Rainbow(s) over Huachuca City, captured by Alexis as we were on our way to California.
Ok, so you may have noticed that the posting schedule was a bit – irregular for a while; sorry about that. I took a quick trip with Alexis, to California, to be with my folks, visit a friend, and drop Alexis off to visit her dad – while my blogging intentions were good, and I had planned on posting last Friday, when I went into Starbucks to use the wifi (my folks live in the boonies as most of you know and, while visiting with them, I don’t have cell phone service, nor is there anything but dial-up internet <gasp>), I ran into several people from my previous church and didn’t end up typing anything but a title! Once I returned to Arizona, we had Patty and George visiting, and we were off having too much fun with them after I was done working and… I didn’t post. I tried to make it up by posting on Tuesday about our cute little Roman, and now I’m back on schedule for a while. In the interest of full disclosure, this off schedule thing could very well happen again because my folks, along with my niece, Rhiann, and my Aunt and Uncle from New Mexico will be here during Holy Week through to Easter (Would anyone else like to come and visit for the holiday? Just let us know and bring a dish to share! Hey, we might have more hands to help out with the P.O.W.W.O.W. that Saturday!). We’ll just see how that goes. Enough with the excuses~ let’s get on with the update! Continue reading
This little cutie is our newest family member; a gosling! Specifically a Tufted Roman (also called simply “Roman Goose”). We don’t know if it is a girl or a boy, but we’re calling it Roman for now. According to The Livestock Conservancy, Tufted Romans are on the critical list. We wanted to have a guard goose for the flock, and thought we might as well have one from the critical list… perhaps we can breed later. Plus, this breed of goose has an illustrious history of guarding. Again, from The 
…the number 9! We’re starting today’s blog off with the Egg Report, just to mix things up a bit. Nine eggs! Yesterday and today, this seems to be the preferred number from the chickens. They are laying happily and steadily… occasionally we receive an egg from everyone, but that is still a rather rare happening. We’re just happy that they are producing regularly. And today, there’s that one ginormous Easter Egg again. We haven’t come across another double-yoker, but Sue’s pretty sure that the one she had isn’t going to be an anomaly. We’ll be sure to document that if/when it happens. 
Chickshaw Re-do: As you may recall, the wonderful Chickshaw had been battered about by one of the severe wind storms we had earlier this year. So much work went into making it, that we didn’t want to just scrap it and forget it. So Sue has been diligently recreating the concept and making it sturdier, heavier (good thing), and rethinking it’s usage. It is almost re-completed, only needs one leg (on the far front side) and then some hardware to keep the front hinged portion closed in a stiff wind. Dustin had the idea to place rocks on the wheel frame and a few inside and that has kept it quite steady and in place through some very harsh winds in the last few weeks. Sue is thinking of using it in more of a semi permanent capacity for the new Littles, once they’re ready to venture outside.She’s done a great job fixing it up and I’m so happy that we’ll be able to use it again! 
Chicken butt!!! I don’t know why that’s funny, but Dustin said it to us yesterday and it made me laugh. We used to do that when we were kids, or say “What’s up chicken butt?” This all comes to mind because we’ve been dealing with little chicken butts lately. Our babies are getting over what’s called Pasty Butt. It not horribly serious, but if not taken care of, it can prevent the chicks from being able to eliminate and then they could die, so that’s bad. Pasty butt happens when the poop collects on their bottom and dries over the vent. It creates a seal and prevents them from eliminating at all. Poor babies. 
There are just so many! Where do we start? Well – do you remember a post where I encouraged you to 
find good homes! Dustin has already claimed the bed mattresses for use in the dinky house, as their blow-up mattress was punctured by their kitty – oops! There are many design options for this new chicken tractor, quite a few plans on line, so we’ll just have to see what will work best for us and the chickens. Take the photo just above; I am NOT saying that this is what we’ll be doing, just that it is an option. Kinda cute though – trailer chickens. This is definitely something to be working on in the near future. 
The brooding table was completed, Sue purchased a couple bricks of shavings so that the chickies would be comfortable on top and on the bottom. She set up the warming platform and tested it out, placed the feed and water stations on the platform. She received a notice that the chickies shipped today, so we should be able to pick them up at the post office Wednesday morning, first thing. Everything is prepared. A week after the ducklings should be here! In an effort to keep down the dust in the coop, Sue set up one of the shaving bricks in the biggies’ side. Instead of spreading it out herself, she decided to let the chicke
ns do the work , and give them some entertainment in the process… especially since they weren’t able to be outside very much due to the wind. The shavings come vacu-packed in a 
plastic wrap, when you take the wrapping off, they retain their shape quite well, so it takes a bit of effort from the chickens to fluff it up and spread it around. The photo on the left shows them just starting on Saturday. The second photo is of the same spot on Sunday afternoon! They did a very good job! 
Wing and a Prayer 