Chickenless and a New Wheel!

First off, I want to say thanks to everyone for the comments on my last post. They were very much appreciated. I wish I could respond to them on the blog. I need to figure out that security glitch! Anyway, I'm not worried about the covenant issue or even the neighbor's dog, it's the zoning changes that scare me. Thanks to Sabrina for checking with Clancy on this too. We'll just have to wait and see what type of changes they propose and then proceed from there. So far I haven't heard anything more.

But the big news here is that we are chickenless for the first time in over 10 years! I sold all my chickens this morning and made out quite nicely. The decision to sell them all didn't have much to do with our neighbor dog situation, I've been toying with the idea since the price of corn and chicken feed went up so much. The girls cut way back on their egg production in September. So out egg sales were hardly paying for the chicken feed.

I put an ad in the paper and was very happy to see my 10 older hens go to a laying flock and my 8 surviving chicks went to a young family.

The four blue silkies were just gorgeous and turned out to be a rooster and three hens. A wonderful young lady rushed right out to get them this morning - no questions asked. So now I don't have to worry about feeding and watering poultry this winter.

In the spring I want to order some Shetland goslings from Holderread's in Oregon. Stan is very much against getting geese again, but I really want to try some of the Shetland geese. If anyone wants to go in on the order with me, let me know. I've ordered goslings from Holderread's before and I've been very happy with the condition of the birds when they arrive.

Shetland geese are still pretty rare in the US. They are autosexing, so you know at the hatch wether you've got males or females. And they are supposed to be a docile breed like Pilgrims.

Then I'd also like to get some heritage breed turkeys to raise.

Our kitten, Damian, turned one year old on the 23rd. His mom still licks his head like when he was little. They look so cute when they sleep together in "their chair". But they're not so cute when they tear around the house chasing each other.

Oh and I got a new spinning wheel yesterday! Stan can't understand the need for FOUR wheels, but this Louet S51DT will be used for plying. The regular Louet bobbins hold so much! Here is a Louet photo of the S51DT. I MIGHT sell my Victoria, but I really like it for taking to demos. Or maybe the Traveller, but I really like that because it's double drive. And my big saxony wheel isn't going anywhere, so I think we may have to put up with four wheels here. At least we don't have to feed them!


Now, on to BREEDING SEASON --- Kim threw a wrench in my plans when she said I could use Kimberwood Harrison, a polled black gulmoget ram lamb on my girls. I stopped over to check him out yesterday and now my head is swimming with all the possibilities. And now I'm thinking of putting Dougal (my white BFL) in with my two BFL ewes insteading of using the natural colored ram lamb on them. Dougal is a proven sire and I LOVE his fleece. Arghh!