Where does time go to?  Only another half a year and it'll be Christmas again!  We'll be collecting the day old turkeys in less than 2 months time!

In the meantime, weather allowing, Hubby has almost finished my new breeding shed.  It is 16ft x 8ft and nearly all made from re-cycled stuff, except the ply for the floor and back and one side and the nails and screws and we had to buy 1 sheet of onduline.  Someone gave us the other 8 sheets!  Okay, 2nd hand with a few splits, but a bit of bitumen sorted that out!

The door is on now and hubby just has to make the louvres for the front and the pop holes and make 4 runs for it.

Inside there are 4 pens for our new breeding trios.  We will have Rhode Islands Reds, Light Sussex, Lavender Araucanas and Cuckoo Silkies in there.  The Exchequer Leghorns will probably go into the large ark once Rocky the Rooster has his new little house that hubby is going to make for him.

Hubby doesn't like the Appenzellars, so I may just keep the girls for laying and sell the chicks we have at the moment.  Becks the cockerel will probably go into the pot as he is a right little so and so, and keeps attacking us when we go in the run.  I tried dunking him in a bucket of water yesterday as a friend suggested, but he is still the same.  Shame as he is a lovely looking bird.  Gold spangled Appenzellar I think.

Apparently they are great free rangers and foragers, so he probably doesn't like being cooped up in a run.

The chick Appenzellars that my friend Debbie hatched for us are doing well!  they are nearly 3 weeks old now, but we can't tell whether they are boys or girls yet!

I love their hairdos!!!

The Exchequer Leghorns are now 13 weeks old and we have 2 girls and 2 boys, so a boy will have to go!  The 4 Araucanas are 9 weeks old and looks like the black and one of the lavenders are boys, then the barred black and barred lavender are girls, but we have 3 little lavender araucanas from Debbie so fingers crossed for another 2 girls from them.

The RIR and Lt Sussex are 7 weeks old now and looks like we have at lest 2 cockerels in both of them and we picked up a trio of Lt Sussex from a lady last week.  they are a little older so I can have 2 trios of unrelated birds.  Keep one for breeding and sell one.

They take up so much time though, what with feeding and watering, cleaning out.  My veg patch and the housework are terribly neglected.  I need a housekeeper!!!

Then last Thursday, because the nearly 14 week old hybrids are all reserved, we picked up another 450 day olds from the hatchery, and 300 of those are already reserved, even before they hatched!

I've even got a waiting list now for chooks and they go before they get to POL.  some people are even buying them as soon as they are off heat!!

And the big day is almost here!  Our incubator arrives either Wednesday or Thursday!  So I'd better get some eggs sorted to try it out before we go and get our meat chicken eggs from Simon! 

You wouldn't believe how much they charge you to bring stuff in from abroad!  We have had to pay nearly as much to import the incubator as it cost us to buy and ship over from china!!!!

Well I'd better go and get something done.  It's a bit cloudy today, but at least its dry, so I have no excuses for sitting here chatting to you lot!!