Pet Quality Seramas :)

Now here at the homestead I've got small flock of 5 lovely little pet quality seramas! I note the "pet quality" part as just like my pet quality call ducks there is a drastic difference in looks between them and their show quality counter parts. I love them all so much though wonderful little birds (both them and the calls). When I let them out of the brooder shed (where I house them) they will make their way to wherever I am and stare at me if to ask what they are supposed to do next. Hehe! Thing is, they perfer not to be touched or held but don't fight if they are picked up which is so sweet! These would be WONDERFUL chickens for children no question about it I wish I had them growing up! :) I deffiantly think they are even sweeter than silkies!

In other news, I have been waiting weeks for my capuchine pigeons to lay eggs again, well finnally the other day my one pair layed an egg...and sadly the male broke it 2 days later. Unsure how he did it but it was stuck to his belly. *sigh* so now I wait again. :P Supposedly they can lay all winter long, so with that said, hopefully my season for seeing an ugly squab isnt over! :) I dont need more pigeons as im happy with the number I have but I love watching mothers care for their own young it's just sweet :) And in pigeons both parents care for their young so double adorable! :)

I got more red (cinnamon) coturnix eggs in my incubator along with 2 white bobwhite eggies :) I also have outside a pair of Tennesee Red Bobwhites, i had a trio but I woke up today with one of them dead I assume a hen... probably the one that was laying my luck! I dont really mind though, she had looked unhappy from the day I got her so no suprise plus all I was really interested was the roo...they are so hard to tell apart though *male and female* that I am not 100% sure which one is which lol! I read that the tenns are "mute" bobwhites, Im unsure what that means as it also says that they do the bobwhite call...but i've never heard my male call.... one of them in tehre makes cries and yips that reminds me of noises a parrot would make but other than that no charactersitic bobwhite whistle. I love that sound wouldnt mind hearing it :P

Other than bird news... planning for human baby number one.... not pregnant yet, but hoping to be here some day soon :) I am so ready to be a mama it actually makes me sad thinking about it....I was happy thinking about it but so far no pregnancy so everytime I know im not it really bums me out. I read it normally takes 4 months for the average couple to get pregnant....soo I'm trying to be pacient :P It's technically only been one month so far, but I count two since I thought I was pregnant the month before we actually started planning. BUT just to give myself some sanity I'll only say it's been one month :)

I'm still alive :P

Hey there anyone who's still sticking with this :) I'm still around just haven't had much to update still really don't but alas Im bored :) I'm working on a book about Coturnix! :) I'm also waiting on red (cinnamon) coturnix eggs and other project coturnix eggs I am very excited about! I've been fighting (naturally) a sinous infection... using saline flushing of my sinouses...it sucks to do but it really does help.... I think I need to do it again tonight which will be my third flushing..salt going down the nose, throat and backing up into the sinouses does nOT feel nice but the end result is less pain :)

Hubby and I are trying for our first baby... planning on taking a EPT this weekend... I dont *feel* pregnant though so... I dunno.

Movedout almost all my big birds, working now with silkies in blue and splash, as well as mottled cochins...the plan? Crossing the two together for a few generations to produce Mottled silkies in blue and black! :) Wont that be neat!?!?! :) I am also probably this weekend getting a trio or two pairs of Seramas from a good friend of mine..we're swapping...he's getting my excess standard birds and he's giving me itty birds :P haha. I'm downsizing on the monsters to adjust feed costs :)

My black east indie bantam ducks were due today...none made it... :(. One pipped and died, the other pipped and I had to cull as its brains were hanging out of hte back of it's head :( And the other three were all DOA. :( I was upset but not suprised...I wanted them too bad... that' always happens. *shrugs*

welp going to end this here :)

Changes changes

So theres some changes going on here, I won't be raising GS marans with my pal atleast not right yet. I'm hatching her cuties actually tonight (well they are pipped) and she'll be taking them all home (whatever hatches) I may collect some of the excess she doesn't want later but I'm not sure. My focus is so off the wall now that hubby and I are planning for a baby. My goals are changing. :) I'm not sad about it, I mean it would be so fun to work with GS marans so I may still, however I'm just unsure right now and with the ecnomy the way it is I'd rather keep my expenses low (feed expenses) for my hobby since I make no profit on these birds, just make enough to feed, bed and care for them which is all I ask. :)

I had my first red eggs hatch today (from my red hens) and it was only two eggs I had put in the bator, so I got one golden (cries) and one red tuxedo (you'd think i'd be happy but im not...because...). The red tuxedo though had complications hatching thanks to my faulty wafer it dried out it's membrane so the lil cutie was ready to hatch but couldnt so it was stuck in there and pretty weak. I assisted it (all the others had a perfect hatch even though..) and it's so weak it wont even open it's eyes. SO i may not even get to enjoy my first homebred red tux! *cries* I'm not really sad just frusterated....I just got to wait a few more days until more hatch is all :).

I have sooooo many of all my other colors in my brooder it's distusting. I think im up to almost 100. I did not plan for that many....I didn't think I'd get such good hatch rates. haha. I shouldnt complain though. The tuxedos I hatched are absolutly gorgeous! My dream markings! So I hope to keep this going. The darks are beautiful too. Got lots of large goldens too. :) Not to mention some funky browns with yellow eye brows hoping they feather out differently if they do then I will be breeding for them. :P

The silkie chicks that I hatched from a sweet girl on BYC are absolutly STUNNING! Valted amazingly!!!! One splash (I named Toby it just looks like a Toby lol) and two blues! That means if atleast one is a pullet I've got wonderful chances of getting MORE nice splashes :) I iwll have to post a picture of them on here huh? :P

My capuchine pigeons are starting to mate so I'm hoping that means eggs soon *crosses fingers* my mallard ducks ...the drake is getting SOO Gorgeous! I need to take some new pictures of him before he transforms completley out o fhis baby plumage into his adult breeding plumage. :) HIs headis almost completley green on the one side :) My chocolate calls are now friends with them which is great :) I had to pinnion their two ducklings today I felt so bad doing it but it's for their future safety.

well I will end this here with some pictures :)

Lots of updates :)

In the incubator:::
Black East Indies Bantam Duck eggs
Bantam Rhode Island Red eggs
Coturnix (what a suprise) LOL
Those Marannnnnss ;)
Some other marans from a friend going to be my egg layers (food) if I keep them since theres no project I'm interested in with them (blacks and possibly blues though so those'll be pretty)!

I had a pigeon chick hatch that I rescued as a freshly layed cracked egg, I'm really concerned about it because I have to tube feed it and I think it aspirated so I feel bad but hopfully it makes it. :) I saved the egg with wax and now I have a baby to show for it! :)

Speaking of babies, hubby and I are talking about trying for our own :) Since my missed monthly that has now returned we were prepairing for a baby anyhow so now we're talking about planning for one :) I'm pretty excited about being a mom... someday hopefully soon! :) I will still focus on my birds during all of this ofcourse just don't plan on getting anymore breeds :)

My Reds Are Starting Up!

That's right folks! My red coturnix are starting to lay! Now, in my red pen is a brown hen she came from the red eggs so I assume/hope she carries recessively the red gene...so one of the eggs could have been from her however since the only other two hens in the pen are both reds (red golden and a true red) it's safe to say atleast ONE of those gals is laying! Sadly, the one egg that was layed today was cracked so I decided to crack it open to see if it was fertile and yep! A lovely bullseye! I am so anxious to see the babies I want to so badly just set the 2 I have (one from yesterday and one from today) but I'll wait until I collect for a few more days first :P.

Also already in my incubator is cochin eggs from a wonderful girl on BYC I was her first egg sendee and she did wonderful job with them! None were broken! Sadly last night I had to remove one it either quit developing early or never developed at all though I was quite sure they all were so who knows! :) Either way all the others are developing wonderfully! Silkie eggs and Standard Cochin x silkie crosses talk about a cute cross! Theres also a pigeon egg in there, a pure Capuchine egg from one of my own pairs. They layed it the day after I got them if I remember correctly and still aren't fully settled down from coming here so I knew they wouldn't sit it. So, I'm really excited and cannot wait to raise it up by hand! :) They say its hard but my buddy assured me it's actually easier than other chicks which is just fun for me as i've raised many wild birds as a kid that had fallen from the nest (i no longer do this :P). Anywho he showed me a video of how to feed them and it's disgustingly simple! Not to mention several coturnix eggs from my own birds..... but that's a given...... annnd ofcourse the Golden Salmons! :D

Got the eggers!!! AND MORE!

Sooo my partner in marans crime (haha) brought by our future project of sorts today! I think 26 total if I'm not mistaken! They are 4 and 5s on the marans egg chart which is fine... means they are considered marans which is what we want lol! So it's a start! :) These are to be our first Golden Salmon Marans! :) I am so excited and so is my partner (keeping her name off of here just for privacy reasons). I cannot wait to put them in the bator and start the incubation fun! :) Hopefully they are easy to vent sex so I can work my magic and hopefully let her take home what I am almost 100% sure is a bunch of pullets and one cockerel for her! *crosses fingers*! I'd be happy with just 2 pullets or 3 and a few cockerels to let grow up and assess :) More plans in the works with GSMs! :) Just keep watchin and readin ;).

A few days ago got my Capuchine Pigeons which I traded 10 coturnix quail for! I think I got the better end of the deal though maybe the new coturnix owners feel the same way about their end of hte deal. I'm just in love with them! They are beautiful! I read that they are pretty rare. I need to do more research on them though as they are quiet fascinating! I got one egg from them in the bator. They werent willing to sit on it, and it had a crack in it which I sealed up with candle wax and put in the bator just to see. I am more than willing to hand raise it thanks to my *twin at heart* Mark knowing all too well how to raise them and is always there to help me if i need it! *love you Mark *hugs**!!!

To top that off, got 2 call ducklings (one is a chocolate and the other unsure), a pair of adult call (pet quality) chocolate ducks (drake and duck ofcourse), and a black pet quality silkie cockerel that hubby and I just love to itty bitty peices! :)

We spent the day today mowing, cleaning, and putting some extra wire on the bottom of the fence (plan to wire the whole bottom of the fence) so that when quails get out of their pens or chicks do that they wont be able to escape the fence itself because they wont be able to squeeze through anywhere :)

Changing Marans Varieties! It's Chicken Destiny!

Yes yes, sadly to admit, I am changing varieties of Marans! Sticking with marans though! So don't go just yet! lol! I'm selling my small flock of BC Marans, and with a new friend/marans partner of mine, we're going to be enjoying the fruits of breeding a recessive color called the Golden Salmon! Whats so exciting is they don't seem to have the same color issues that BC marans do throwing colors and such that you don't want which is why I felt uncomfortable working with the BCs because it's so hard to know what each hatch is going to bring. I will post pictures when the eggs come and ofcourse when the cuties hatch and hopefully keep this thing updated about them! Also we're talking of making a yahoo group to post our findings on this lovely variety! More info to come on this later hopefully!

On friday hubby and I are going to pick up my FIRST pair of call ducks! They are pet quality but I could care less I've wanted call ducks for like three years now! I had call duck eggs coming but the person never sent her part of the swap... I'm very disapointed about it but this isn't the first time I've felt scammed. I HOPE that it's not nothing bad that happened to the person in question I'd rather be scammed then them be hurt or something. I haven't seen them on BYC since like the 20th! So I am a little concerned... anywho... hopefully things get right in that area and I can enjoy call ducks from them as well in the future! *fingers crossed* If the ladies hubby is fine with it I may also be buying some SQ silkie roos from them as well! I hope he's willing to sell a few! I'd even be happy buying just one! :D Got white silkies in the brooder and am sending out payment for BBS silkies (sq) tomorrow! *happy dance* LOL!

I say goodbye to my BC marans more than likely this tuesday they will be going to a good home though with a breeder who is very serious about breeding these birds right and that's what I want for them! He almost got out of BCs too because of the same reason I am...but the love for this variety is strong so he decided to buy my small flock! I am GOING TO MISS THEM DEEPLY! But I am sure that these Golden Salmons will fill that void and getting to work aside another wonderful future breeder with this color we're both new to it but she's got access to some very knowledgable people and through her I should learn a good bit! I am SOO excited!

Well that is all for now! :D