Friendship

Friendship has been a toughy for me. I have a hard time trusting people and not many people understand me. Some think they can control me, others lose contact.

Living on a farm restricts me to go on vacation nor visit people. I don't mind it. I love doing what I do. New adventures occur every day and when I do go to town I have interesting moments. For example, the other day I was at Target just getting light bulbs for my brooders. I little unruly 4 year old boy runs from his mom and slaps my butt! I was with my mom. She responds to this 

"You are supposed to be attracting a husband, not children." 

We both laughed at the incident. The mom of the boy was embarrassed but it sure woke me up! I was sleepy all day. 

I have many friends on facebook and in forums. I haven't met half of them but we have one interest; we all love birds, whether quail, chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, we can share information and help others. Although I don't know many in person, they are very important in my life; many have farms of their own and give suggestions, ways of improving my business. We trade eggs, help out with naming button quail and Coturnix color varieties, etc...When I am down, they are there for me; these are true friends. 

Sometimes on Forums there are those that will annoy the heck out of you, put you down, criticize you....those are not friends, even if they say they are...I try not to deal with those people. I recently had to leave a forum due to that and I am very unhappy about leaving but I believe the forum will go on without me and that although I benefited the members, I do need a break from it. I may come back but for now I just cannot deal with it. As many of you know, I am a VERY emotional person and I love to learn but also I would never give someone false information. All the information I give out is from a trusted source and I stand behind it. 

To conclude,  this is what made my day yesterday: A dear friend emailed me with this message:

"BE YOU! don't every apologize for yourself and don't ever feel the need to defend what you feel, think or believe! Ever! Do the best you can, follow your heart and you will shine when others grow dim!"

Tranquility

It is always a treat to be able to walk outside with my cup of coffee and be able to enjoy nature, without any disturbance. I can hear my own chickens, ducks, and guineas from afar, no city sounds, just pure tranquility (other than the occasional gun shots).

I live on 6 acres of land, there is a lot of nature as no one lived here for a while and it wasn't taken care of. I don't mind. I love the trees and big bushes (a great area for the chickens, ducks, and guineas to chill. I also get to see the wildlife around me such as screech owls, turkey vultures, hawks, etc...I just have to be careful with them and my own flock.

I like to take the dogs out with me, however Cleopatra, my younger one, tends to be a bit "hungry" when it comes to birds. She has to be on the leash when I am letting the birds out from the coops so they can free-range during the day. It is just safer that way. Cleopatra has always been this way; she has that hunting dog instinct in her which I cannot train out of her. I have tried for 2 years now. She may outgrow it, but for fairness, she will be on leash and enjoy the outdoors, and the birds will be safe and outdoors at the same time. Brutus, my older dog, is very caring towards the birds. I find him sleeping in the coop at times during the day and the chickens walk all over him like he is just another part of their flock. They do not not mind him. I wish Cleo was the same way, but the two dogs just have completely different personalities, and I respect that. I still love them both dearly and include them in all my adventures.

Brutus

Cleopatra

Letting the birds out is a fun time for me. I love watching them run into the bushes and trees, perching on the branches, well trying to at least. Some of my Marans Roosters are 15+ pounds and instead of perching they end up plopping one branch to another. Of course, they act like big babies and make it seem like someone caused their incident! I laugh a lot while I work or when enjoying the nature around me! 

One of the Chicken hangouts :)

A Black copper Marans Hen perching on a Branch

My Ducks love to run to the creek to get their daily yummies of frogs and fish :)

It is always a joy to enjoy nature without disturbances and stress. The birds are able to enjoy it too. It also makes the 6 acres more complete. In the future, I believe the land will be more full. There is a lot of talking about more pens, more buildings, which means more space. I still have the philosophy that quality overrules quantity. However, more space encourages less overcrowding and healthy happy birds (not that they are not that already :) :)

War

It's been a couple of days without the menacing army of rat snakes bogging me down. Their slithery bodies and red-eyed round faces consuming my feathered friends and work. Last week I lost a total of 6 birds, not including the ones that were just strangled and left in their nest boxes face down, such that it looked like they were getting ready to be processed. It was not a pleasant thought. The quail headquarters is my sanctuary. I go in there in times of stress and sorrow. The image of dead bodies, not even consumed, just wasted, just did not glorify the mess. I would just relocate the snakes I found, but I just got fed up.

A year ago, I had the same problem outdoors but with racoons and opposums. I had my quail outside. At the time I had 41 bobwhite quail in a "predator proof" chick n hutch and pen ordered through Murry Mcmurray which had in their description that it was predator proof. The Japanese Coturnix were housed in similar models. The bobwhites were first to go. One by one, I woke up to headless quail... Ha! Predator Proof! eventually Mr. Bob was left. Mr. Bob now resides on the porch with Mrs. Bob, a female a friend gave to me. My new stock of bobwhites are in the garage. The same thing happened to the coturnix. But I saved Stella and the others by moving EVERYONE indoors. That is why the quail headquarters is in the garage. This is why I am upset I am having the snake problem. I solved the Opossum and Raccoon problem, never thought snakes would be a problem...

Back to the snakes, I got fed up. I set traps everywhere..I have caught 15-20 snakes in the past 2 days alone. This is not acceptable to me. I am waiting on some cages to arrive from my dear friend Jodi McDonald. She and her husband Bruce has designed an excellent cage for Chinese Blue Breasted Quail (Button Quail). They are VERY sturdy and they are the best in my opinion since the birds are MONOGAMOUS in nature and should be housed in pairs in captivity.

I admit, I haven't gotten any sleep. These birds are in my hands. I am their caretaker and I shall not allow them to be in harms path. Like I said, no deaths in two days. This is not the end, however. This is still war.