So I chose not to do house work and try to get some decent pics. The pics didn't turn out well but I went ahead and posted the best one I could get of Claude's birds on the photo page. They're still nervous so i wasn't going to push them to pose.

Now for the dwarf. Dang that girl is a trip. I have a stunning blue cockeral somewhere around 4 months old. Problem is that every bird in the coop hates him, except for his mother. He's a whiner, scared of everything. I've tried moving him to new quarters with other chicks, that was a complete and utter failure.

That sets the stage for the Dwarf and the little cockeral event. I was doing work in the coop, I had Dwarf, Crook Neck and the cockeral out roaming and exploring. Dwarf was at the far end with Crook Neck exploring. Dwarf's agenda is to steal anything Crook Neck finds that's good. The cockeral was down at the other end near my feet, whining. Suddenly the Dwarf spots him and comes running at him. He screams and runs behind the feed to hide. Dwarf was very pleased with herself, decided she did all she could do and ran back to the Crook Neck. The very moment the cockeral came back out she charged back and chased him back behind the feed container again. Once he was completely out of sight she ran back to the far end of the coop.

This pattern repeated itself several times before I quit laughing myself silly and scooped him up, put him with his broody Momma and left still laughing.

I'm fairly certain he's sold. He's a really stunning little boy but if the flock doesn't like him there's no sense in his staying here.

And yes, I will begin shipping. My fist adventure in to it went well so even though I was close to tear at the PO when I shipped the boys I've decided its OK. I will be signing up for PayPal in the morning so will be able to accept that form of payment also. Its taken a while for me to get with the program but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

I have a friend named Cathryn. She and I developed our friendship out of conflict. In talking on the phone and sharing emails back & forth we've learned about each other's breeding programs. I told her I had two light gray roosters in one of our conversations. You would think that I told her I had a room full of gold. I really didn't have a need for them in my breeding program, plus I still have the parents so we decided to swap birds. Of course the weather didn't co-operate so shipping kept being delayed. Well, the first week of January we grabbed the chance to ship.

I packaged my two boys up and shipped them off to her. The crazy, kind, generous woman sent me two pairs of birds. A gray cockeral and pullet and a black Claude McCallister pullet and cockeral.

I don't know how many of you are aware that Claude has serious health issues and has been forced to reduce his flock to nearly nothing. His illness is progressing rapidly which was making it impossible for him to care for his charges. Cathryn went to his home and picked up all that she could with the promise that she would find them forever homes or keep them herself. I'm one of those lucky recipients to get the priviledge to give a pair of his birds a home where they will be fussed over and cared for the rest of their lives. Its taken them some time to settle after relocating twice in such a short period of time but every day I see that they are more and more at home here in TN. As soon as I can I'll get pics up of my new babies.

Now, the grays. I love the cockeral, he has the sweetest most distinctive crow. He crowed all the way back from the city when I picked them up. Even though he and the pullet did not know each other before the trip its obvious they have bonded. The little girl has continued to lay since the second day she arrived. I consider that quite amazing. I've never bred grays before so am anxious to see what their peeps will look like. I have one other gray pullet, a result of my silver gene whites, that after she's done taking care of chicks I will put in with them.

I've got an incubator full of black, blue and splash babies. Hatch day is right around the corner. These are test chicks for all my new pairings. Most, if not all, are already sold. And three of my girls are setting on eggs of the same colors in the coop. Fingers crossed that all of these peeps turn out to be gorgeous peeps.

In my next update I'll fill you all in on the Dwarf's latest antics. She had me laughing so hard tears were streaming. That little girl can cerainly keep me laughing.

I'm so pleased that I kept that goofy looking girl. She's round as a ball, her feathering is straggly and has some bent toes. She's certainly a breeding program that went wrong. Not sure yet if I'm glad I bought those eggs or not. Her personality makes up for all of those physical short comings which does make it OK.

She has always been a snoop, has to be right in the middle of what ever is going on. The first to realize I've got the treat dish in my hands. She's also gone tumbling more than once when I don't realize she's snuck back up on me when I've moved her round behind and put her somewhere safe. When cleaning pens I turn those birds out to roam the isleway, it gives the roos a chance to flaunt they're out and the others aren't.

The moment I started to remove the shavings from the pen that also holds the dwarf she saw it and came running. I was quicker than her this time and I managed to block her off. You would think that I had the most wonderful treats and she couldn't get to them. She paced back & forth complaining wanting in to help rearrange the bedding in her pen.  She kept at it until I had the new shavings in and I allowed her in. Then she really got busy, rearranging the shavings making certain most went in to the waterer. I couldn't find their feed dish even though its hung from the wire of the pen. The girl is a hoot and if I thought there was any chance of hatching a chick from her with the same personality I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Tomorrow is D-Day, the temps are sliding big and staying there for a bit. I've got almost everything done in the coop I set out to do. The chore of making certain there are no mites still needs to be done.

The deer know hunting season is over. One of the puppies chased a big doe off yesterday morning. He never barks when he sees them, he stands still as stone and watches. That's when you really get to see the hunting dog that is in his genetics. If they move deeper in to the property then he takes off like a rocket and chases them back over the fence. I think they've effectively eliminated all of the armadillos on the proptery. I have mixed feelings about that, having the funny looking critters meant the fire ant population stayed in control without me having to run around treating the mounds. With them here the pups dug tunnels deep enough to cover the dog trying to get at them. I often wondered what I would do if one of those tunnels collapsed on a 70 pound dog.

Daylight is right around the corner so its time to go warm the coop birds' breakfast and turn the Guineas out for the day.

You all have a happy and safe New Year.

The new birds are sitting snug in their old homes and the ones I was going to ship are still here. This weather has certainly been a challenge for me and the birds. At the first sign that things are beginning to swing wildly I immediately begin to watch. There will always be at least one that tells me its not happy about the huge highs and lows of the temps in such short time spans.

Poor hubby was recovered enough to put my window in and, bless his heart, put the permanent power in. No more extension cords to have light and keep young birds warm. Next is the running water. My guess is that will have to wait for Spring but sometimes I can't help myself and move ahead with my plans.

The pens are all laid out. The weather has not co-operated at all in construction. If its not raining the wind is howling at 40 plus miles an hour. Today is pen cleaning day and if there is enough daylight left I'll start construction of at least a couple of the pens. We need to run in to town for some other things this morning so I'll grab that oppourtunity to get some additional building supplies.

We had to use much of the lumber for my pens building a ramp for my old dog. Seems the puppies knocked her off her old one which caused injury to her right hip. For four days I was lifting a 90 dog to her feet and then holding her up while she did her business outside. The new ramp has is longer so has less of a steep angle on it and most importantly railings. Now when the 3 boys get carried away they can't knock her off anymore. Its been about three weeks since this happened, no more lifting her plus she is getting up & down the ramp under her own power.

I've set up the bator for test hatches to see what my pairings produce. My birds came from really good breeders so I'm hoping for some really nice peeps again this year. Last year I had some stunning chicks from these guys. This year there are some new bloodlines so I'm excited to see what pops out of those little eggs.

I swear new pics are coming soon. There has just been so much going on around here lately. I'm getting closer to being caught up, let's just hope there isn't something else that gets in the way of making progress.

Have a safe and happy New Year.

If the weather holds the new birds will be here by the end of the week. It means one of the few times I don't mind so much driving in to the big city. I can not wait to see them and for the time to introduce them to my flock.

I hope the hubby is recovered from the flu sufficiently so that he will get the holes cut in the coop for the windows. I keep telling myself I'm perfectly capable but the realization hits that if I'm wrong once that cut is made I can't take it back.

New pics are coming soon too. Of the new birds, of my breeding pairs and of a trio of chicks I still have hanging around. I don't like to seperate Momma's and their babies so did not sell these three when I sold the other older chicks.

I will be signing up for a Paypal account very soon. Seems everyone else in the US trusts Paypal so there really isn't any reason for me not to.

Today's weather is crisp and very bright. The wind has calmed somewhat but it is biting when I step out of the coop. Hopefully there won't be any wind when I start building the outside pens for the flock. Frozen hands make it very difficult to work with tools.

I have a poultry club meeting this evening so I had best get myself outside and finish up the bits and pieces that need to be done. Everyone have a great day!