SWAP!!!!!!

I went to a swap out at Gillmanor Farms this weekend. 

My friends Connie and Dave went too--Connie in the role of "sponsor"--as in AA--only this was CA (Chickens Anonymous). Bea went too--another chickaholic. Bea got up extra early so she could go (she's a farmer and gets up at the crap of dawn anyhow but for a swap she got up waaaay before dawn even thought of crapping). I wanted one baby Silkie. I came home with a Silkie, a Mille Fleur and a buff Cochin. Bea got an Indian Game hen--very old breed--a Langshan, three Spangled Hamburgs, and two Muscovy ducks and had ten dollars left over for breakfast. Dave said he was buying breakfast so Bea went back and got two Rhoad Island Red pullets. She WINS!

Connie failed in her role as sponsor. She not only took the alcoholics to the liquor store but helped pick out the liquor, pay for it and carry the bottles to the car. 

If you look at the picture, Sam is in front (she's the Silkie), Millie is the little speckled girl--she's a Millie Fleur d'Uccle, and Buffy is a buff Cochin. This morning they got their little feathered feet washed and any poopy feathers trimmed off. They'll be in the brooder box till they get used to me and I'm sure they're healthy then they get to meet the other gurls and find their place in the pecking order.

Sam is Sam cause I told the guy I got her from I had to have a hen--NO roosters ABSOLUTELY! So I got the teeniest of the hatch and we scrutinized the rest of the bunch, declared her female, said a prayer to the god of chickens and tucked her in my jacket for the trip back to the car, Passed a grarley old lady who said "need a rooster?" I told her I couldn't have roosters and I hoped my baby wasn't one and she said " well, you just hold em up by the scruff here and if they flap their feet all around, you got a rooster and if them feet just hang, you got yurself a hen." So she grabs my baby by the scruff of the neck and those feet go crazy and I'm really disgusted cause I just KNEW she was a she. Then I asked her how she held her up so I could go back and make sure I got a hen and she picked my baby up and those feet hung like a couple of wet noodles. We said we'd settle for a hermaphrodite and named her Sam.

If you're wondering what the heck a swap is, it's sorta like a big yard sale only with animals

Addendum: Sam is a rooster. I can get him neutered for $1,500. NOT! Wonder if Estrogen therapy would keep him from crowing. Sure is a cute little bugger.

Um--Buffy is a rooster too. Both of the boys crow. Rats!