Last Pictures From Show, See Y'all Monday

Here are the last pictures from the Poultry show...first up is a Bantam Gold Neck D'Uccle...

 

Next is a Bantam Porcelain D'Uccle....I think thats what he is...

 

This here below is a Bantam Cochin roo...

 

Next is a Standard sized Silver Spangled Hamburg rooster...he is like my Everett...Everett is a SSH, but still so young and not filled out like this handsome man.

 

and last but not least was my personal favorite that was there...after the show his owner was packing up and I told him what a stunning beautiful bird he had. I asked if I could hold him, and he said,

"Of course, and he is very tame."

I hugged on him, snuggled him...oh how I wanted him...he was soooo sweet! I know the second shot is of his rear, but I wanted you to see how long those tail feathers are...they were sticking through the top of the pen!

This is where I get my love for the Serama..you see...Seramas are a mixed breed, one of the breeds in the mix is the Japanese Bantam.

 

 

Well, thats it...I hope you liked the pictures of some of my favorites from the show. :)

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Ian is going to a new schedule for a while. He will be working longer hours during the week...and taking whole weekends off. I am very happy about this because now Friday actually means something around here! It means the start of a whole weekend together. Soon we will be spending our weekends gardening. Him moreso than me...I am not very good at it. I stick to growing tomatoes. I did can and freeze a whole bunch of stuff he grew last year...we still have squash from last year in the freezer, and about four jars of pickles left. I personally like to grow tomatoes. So that is what I do...tomatoes and chickens. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I hope it is going to be warm and sunny wherever you are!

With the great weather I am sure to have some video and pictures from the weekend to share come Monday. See y'all then. :)

You Have To Be Smarter Than What Your Dealing With

Thanks to Judys Jems for the graphics today.

For anyone that is wondering..we have decided not to get the NiteGuards. I just dont think it will last...the predators will figure it out eventually.

 

 

Ian says I am giving the predators more credit than I should that they have caught on to the recipe in the pans gig.

I am not so sure. With the pans out...they still found that penciled rock and took her instead of the easy meal.

Now comes the part of being smarter than what you are dealing with.

I had one dead chicken...hollowed out, with no head. I got to thinking...they want chicken...okay, lets give them chicken.

I stuffed that birds hollow inside FULL of the recipe...laid it out at dark by the back of the fence where they are coming and going. Laid out the pans anyway.

After putting up the birds of course.

Then we went to Walmart..got our groceries and our gun.

We got back, put up groceries, put the gun together...Ian showing me how to load and unload, how to hold it proper..

Then he needed to get on to bed. I put on my coat and shoes and went out with the flashlight to see if my predators had taken away the stuffed chicken body.

OH YES...it was gone, they had taken it back to their den...GOOOOD...let them all have some.

 

In a little while I have to run a few errands...on my trip out I am going to pick up some of those little cornish hens...and stuff one...put it out tonight...yes, let them come. Got to be smarter than what your dealing with.

I Ain't Skeered (Thats SCARED for Those That Don't Speak Redneck) LOL

I wish that I could say that I grew up with knowledge of firearms. The only thing I ever used was a BB gun with my Daddy in the backyard. We had a good time with home made targets he made and stuck to the trees. I even got good enough to sit on the back porch step and take shots at those dadgum carpenter bees..hit a few in my time.

As far as pistols, rifles, and shotguns go...I have never shot one, never been around anyone shooting one, never held a real gun, up until last night.

I am trying not to be anxious and apprehensive about using what Ian has bought for ME and for him, but mostly for me.

I don't want to be scared of it. I want to master it and become familiar with it. I want to be comfortable with it and know what I am doing. Even the simple things, such as loading and unloading it, I want to be smooth and comfortable and not nervous or panicky.

Originally we were looking at a youth model of a Charles Daley 20 gauge pump. They were out of this model...have been for two weeks now.

I started looking in the shotgun case at Walmart...and one in particular caught my eye. I really liked it, and was hoping on closer inspection it would be a 20 gauge and not a 12 gauge. A 12 gauge would be too much for me. I would like to keep my shoulder where it is instead of laying on the ground from the recoil.

You see, I am a woman in every sense of the word. But, I am not a flowers, jewelry, dresses, shoes, nails done, type of gal. I think I have a little more testosterone in me than I should because I actually like things that you would think that only guys like.

Like my truck. The power behind it, the gleam of the red fire in it...the rush I get when I punch that peddle...

that is what I am hoping for when I do finally fire this gun. I hope that I like it, and become relaxed with it. So, even in a gun, I liked the camaflouge gun...

Enough babbling...here is my new shotgun.

Now this is not just for predator control. There is nothing like the sound of a shotgun being loaded...that loud CHK CHK. Imagine if you were breaking into a house...and in the darkness you heard that...I think you would make a hasty exit to go clean out your britches. I practiced loading and unloading last night...will do more tonight, and then comes the real thing this weekend. I want Ian to shoot it a couple of times first..and I told him to bring home some earplugs from work for me.

 

It may seem silly or corny to read these...but I dont care. I dont know a thing...so I am going to read up on gun safety.

 

Sticker to put on your window or door glass or whatever...to let anyone that may be thinking about breaking in that we have protection.

 

Oops...just added the sticker....the tag was what was on the gun...lol...the sticker is right here above.

An Even Ten

Thankyou to Judys Jems for todays graphics

 

Good afternoon y'all. Well, lets hope that Old Man Winter has blown his last after last night. It got down into the twenties.

I did my usual routine last night. More of the chickens are getting the idea as far as going into the new house. I am having to get fewer and fewer into a house at night. That doesnt mean everyone is cooperating.

We had another casualty last night. Those darn penciled rocks, they are so determined that they are not going to go into an enclosure, they would just a soon hide from me that go in with their flock.

This morning I got up the recipe, as usual..went to let out everyone...took a glance over to the back corner of the property...and there was a lump in the frozen grass. Could it be a body? How? Before letting anyone out I went out there to investigate. Sure enough...a penciled rock hen. This time, whatever got her, was really hungry. I mean it ate dinner right there. There was nothing left but a hollowed out carcass. No head, no rear.

Have they caught on to the recipe? I dont know. I am going to stuff the dead carcass this evening with the recipe...and set it out for them to take it home. As cold as it was last night, I am guessing the recipe was frozen solid. Doesnt make a very good meal.

Everyone was put up, locked up tight. What happened? She hid from me. I dont know where, but she did,and now she is dead for it.

So, that makes an even ten birds. Enough about this.

 

 

I have a few more pictures to share from the show. Here we have a White Crested Polish Hen. These are among my favorite of the colors Polish come in. There was no roo, or I would have made sure to take his picture too.

 

Next is a Buff Laced (maybe called Golden Buff Laced, cant remember for sure) Polish hen.

 

Next are two REAL Aracuanas. Both are roos I believe. A lot of people try to sell Americaunas off as Aracaunas...but true Aracaunas are rumpless and have the feathers sticking out of the sides of their head.

 

 

 

There isnt much else going on around here. Just waiting out the cold...waiting for some warmer weather to get these old bones moving. This weekend holds promise of warmer temps...so I am looking toward the weekend. :)

Everyone have a nice Thursday...I hear the laundry and dishes calling my name...and its time to homeschool and make out a grocery list.

Oh there is one bit of news...Ian is buying me a 20 gauge shotgun. I have never shot any type of gun, but he is going to teach me, and maybe on some of these warmer nights the predators coming in will find me waiting for them. I could start a foxtail collection..yeah... (evil grin).

I was supposed to get it on Valentines Day ( is that redneck or WHAT??? LOL).

Whatdju git fer Valentines Day? A SHOTGUN! Woo hoo! Hilarious! ;)

I Wanted To Take This One Home

There are some birds, that I just instantly fall in love with. Not many, but some, you just want to take them home and love them and keep them for yourself. This guy was one of those.

He is a bantam Polish white roo. He stood oh I would say about about a foot and a half tall...give or take a few inches. I had a time taking is picture as he was looking all around, back and forth, this way and that way. He was just so handsome. Maybe I should have found out who he belonged to and asked to buy them. That is how I came to have Coco and Kuckoo. They were in the show last year...and the kid sold them to me. My regret about that is...he said he was getting out of polish and into giant cochins..so he was selling his whole flock of polish..and wanted to know if I wanted them. Should have said yes...should have.

 

Me thinks I am leaning toward a new favorite kind of bird...Polish, and Sultans...along with Giant Cochins. ;)

Water Fowl Pics From the Show

I guess I am just losing my mind. I know, well I THOUGHT I took more pictures of the water fowl than this. I especially thought I took pictures of my personal favorite the white crested ducks..those are the ones with the poof ball on their heads. Oh well, here is what I did take.

 

 

That third picture down...that goose, he was HUGE. I have never seen such a huge goose!

Thinking Out Things

 

I talked with Ian about the Niteguards. He believes that the predators will be deterred at first, but will become desperate enough to venture in again and discover it is nothing but a blinking light. You have to remember too, that a predator will smell whether there is really anything there or not. I think he is right. I suggested the only way it may work is to move the thing around from one place to another every few days, he said that might work, but for now he wants to keep on putting out the recipe and putting up the birds.

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I have to tell you, I did sleep like a baby last night, knowing that each and every bird was housed and locked in for the night. It is some trouble to do this. All my old flock will go in at dark anyway, but these new girls, they are really stubborn. There are about half of them that have really become spooked and will go in now...but Ian and I still have to gather the remaining hard heads.

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Making sure every bird is put up and locked away for the night is the only sure way to KNOW they are safe. No light, no poison set out, none of that will ensure that one does not get taken anyway. So that is what I will do...for as long as it takes, and it may just have to become part of owning chickens now.

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We had quite a storm come barrelling through here this morning. The lightening, downpours...were really heavy. Now I think we are going to blow completely away. The storms are gone, but the wind is unbelievable.

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I visited several journals this morning that have pictures of signs of Spring. I guess we are all wishing and wanting it to get here. It is on all of our minds, we are all so tired of being cold.

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We did have a nice weekend this past weekend. Saturday we spent all day out and about. First we went to Lowes. Ian got some bug eating plants, I got some materials to make a pen for the pair of Cochins. Ian looks at this hammer, everytime we are in there. It is twenty five dollars. It is one of the metal heavy ones. He always says he could use that at work. I finally just put it in the buggy (shopping cart for some, right Paula? LOL) and told him today was the day he was getting that hammer!

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Next we decided to head over to Big Lots. Last time we were there we didnt find too many bargains, but this time WOW, we were on a shopping spree! They have rose bushes right now, 2 for 5 dollars! They look GOOD too! I got four climbing rose bushes as I want to have roses all over the fence...wouldnt that be so pretty? We found lots of other deals and bargains, Shelby even found one of the newer Tomb Raider games for PC for only 6 dollars. Pretty good. We had a good time.

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Next thing I knew it was 4 pm, so we decided to head over to  ShanesRibShack

They have one near Mama and Daddy that we have gone to several times, but now they have the new one in Rome. Let me just say....MMMMMMmmmm...lip smacking messy good!!

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Shelby did something she has never done, at least not to my knowledge. Teenagehood has finally taken over her brain I am sorry to say. Ian was on to her scheme, but I was none the wiser, me being a poor trusting soul.

Shelby says she doesnt feel good.

Shelby says she wants to go home, she doesnt feel good.

Before she didnt feel good, she had mentioned her favorite tv show Yin Yang Yo..a new episode was coming on...

I didnt make the connection.

Do you see where I am going with this?

We still had to go to the Walmart for groceries..and she needed new shoes.

We were all full of meat..BBQ is so filling...but I DID NOT want to go out Sunday to get groceries...we were coming up on Walmart as all this was going on.

I pull into Walmart...determined we are going to go get this done.

Ian says...you know why she 'feels bad' dont you?

I have this clueless look on my face.

Ian says..Oh COME ON...I can see what she is doing, you cant?

He had to actually tell me that my daughter was FAKING being sick so she could see her show...

What a let down. What a disappointment.

Oh yeah, she felt guilty...later.

Not to mention, it turns out her show was a RERUN!

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Sunday we were supposed to go to Fernbank Museum...but we decided two days out and about was too much excitement for us....so we opted to stay home and relax, just spend the day together at home, maybe this coming weekend we will go. We will see.

Death, Death, and More Death :(

I sit here..at ten o'clock this evening with heavy heart.

I have what I believe to be a fox infestation. I read up on fox. They are not solitary. Often a male will have several females in one den. There is only one alpha female that mates...but they all go hunting. :(

Last evening we got home from grocery shopping around 8:30 or 9 pm. The same time we had our predator (S?) attack tonight.

This morning...there was a dead penciled rock hen towards the back corner, the same corner the predator has been coming from. The feathers were stripped from her neck, but no blood. She had been dead awhile, so this had to have happened last night..and..there were more feathers..not hers...another red stars feathers. We had interrupted a buffet feast going on last night.

Back to tonight. Beauty and Beast are still on the screened in porch. Once they are asleep you dont hear a peep out of them usually.

This evening, about the same time...we hear Beast sound the alarm of upset. Several of the chickens out in the pens were going off...

within 30 seconds I had my shoes on and I was out at the pens...and found a cluster of feathers in one of the pens..and more right outside the pen..and following out once again towards the back...more clusters of torn out feathers.

Ian had grabbed the flashlight and his shoes by this time and we were out there with Tip searching the back.

As Ian shined the light out the back corner of the fence..headed out across the field..there it was

RED EYESHINE

Predators like fox and coyote have red eyeshine.

Now let me tell you. I have had three helpings of the recipe taken at different times...so just how many foxes are there?

I don't know. I am just so saddened. When will I have gotten rid of all that know about this place as a food source? I don't know.

I am just going to have to break down and spend some money. I have researched this, and I am going to invest in these. I sure hope they work.

 http://niteguard.com/

I did a head count. I am missing more than I knew. I have five red stars gone, and two penciled rocks. That doesnt even include Faith, my main Silver Phoenix Hen and the yellow banded Silver Phoenix Roo. Not to mention the white Serama Hen I had INSIDE a pen that died of fright or a broken neck freaking out from fright.

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I have a feeling...that I am not going to get a lot of rest tonight.

WORRY WORRY WORRY

FRET FRET FRET

I will do another head count in the morning...then I will know for sure just how many I am missing that I dont know are gone yet.

Anyone that is in a pen, will stay in a pen, til I know these nightguard lights work. I sure hope they do.

 

 

 

Poultry Show Pictures Part 2

Before I go any further, I know a lot of folks werent able to play the song from Daddys site. I have learned, and should have told you, that you have to click to let it play, then it will probably stop on you. Click play again...go back and wait just a minute, then it should play out uninterrupted. This site is frustrating for Daddy, so if you have any recommendations for a better site to load his songs where they will play correctly please tell him in his comments! Thanks everyone for visiting and listening. I really do love to hear him sing and play and wanted to share him with all of my Jland friends here. :)

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Ian has worked long hours during the week this week. They have had a special project going on at work and have to get the machines running again soon as possible. Hopefully today he will be getting off of work on time. With all this said, he is taking the whole weekend off and so I probably won't be back online til Monday. I have missed him coming home for supper and us sitting around catching up on the day and watching a movie or two together. The days drag on and on when he has to work so late and I have missed him terribly. I will be back after the weekend to catch up with everyone and post more photos from the show.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

 

I know this one well...this is a bantam cochin frizzle roo. I miss my three girls so much seeing this little man. For those that dont know, they were my show birds last year and last summer a fox took all three of them one night. I was heartbroken as they were the sweetest little fuzzballs you could ever want.

 

Here we have a Japanese Bantam Frizzled Hen

 

Not entirely sure about the one above this picture...but this one is a Bantam Silver Sebright Hen..and below here is a Bantam Silver Sebright Roo...

 

 

This one up above here is a Belgian D'Anver.

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It seems my picture uploading has been in excess this month as Flickr says I am at my limit for the month of free uploads..so I will have to switch over to Photobucket for the rest of the month...no big deal.

Some Cochin Action

I told you I spent most of the day outdoors before this rain hit that is really socked in. I took the camera out and sat with the cochins for a bit. They love the porch. :( The outdoors not so much. I think they like the outdoors, as long as I am out there with them. Soon as I left they went back up the stairs and into their little fenced off area. I got a mess to clean up.  Because they think it is nicer to be in the porch, but I dont want them to be in the porch. This weekend I will be making them some housing out in Derbys house...so I can clean up their porch area, which is, did I mention, a mess?

 

Do you see those two BAD chickens in the background? They are on the WRONG side of the fence...bad bad chickens.

 

Huh? Well...helloooo ladies!

 

Wait...let me show you my GOOD side...

 

or is THIS my good side? I dont know..I think I look pretty good at any angle. I mean just LOOK at me...who could resist?

 

I have to tell you though...we are not sure what to make of this big animal over there...he doesnt seem to want to eat us, so that is a plus, but he still makes us a little nervous if the human is not out here with us.

 

and now I will throw in a short video I took of them out in the yard...and Derby enjoying his dinner. :)

 

 

 

Drought? Where? Here? Nawwww...not here!

Look at this mess...

 

Have a closer look there...

 

Does this look like we are in a drought???

 

Maybe its just me...but I think the ground is saturated. If it actually rained as much as they say it is supposed to I would live in a swamp. I do not want to live in a swamp thankyou.

When it doesnt rain for days...and I can still walk out to feed and water and step in mud...I think we have had enough rain. Call my crazy. At some point it has to level out. We arent supposed to be knee deep in mud all the time! :(

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Daddys songs

I have Daddys link to his journal on the side bar here...but here is a direct link to one of the songs he just posted this past week. There are three more too. Please go check him out..if you love that old fashioned sound of country music, you will love this one. :)

MamasHungryEyes

Some Pictures From The Show Part 1

As I said, there were way too many birds to take all the pictures I wanted to take..but I narrowed it down and took pictures of some of my favorites. I can't remember all the breed names..but I will try to label the ones I do know.

 

White Old English Bantam

 

Crele Old English Bantam(one of my favorite colors of OE)

 

Brassy Back (Bantam)

 

Bantam Silver Spangled Hamburg

 

Bantam Modern Pyle Roo

 

Bantam Modern Lemon Blue Hen

 

These are my personal favorites...there was a trio for sale that morning..but they were sold right away...so I missed out. My favorite of the moderns are the brown reds. The color contrast is so pretty to me. These birds are so sweet and mild mannered. The only thing I dont like is that to show a cock bird in this breed, or in the Old English for that matter..the comb is dubbed (cut off) when they are old enough to have it done. All those pictures you see of the old english, their combs are not naturally like that. I couldnt do it. It has to hurt terribly and I dont know of anyone using any anesthetic when doing this. If I bred them, they would just have to go around all natural. I have heard through the grapevine that this practice is being looked down on...and I am hoping that eventually it will be phased out and no longer done.

 

Bantam Modern Brown Red Roo

These moderns, they just crack me up. They are such characters...the first time I saw this breed I called them "Stick Chickens"...cause there just is so much LEG to them! They are cute though...I love them.