Weekend snaps

Ta Da! This is Goldy. He is a Buff Orpington Rooster that we traded our Barred Rock rooster "Rosey stripes" for. Rosey decided that we had bad JuJu and that I needed to be destroyed at all costs. He would sneak up on me while my back was turned and forcefully lunge himself at my body, going for the soft parts in the back of the knees. He would attack me while gathering up his girls eggs, putting water and food in the coop, and he even came out of the coop to give me a good whack. I had been feeling bad about thinking about getting rid of him but I finally had enough! He did cut a fine figure with the ladies and I miss his robust authoritative crowing. The girls really liked him too and he treated them very nicely (okay, now I'm feeling sad about this again). The folks that took Rosey were quite glad to get him and they had a few extra Buff Orpington Roos. So, I went over and selected this dandy fellow. He seems to be doing quite well so far. He is partial to the Buff Orpington hens (we have three) and the little bantam hens hang around him which they didn't do with Rosey. Little Grey (a bantam dark Brahma) roosted next to him his first night in the coop and she sticks pretty close to him. He has the most hilarious crow...there is a tremalo on the "doodle" part, and at the end he trills the "dooooooo" out quite a bit and sounds like a barred owl...not as proper as Rosey but very entertaining.

The girls have been working hard at eggs...today they laid 20! We have 9 nest boxes for them to use, and all 20 were in three boxes. One box held 10 eggs...and the chickens were all waiting in queue complaining about how long everyone else took at full volume. It was loud in there today! They are really enjoying the good weather we've been having...the past two days have been 60 degrees!!! All of our snow is GONE except for the plow piles. Not natural for the EUP at this time of year...the fire gods will be active this spring if this keeps up... :)
The sheep are looking wild and wooly and starting to rise here and there. We have a "date" booked with the shearer! He will be coming sometime in the last two weeks of May from WI. He sounds like a really cool person and I'm looking forward to meeting him. He can do all our sheep in the space of time it takes Will and I to do one (while ignoring the dogs, phone, kids etc...).
Igraine was happy to see humans sharing her space and passed out many kisses today.
Pikachu just doesn't get as excited and was happy to soak up some sunshine. The weather has been great for the spirits, but bad for maple sugaring...the sap is just not running. The nights haven't been below freezing for a few days now but we are hoping to get another run in the next week or so. Good thing last year was so good for us- we still have a stash that could get us through if this year is a bust.

I don't know what is going on with blogger but I can't change the bloody font on that first paragraph...someone is doing some editing for me apparently as I didn't do the underline either!