Joe is better!

Joe has made a full recovery.  He is standing and crowing and acting normal.  He will move back out to his bachelor pad tonight or tomorrow. 

We are very happy that he was able to overcome the disease. He will be a carrier for the rest of his life so hopefully the others that are susceptible will not get it, but there is no way to be sure.  At least he is on his own for the most part.

Joe is sick

After coming home from work Tuesday evening I found Joe laying down in his pen.  At first I thought he was cowering and hiding from Bert.  I had just let the group out from the big coop to run around the yard and Bert had gone right over to see if he needed to chase Joe away! 

I went into his pen and when I tried to pick him up he did run away but there was not much energy in the attempt to get away from me.  When I picked him up his head hung down and he had to struggle to lift it up.  I immediately set up the dog crate in the house and put him in there.  He doess seem to have the same symptoms that Priscilla did. 

Joe eating a scrambled egg

We are hoping that he will be strong enough to overcome the disease.  Unlike Priscilla, Joe is older and was in good health before he got sick.  Priscilla was small and young and not able to overcome the disease.  I have made him scrambled eggs a few times and he seems excited to eat them.  He is drinking water.  Both drinking and eating are a challenge for him, it is difficult to get his neck and head to go where he wants it. 

Jim is particularly upset because Joe was his favorite (even though Joe would attack him any chance he got!).  So we are hoping and praying that he can make it through.  The fact that he is currently eating and drinking is a great sign. 

And the lucky winner is....

I went to the AQS quilt show in Grand Rapids, MI on Saturday.  It was a nice show.  I spent the afternoon shopping all the vendors with my friend, Sandy.  When we went past Yellow Creek Quilt Designs booth it was later in the day and they asked if I would do them a favor.  They had a large old suitcase filled with entries for a drawing and they wanted me to pick the winner. 

I mixed them up real good! 

And picked a winner!  You can also see these wonder pictures and congratulate the winner on their Facebook page!

The Young Ones Free Ranging

Everyone in the big coop is on lock down.  I put Selma, Patty and Lucille in there and closed the doors.  They are sorting out the pecking order (poor Selma and Patty) and getting used to where they need to come home to at night to sleep.  Since they are all locked up and not allowed out I let the little ones run around the yard!

They are not so little anymore!  Still have not named them.  Oh and I forgot to mention that one of them has been crowing! UGH!  Damn Mother Nature for her 50/50 balance!  So it looks like I'm gonna need to build another rooster bachelor pad.  They are almost 4 months old now. 

They had fun in the yard.  But  after a half hour they were back in there coop, but then they ventured out again.  After a couple hours I happened to be outside and saw a hawk across the street on the telephone pole.  I got them to go back in there coop and shut them in. But they got to enjoy a couple hours. 

I figure all week I'll let them out when I get home while the others are locked up.  I can't let them out with the big girls yet, not for a couple more months. 

Joe's New Roost

Ever since Joe was allowed to free range he never goes back to his coop in the evening.  Every night he flies to the top of the miter saw in the Corn Crib Carport and roost.  Every night I go collect him and put him in his coop.  I have to wait until it is dark because if he does see me coming he jumps down and runs away.  Then I have to wait for him to go back to the saw and grab him after dark. 

Now we usually only let Joe run around the yard after we are home, but since we got the other girls from the fair we had to put Joe into a dog crate.  I don't like leaving him in there during the day, its too small.  So I let him run around they yard even though we are not home.  Well, we were going out of town last weekend and Jim did not want to leave him vulnerable so we put him in the fenced in backyard.  We did not get home until after dark and I kinda wondered if Joe would eventually realize he can just fly/jump over the fence and go roost on the saw.  When  we got home there was Joe roosting on the top of the fence gate!

Now for the past couple nights he has decided that the backyard fence is his new roost area!

So he is right outside the mudroom ready to be collected! At least the new girls will be moving into the big coop soon and then Joe can have his big pen again!  But I will still have to collect him every night and take him to it!

The Girls have Saddles

I finally put the saddles on Laverne and Princess Diana.

Bert is so amorous that the girls are loosing a lot of feathers on their backs and will soon get some scratches or gashes. And we don't want any blood showing because they will peck on any bloody spots they see on other chickens.  Poor Princess Diana sill has a large bald spot on the back of her head but there is not anything to cover it with.  Someone suggested a hat but it would have to be tied and then when Bert pulled on it, it would just choke her!

They have been on for week now and they seem to be adjusting to them okay. 

I thought a purple one would be the best for Laverne to match her Lavender color!

I was lucky enough that the lady I ordered them from had this wonderful Wonder Women fabric for Princess Diana!  I think they both look Fabulous!  Now I'm gonna have to get some more soon when I release the two new girls and Lucille into the big coop with these three. 

Added a towel bar

I added a towel bar on the bottom of the Teacup Cabinet I made. 

I used a couple old electric fence insulators to put the dowel through. I found them on ad old fence post on the farm. 

The towel is something my Mom made for my Grandmothers when I was 4! She hand embroidered my hands and my writing.  There are random letters and numbers throughout the towel.  Since both of my Grandmothers are deceased I have inherited both of them. This one is nicely starched so its the one I hung. 

Now I am positive there is a secret code in there that would answer all of worlds problems if you could decipher the different letters and numbers and the angles and positions they are on the towel.