One of Jarrah and Penny's oldest boys, a year old on the 21st

A funny shot of Matilda... I was trying to just take a nice one when she spotted some yellowed tailed black cockatoos and did the crest raising and tilted her head up to watch them.

My younger pair of Chinese... well, in theory they are a pair... in reality she likes the Embden goose as well! ~_~;

Reason for lack of news is how sucky this season has been. I've been feeling really disappointed with it - laying is so scatty, fertility is non-existant, no one is going broody except the Embden who is partnered HERSELF with a female chinese and so nothing is going to hatch unless someone else is sneaking eggs in to her nest (don't think so).

Mou.

Razzafraggin WIND!

After we finally got the geese laying (and determined the Embden IS indeed a girl goose, having caught her actually laying a few times) mum was just starting to look like she'd go broody when BANG... the wind rips the door open and off it's hinges (welded mind you!), which startles the geese and results in a stampede which results in goose-egg omlette.

Crappity crappity crappity CRAP! The joys of living in a very windy valley!

After watching at the agility nationals on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was straight off to Euroa. Supposed to be some large partridge wyandottes and I was quite hyped to hear it.

When I got there, I finally found them. All three were sold as one lot. One was nice, one decent and not as nice with a lot of wild markings, all smaller than mine but with decent type. However, one was constantly head-flicking and the other slightly fluffed and I wasn't sure if it was something or nothing, so ummed and ahhed a bit.

Last time we had a good bit of fun (not) as the trio of OEGb I brought home had a nasty case of flesh mites, northern fowl mites. Now all new birds here go STRAIGHT into quarantine pens for 2 weeks, are immediately treated for lice and given moxidectin, followed by wormer and preventative doses of sulphaquin before release. This is on the premise that sometimes birds will have an issue that is not at a detectible state on purchase and the stress of moving can bring it out as well as the fact they may not have immunity built up to local strains of cocci. Generally you try to examine the birds but when the cages are zip tied to prevent theft and over head height you have to eyeball it. To top it off, these guys had a VERY well established case as the mites must have been there for some weeks already to exist in such numbers so the fact that the seller brought them just rankles... either they knew and didn't care or didn't know through sheer lazyness and bad husbandry. The rotten mites ended up killing several as while I'd seen the bugs upon getting home and promptly dosed them and redosed them appropriately, apparently they aren't killed by moxidectin. (Which quite generally is effective for everything else, just not the rather rarer stuff.)

At any rate, since to the best of my ability to examine I couldn't see anything other than head flicking and stress I decided I'd put in a lower bid and take a chance. So I put in my bid but pulled when it hit the bid hit $140. So instead I came home with a lovely bunch of daffodils courtesy of Tim (whose family owns a gorgeous daffodil and bulb farm) and spent the day chatting with everyone inbetween cuddling Cami to keep warm when it started raining and getting into discussions with everyone in their brother about how I was really, truely, honest to godly sure she WAS an Australian Shepherd and NOT a Koolie. Can I also say I really, really, really wish we could change the name to AMERICAN Shepherd... honestly, I think there are a number of people convinced the Yank is crazy or trying to have one over on them! ^_^;