting! Remember the necropsy pictures and you did a great job showing where the problems are.
What's a Stukel line? Why did you want it?
Marvin Stukel out of Arizona (not sure he's still alive) has the best Barred Plymouth Rocks in the country as far as I'm concerned. He has what they call a 50 year pure line. An NPIP guy here in GA and a man who has been a breeder for almost as long as I've been alive, William Bennett (Pine Grove on BYC, but not active), got a breeding rooster directly from Marvin. He put him through a lot of testing then sent me hatching eggs in 2011. I got a gorgeous group from him and now, all that's left is my very crippled 11 year old hen, Dru, who is the daughter of the original male and one of the hens. Here are some photos of them. They were perfection. Atlas is son of the largest hen of that group, Ida, and grandson of my late Delaware rooster, Isaac, the latter the reason his barring is not crisp like these. Atlas is 3/4 Stukel Rock and 1/4 Delaware because his sire is Isaac's son with that pure Stukel hen. Confused yet?
It's a very long story. When I first "met" her, they lived in Oregon, then moved to Kentucky. Her husband was a younger man by a few years, a disabled veteran with severe PTSD issues that became increasingly abusive. I tried to get her to leave him and come live with me because it was becoming obvious that he would be physically abusing her soon, not just verbally, but she was obstinate about giving up on her marriage. Eventually, her health declined and her heart was compromised, she was severely hyperthyroid, etc. The straw that broke the camel's back was him pushing her down the stairs and breaking her hip. She never fully recovered. By then, her daughter had been kicked out, her chickens were farmed out to others, she returned her Arabian mare to our friend, Beth, in NC where she came from-everything she had other that him was gone, as I told her it would be. There was other horrific things he did, including having a fit and shooting into the chicken coop, hitting and killing Isaac's son I gave her, a rooster she adored beyond words. That rooster once got between her and a snarling pitbull that wandered onto their land. After that, I said he was never welcome to set foot on my property ever again. I had visited them in KY once and they visited here once and she did with Cheyenne a couple of times as well so I saw things go downhill with her husband over all those years, become progressively dangerous.
To me squirrels are just challenging pellet gun targets. I have had way too many scampering around in my attic and ceilings.
