For any of you that have read our mission statement, you know that hatching eggs or adding birds purely for enjoyment runs against the grain of what we are trying to accomplish here. But I’m sure you can imagine how excruciating it was for me to see all of the pictures of the cute fuzzy chickies that everyone was bringing home from the feed store or Tractor Supply. However, I have tried for almost 20 years now to ensure that the blood line of my original Silkie Roo (the Godfeather) has stayed alive. As of now we have 3 descendents of his.
Louis is his grandson, but because of his stroke, he will never be able to breed again. (I will spare you the details of the mechanics necessary to even attempt that). Louis’ brother Clark is strong and healthy and so is Louis’ daughter BuzzyBee. Unfortunately we have no unrelated Roo to breed Buzzy to (at least not that she will have anything to do with). Clark is a very devoted Roo. In the absence of a nest box, he provides privacy for his hens to lay eggs by standing over them. He is a remarkable guy and beautiful to boot. Although, I admit he looks more like his grandmother Trinity (a black frizzle cochin) than his grandfather Woo, but he looks so much like his father Curlie that I still call him by the wrong name at times.
I’m sure you all remember Billie from her videos. She is quite the little hellion. Well, she went broody a while back and I have to admit that it was nice to have a little bit of quiet for once. So I made an executive decision and let her have a couple of Clark’s eggs. I know, I know, I should have shown more restraint, but Clark is going to be 4 this year and I have had bad experiences breeding birds that were over 4 years old. Their genetics seem to weaken and I wanted to ensure that his offspring were as hearty and healthy as possible. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. It has also been a hard winter here and despite my best efforts, we have lost a few of our geriatric birds. That coupled with the new, larger, state-of-the-art coop we built last year, we actually do have a little space to spare for once. So it was a tough decision, but one I’m sure I will be glad I made when my great great grand chickies are born!