The cleanup continues and things have calmed down a bit around here. There is still much to do, but it's amazing what they've accomplished. Power has been restored to almost everywhere that can get service. They got it done so fast with a lot of help from outside utility companies. The good weather we've had since then helped a lot, too. Phone lines are still out, but that's not as important in this age of wireless communication.
The mail was finally able to get back here yesterday. I had to go to the post office a few days ago to send some things out, and the postmaster explained that the restrictions on who belongs in the areas included the mail carriers. I could have signed a form to hold my mail to pick up myself, but I didn't have anything important coming (that I know of) so I could wait it out.
I found another odd bit of damage the other day. There's 5' chainlink around the backyard, and wild honeysuckle is growing thickly on the back corner. So thick, I didn't notice until I was close that the fence is copping a 25-30 degree lean outward for about 20' from the corner. The honeysuckle must have caught the blast like a wall. Again amazed at the persnickety nature of tornadoes, and that my house and outbuildings were spared! That corner is only about 50 feet from the Summer House carport and rabbit shed! There's some loose stuff under the carport and most of it wasn't even moved!
What else?
I've been working in the Summer House setting up for the chickens. All the chicks are still in transition cages, and the oldest batch is in a sort of pen so I can control them until I'm ready to turn them loose in there. I'm also doing a bit of culling now that I know what I have in the chicks. Tomorrow, I'm going to a Small Animal Swap in Kingsport (about an hour away) and hope to sell the culls. That's the other reason they are still caged...to make it easier to load them up in the morning.
As of now, it looks like I have:
3 Dark Cornish - not sure on sex, but they still have no combs to speak of so I'm saying pullets. Culling.
2 Black Old English - cockerel and pullet. Culling.
4 Self Blue OE - Looks like 3 cockerels and 1 pullet, but I'm not sure on one of the smaller ones. That's a drag. Would have liked to keep all that pretty color. I should only keep 1 roo for that color, so I'm culling at least 1, maybe 2 if I decide there is in fact 3 roos.
1 Spangled OE roo and 1 Black Breasted Red OE pullet. Trying to decide whether to cull the BBR since she doesn't really fit in my "pretty bird" plan. Hens of that variety are dull. Although she does seem like a rather sweet bird which could go in her favor.
1 White Japanese roo. Keeping to see how Japanese handle my winters.
3 Partridge Wynadottes. These were question marks because they didn't develop like any of the others. Much slower feather and comb development. I realized the round body and small curled tail was similar to the Cochins, and the lack of comb means the Wyandotte's rose comb. I knew I really liked these chicks for a reason! That was a breed I was interested in.
2 Buff Amercaunas - cockerel and pullet.
13 Cochins. Lots of variety here! I couldn't resist when I went to TSC last week for feed, and the latest bantam shipment was ALL cochins! So I brought home 6 more.
* edited to add 5 more bought at the sale.
5 Mottled Black
3 (possible) Gold Laced
1 (possible) Silver Laced
2 Buff
1 Barred
1 Red
Yes, it's been a lot of fun learning how to ID these chicks.
I'm also taking bunny culls to the swap. I was going to take them to the next rabbit show (the birds, too) but hopefully this swap will eliminate the need for that.
Nothing much happening in the rabbitry right now. Don't have any litters due until around the 18th. Playing with the current litters a lot to start picking my keepers. Looks like there's a lot of does! Honeycomb's 2 torts are does and ready to be weaned out. Probably keeping both of them. One is a show bunny, and the other looks like BUD but should be showable for a while. Honeycomb is also due on the 18th (Dot.com) and I'll probably sell her after that litter since I have several daughters to replace her. The rest are about 4 weeks and we're working on posing.
Oh and I'm pretty excited. I saw an ad for "color" guineas, and got my name on a wait list for hatchlings. Just got word today, they are hatching and it looks like colors I wanted will be available. Cool! Blue (or some variation of blue or lavender), royal purple (I think this is a dark brownish) for sure, and I hope for buff.
Speaking of guineas. I have the 10 eggs I salvaged from the fox-killed hen's nest in the incubator. I was worried the power outage for 3 nights would kill them. The 3rd night, it got pretty cool in the house and incubator. I was told to continue incubating and hope for the best, so that's what I'm doing. I'll sell most of those (if any hatch) to turn my flock over to colors. I'll definitely clip wings to try to keep them in the fence.
tnt
