chickening

I spent a lot of time outdoors today. It was nice, I've been pretty cooped up in the studio lately. I don't think I managed to get much of a tan yet though.

Today was a day of chickening. That involves bringing ALL the birds out and putting them into cages out by the barn (I should have taken a photo), sorting them by color, trimming toenails, powdering them for mites if needed, and deciding what to keep and what to sell. I found a few to go to auction, and the rest are now in breeding pens (Brassy/Blue Brassy, BBRed, and 2 pens of Blacks.)

The plan: focus only on Black and BBRed. Sell the rest ONLY if I find the right homes for them. I will start selling eggs in a couple weeks: BBRed and Black, and maybe more depending what's still here.

I will hatch some (hopefully 50-ish) for myself at the END of the season (rather than waiting til it's hot to ship eggs, since I likely won't be showing much in the fall it doesn't matter if I hatch them late). Pure Black, and Black X BBRed. No pure BBRed. They need serious work. However, since I think most buyers aren't looking to have to deal with a multi-generation thing, I'll sell pure BBRed eggs. If anyone wants BBRed X Black do let me know though.

If I sell what I want to sell, I will end up with less than 25 birds, woo hoo!

I let the horses out for a gallop this afternoon. They've been cooped up in the corrals so that the pastures grow some grass and they had WAY too much pent up energy. It was a blast, I run around with a lunge whip and they rip around the pasture bucking and farting. It amuses me that Gwen, despite her lameness issues, can still outrun little short-legged Shylah. Again, should have taken pictures!

Today is my 9th anniversary with Gwen. It's hard to believe I've had her that long, that's longer than I owned Thunder! Gwen's a rotten old horse but I love her anyway. :-)