So, the new computer aka "New Hotness" (thanks Will Smith for the name), is finally here & all set up. It's fast enough to work on EVERYTHING I need it to. So Happy Dance there.
Not so Happy Dance is the three hospital visits this year, which added another 2 illnesses to my already overwhelming list. But none are fatal yet so I'm working as hard as possible to get back to accomplishing things.
Got lots of very nice birds from my friend Yvonne, who can no longer keep birds. So I have gorgeous Normal Greys with great bloodlines, beautiful Pieds, and Lutinos ranging from vary pale to bright yellow. As a result, I took a lot of my birds to the Bird Fair in Orlando last April and sold them. Since most of them were boys & they were related to most of my girls, it made room for the new bloodlines. It has been so worth it.
Buddy, who lost his beloved Ginger last year, finally got a new Lutino mate, Shrinking Violet (she's not). The babies are spectacular. I can't help but feel sorry for whoever lost him several years ago as he has good bloodlines and is the best Dad we have. I'll post pix of their babies later. The two oldest, a Cinnamon Pearl & a Pearl, are star quality.
Other excitement - I finally got a baby out of Puffy, my Whiteface hen. Of course, she rejected it immediately, but luckily, I had another pair who had just laid so I stuck him in there. He is growing very well. He looks like he might be a Whiteface Pied, like his Dad, Romeo. It's the first baby I've gotten from either of them. Puffy is now sitting on another 4 eggs. She sits like a champ, doesn't leave the nest box hardly at all. Apparently though, she loses interest when they are born. We'll see how it goes with this clutch.
Doc finally got a mate. He is a Cinnamon and I put him with Pearlie Mae, a very pretty Cinnamon Pearl. They had 4 Cinnamon babies, 2 of which look to be the darker, brownish color I'm looking for.
Precious, who placed on the Novice Bench at the Specialty Show last November, was to be paired with Ajax, who placed 2 place higher. Unfortunately, she didn't like that idea. Wanted nothing to do with him, but, when she saw Smeagol through the bars of their respective cages, she was smitten. So was he. He spent the afternoon trying to get to her through the bars. (So, obviously he had to be named Smeagol.)
Ajax tried, but she was in love and that was that. So Precious and Smeagol were put together. Only 1 egg hatched, but we got Nazgul, a very pretty pearl with almost no yellow coloring so s/he looks almost like a Whiteface Pearl. Nazgul started feeding the younger babies put in the habitat with him/her so I guess s/he won't be going to the pet store. Someone who is willing to feed orphans is too valuable to send off. We'll just have to wait & see if that behavior holds to adulthood. Smeagol & Precious, btw, are the ones fostering the Whiteface chick.
We also now have Ginger Beer, a Great-Granddaughter of Ginger. She really channels her G-Grandma. She acts hand raised, although she wasn't. She loves people, attention, head rubs and groats, just like Ginger. So, even though she is a baldy Lutino, she will not go to the pet store either. When we find a perfect family for her, she will go. Until then, she stays.
One of the new Pieds is a hen so I've put her with a Pied boy. They are now mating so we should have some exquisite Pieds soon. Can't wait. Also, my friend, Sara, gave me Chantilly, a Cinnamon Whiteface Pearl Pied who has finally given in to Zorro's (Whiteface, split Pied) attentions and she has laid her first egg. I put her with Romeo first, but again, my skills as a matchmaker apparently suck bilge water. She wouldn't even look at him. So Romeo went to Puffy & Zorro, my only other Whiteface, got Chantilly.
So much excitement. I can't wait to see what else comes out of the eggs. What the heck...
HAPPY DANCE!!!
