Quail_Antwerp: Words from the Barnyard...

[tfpets]

I guess Elizabeth has been promoted to Queen Elizabeth, Her Royal Marans....Queen of the Duckyard....hmmph. I have some chickens that prefer the duckyard too...wierd. I have a duck that refuses to live with the other ducks too? Her name is goat...guess who her best friend is?

Sorry you lost your little chicks, sometimes they just dont make it, and it's really hard in the winter....I lost an Easter Egger chick today, no reason, just not alive when I came home.....it's cold here for us, it froze last night, but I have heat lamps in their coop, the only real building out there, so they should be fine....everyone else is....its hard to predict. Are you going to replace your Salmon Favorelles? I have one hen, she's one of my favorites in my flock!

It must have been devastating for your friend to lose her ferret, and to know such a bad thing is endangering other pets too...distemper is awful.

Hope your stocking making went well,
Take Care,
Tina/tfpets

 

[FarmerChick]

post a pic of your stocking when done.
I love seeing things like that.

Nicole made, well, hmm...made a stocking at preschool.
Teacher wrote the name and Nicole sprinkled green glitter on the glue...HA HA....she was thrilled. Ah, the old days when so little made you so happy!

She gets to bring it home today after the Christmas party.

 

[keljonma]

Her Royal Highness is once again back in the duck pen. Sigh. I threw in the towel, and ran up the white flag.

Then I decided to move Monroe in with her. Funny thing was, he seemed to know just what I was doing and he ran right to me and let me pick him up! I carried him out to the duck pen, and the two happily clucked around the pen, and put themselves to bed. I told them goodnight when I shut the gate, and they were cuddled together on their roost. I just don't understand why Elizabeth doesn't want to be with the rest of the flock. Oh well. At least this way when she starts to lay, I will have pure Maran eggs!

Well, maybe since the duck pen was her first home, she just feels comfortable there..

Elizabeth and Monroe have always been a team. Is Monroe getting more golden? You'll have to post new pics soon.

Went shopping with my mom today. She bought the baby his first christmas outfit today. It's an adorable red sleeper with Penguins all over it. It came with a matching hat and a matching long sleeved creeper. The creeper is red with 3 penguins on the front and says, "Baby's first Christmas". It's really cute. He'll wear it to bed Christmas Eve and then "open" his presents wearing his new sleeper Christmas morning.

I do all my own portraits of the kids using my digital camera. Guess it is time I do their Christmas pics.

Those always make great pics for when they are off to college or their first apartment!

I just realized we didn't receive any Christmas cards this year I really do not mind. Since DH has such a passion for trees, it really bothers him to receive cards in the mail. I have never sent cards because I could never fully justify spending the money to do it. No offense to those who send the cards, but we have to work everything in to a small budget, and well, that was something that was easy for me to not put into the budget.

In the past, we tried to find cards made from recycled materials. It wasn't easy. Now, we usually send Hallmark e-cards, as they have a number that are free. ETA: this year Hallmark has no free Christmas e-cards!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, tonight Elizabeth and Monroe are both back in the bantam pen. Monroe went in on his own, but I had to put Elizabeth in. She was in the duck shed. I know she likes it there, but Monroe does not. I am going to try to make them both comfortable, just haven't decided how to go about that yet. Elizabeth didn't seem too upset when I moved her to the bantam pen. I stroked her wattles and said, "It's ok, chick chick" and she chortled back to me a little bit.

Today we moved the goat feeders around. Elroy is a hog, and everytime I put feed out he'd try to push the girls out of the way and eat it all...from both feed buckets! So we spaced them apart further and fed Elroy in one and the girls in the other. Elroy scarfed his down and hightailed it to steal from the girls. DH crawled in and pulled Elroy off the girls feed and held on to him until the girls were done.

I collected two eggs from the bantam pen today. One was from Emmy the Splash Silkie. She wasn't budging off the egg either. Nope, she laid her egg and was building her nest up around it. I said, um no no no...gimme the egg LOL She then took off to eat once I had removed her egg. Not sure who laid the other one, but I suspect it was Fran, my Quail Antwerp hen.

Other than that, just trying to get my house a little extra cleaner than normal because we have company coming from Louisville Ky. A friend of mine who runs a Ferret Shelter is bringing me a large amount of free dog food....and one possibly two new ferrets She will be here sometime right after Christmas. I am super excited and cannot wait!!

 

[FarmerChick]

are those ferrets just visiting or possibly going to live with you forever and ever?

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

We didn't get the stocking done yet. Other things kept cropping up. I'm definitely going to try to start it tomorrow.

These ferrets would not be just visiting, they would be moving in. My friend runs a shelter and she chose Chance for me, because she feels he'll fit in with my family. He was all alone for his first two years and lived outside in a rabbit cage and sometimes his original owners remembered to feed him. He's a dark eyed white, and a very handsome fellow.

My friend is also sending me 3 boxes of ferret supplies and an extra cage

 

[tfpets]

. He was all alone for his first two years and lived outside in a rabbit cage and sometimes his original owners remembered to feed him. He's a dark eyed white, and a very handsome fellow.

That poor little guy, that is awful! Bless you for taking time to consider giving him a better life! He didnt ask to be treated that way, he so deserves more! I hope he adjusts to having a better relationship with your animals and family, he sounds beautiful, look forward to pics.

Gotta go out to my own royal hen houses for a while!
Tina/tfpets

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Very bad morning here. My daughter's Christmas puppy died in his sleep last night. We had a vet appt scheduled for Monday for him. We are quite shocked. He seemed fine.

Worse part is, he slept in my daughter's room. She is the one who found him and she carried him to our bedroom at 6 am crying hysterically and screaming that Shadow had died in his sleep.

Only thing we can figure out is that he must have found something, ingested it, causing him to have a blockage. Just to be safe, we are cleaning DD's room today and tossing out Shadow's toys and bleaching everything. He didn't show any signs of parvo, but since he came from the pound, I want to be safe in case her dad gets her another pup. I don't know that will happen in time for Christmas, but I suspect he'll be looking since when he was consoling her he promised to find her another puppy.

 

[FarmerChick]

OH QA
so sorry for your DD
that is tough for a kid to find her puppy like that!
AAhhh....crazy how things just happen like that.

of course a new puppy will take the edge off I am sure....but still.....AAhhh....

so sad!

I bet her little heart was just breaking....poor DD. But I know she will bounce back like all kids do.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Thanks, FC. She's watching cartoons right now. She wanted to cremate her puppy, but Dad told her he didn't think that was a good idea. We had a small burial for him.