Virginia

[Maggiesdad]

Ack! It was soo chilly yesterday! I was in a tee shirt because I left my jacket on the chick feed... which I also left.

I kept the babies covered hence I didn't move many of them at all. All but four of my other birds went though, and the capons that I brought as conversation starters did just that. All in all it was a great day - and Maggie got an egg yesterday evening from her new Golden Sebright pair. Talk about one happy girl - she said her cheeks felt funny from grinning so much!

Thanks to the lady that sold me those at 7:30 - sorry I didn't even stop to talk! If you hang out here drop me a pm.

I'm still very new at this, and it was awesome to have folks that bought from me last year coming back with great reports on their Basque Pullets and looking for more. That, folks, made all the effort worthwhile.

Thanks all!
Glen

 

[Bulldogma]

What an amazing day at Gilmanor yesterday! I had gone to bed at about 9:30 the night before and got up at 12:30 to leave to meet ki4got - LOL! Not much sleep, but I was wired from the excitement.

Spent the morning doing my best elf imitation, trying to stay warm in the hoodie I was wearing. It was not supposed to be so cold! I was not prepared for the cold and my poor chicks suffered for it. Lost a SFH chick to hypothermia... and then gave another hypothermic one to ridingshotgun... but even after spending the morning in my shirt, the poor thing didn't make it.

Happy to hear the other 6 are fine!

Met some wonderful folks and so glad we had the chance to spend time talking to a few. I think chicken people are a special breed.

Even with the cold weather, the swap was worth every minute!

 

[cubalaya]

great day and met some great people. sold a lot and sold some more when i got home. the cubalaya chicks handled the cold and we had no losses.

 

[ki4got]

have to say I had a great time... with between 2 and 2/5 hours sleep, I was totally wiped when we got back to Roanoke. then another 45 min home or so... brought momma and the babies in, the rest slept in the van until about 9am this morning. LOL let the other broody momma run with the rest of the flock and the 2 dorking girls I picked up are learning the new flock from behind bars for a few days... the boys are in love. LOL

also picked up 3 chicks from cheap chicks, an ee and 2 mottled bantam cochins (all black and white markings). momma wouldn't take them tho, because they stand out like a sore thumb among her dark brown babies. so played musical brooders, got the new chicks into a tote with water and food, and momma into a larger one with her 12. hubby helped me bring in the other brooders this afternoon, so now everyone's got their own houses.

then I went back to bed for a nap (about 1030 or so) after getting the dorkings settled, and woke up around 4:30! lol some nap.

still dead tired, so i'm headed back to bed now. after dinner and groceries & stuff. tomorrow I get to box up some eggs to mail out, take the van to a carwash and vacuum out the shavings, then take it back to hubby's boss (who was very kind to loan it to me) Tuesday.

one of these days, if it ever stops raining, i'll get to working on the breeding pens again. once those are done, I might have time to work on more brooders, for those who were asking If I sold any.

 

[Bulldogma]

one of these days, if it ever stops raining, i'll get to working on the breeding pens again. once those are done, I might have time to work on more brooders, for those who were asking If I sold any.

LOL - You could have sold those brooders 10 times over for what ever price you wanted, had they been for sale at Gilmanor! Who needs a day job? Just build brooders and you'll be good... and maybe a bit sore. LOL! Just invest in a good workbench (2 saw horses with a plywood top?) where you can sit and have your materials raised up so you lessen the physical strain.

Thing is, your brooder design rocks!

 

[pysankigirl]

I actually finally decided to go to Gilmanor and had a great time! what a cool swap! very worth the trip just to see the chickens.

Met Maggiesdad and got two Maradunna Basque chicks from him and Ki4got and got a colored dorking chick from her. Along with some little orps for a friend who wants orps.

Unfortunately, when I walked in the house with the 7 chicks, the husband had a cow, but only 3 of the chicks were for me! He didn't speak to me for 3 hours. gagh. and I only got the three to replace chicks I had lost... sometimes, I swear. He has no IDEA how good I was and what I COULD have brought home. some of those bunny rabbits were adorable.

 

[ki4got]

Quote: once my breeding pens are done, i plan to make a couple to take to gilmanor in the fall... a couple whole setups actually (shelves and all). but i think i'm going to do it a bit differently, by raising the bottom one up 12" and only putting 2 on a shelf unit... the 3rd one as is, is too tall for anyone under 5'8". as bulldogma can attest. LOL

 

[ki4got]

oh!!! forgot to mention. we talked to the owner of gilman's farm & feed... don't remember his name. (k.i.forgot strikes again). the next Gilmanor will be September 21st. it's already on my list of things to do, and i suggest if you haven't had a chance, get there! it's great.

every year, it's the 1st saturday in may and 3rd saturday in september. so you can plan as far out as you want now. 8)

 

[ki4got]

I actually finally decided to go to Gilmanor and had a great time! what a cool swap! very worth the trip just to see the chickens.

Met Maggiesdad and got two Maradunna Basque chicks from him and Ki4got and got a colored dorking chick from her. Along with some little orps for a friend who wants orps.

Unfortunately, when I walked in the house with the 7 chicks, the husband had a cow, but only 3 of the chicks were for me! He didn't speak to me for 3 hours. gagh. and I only got the three to replace chicks I had lost... sometimes, I swear. He has no IDEA how good I was and what I COULD have brought home. some of those bunny rabbits were adorable.

not to mention the goats, pigs, alpaca...

sunny took one look at those alpaca and said to me, "Mom, what did they DO to those poor Poodles???"
(sunny is my standard poodle. LOL)

 

[HaplessRunner]

My first trip to Gilmanor and meeting lots of great folks. It was really great to talk with people who knew what they were talking about.

I had to laugh when I read Pysankigirl post above. My wife fussed at me for bringing home a cockerel! I was remarkably disciplined at Gilmanor. I had a specific shopping list and stuck to it. I got my black-based SFH cockerel from Bulldogma but did not find the blue wheaten and blue (BBS) ameraucanas that I was willing to take. So in spite of all the temptations at Gilmanor, I only brought one chicken home.

I am trying to convince her to go with me to Sharpsburg, MD for the Maryland Poultry Swap, http://www.mdpoultryswap.blogspot.com/ So we will see ...