Hey guys. It's been busy here lately. The lone sebastopol that hatched from the abandoned clutch didn't make it. She was weak from the time she hatched and I couldn't get her to eat- she passed after five days.
On the other hand I have a bunch of silkie chicks, from my eggs and some shipped eggs, and I've had a very high percentage of chicks with correct toes and vaulted skulls. We shall see how they continue to develop- some are starting to feather but are still too young to tell much about quality.
My remaining outdoor hens are laying up a storm and I have placed all of my outdoor chickens, including my exb. white wyandotte roo, for sale through craigslist.
This season I am going to sell my American Buff geese. Three girls, two ganders (and *nice* ganders- culled heavily). Nice birds, but I want to limit the number of breeding pens I have to setup and I am going to keep my Buff Dewlap Toulouse and Sebbies.
The weather here in SE WA has been balmy. My roses are starting to break dormancy and the bulbs are coming up (not just crocus, hyacinths and tulips too!). This is, by far, the mildest winter I've experienced out here. A winter like this is what I was told each winter would be like here, but the last two were snowy and cold.
The weather has affected me too- I've been sowing seeds, creating new compost piles, built two cold frames, stuck dormant wood cuttings (roses, chitalpa, elderberry, etc), and drooling over garden catalogs by the dozen.
I got some eggs from our Maran and Barnie fellow Washingtonian eagle2026. He shipped them despite everything else going on! What a trooper! Unfortunately, it looked like USPS drop kicked the box from his house to mine but many eggs made it despite the dented box. I can't tell how many of the remaining maran eggs are developing becaus the shells are SO DARK! The barnies are doing ok, and I think most are developing quite well. Great considering the damage to the box! I was expecting them to be completely scrambled.
My yorkshire puppies are now ready for new homes, so I've had plenty of strangers coming and going. I've been doing far more housecleaning than I like (BLECH!) but the house looks good for visitors.
The neighbor's feral cats are breeding- I've been waking up at night to the yowls of kitty-romance. I'm not looking forward to kitten season with the accompanying trapping, taming, scratches and bites. It's better than leaving them wild and having the population of ferals continue to grow, but taming down wild kittens is time consuming and, considering my allergies, no longer fun.
That said,.. I need to go check a couple newly hatched chicks in the 'bator.
