I don't make any money, selling only a very few birds. If I tried there is a fortune one could make with chickens. It is a hobby. Last year 3400 chicks-young cockerels and pullets and older birds that are culled (removed) from my breeding program were given to 4-H members and to children under 10 years old. Many of the meat birds and eggs are quietly given to people that have limited funds. I have done well with investments and have no desire to make it into a business, that takes all the fun out of it. If it were up to my wife, not one single bird would ever leave us. She gets so attached it is hard to part with any, besides she has her cats (16)-all are getting up in age and require a lot of time to clean up after and give attention to.

GMX2, I don't know how well thistle seed lasts, but I would store it in a dry, cool place and try again in the fall. The only birds I know that eat it regularly are the migrating goldfinches, so you'll have to wait until they are passing through again. I only had 2 or 3 goldfinches this year, too, compared to at least 20 or more last year, which stayed for weeks. I hope that's not a bad sign! Maybe they found a better source somewhere else. Generally, I wait until I see the first goldfinch at my regular tray feeder before I hang out a thistle sock or wire thistle feeder. Sometimes I sometimes add a little pile of thistle to the tray feeder to help them "get started." I find a tray style feeder to be the best all around feeder in the yard. Gets a larger variety of birds than any other type, though I hang several out there. I always have at least one with a very small perch area so the little birds have a good chance, too. Not all birds will eat safflower, but many will, and it is a great hit with cardinals and titmice. The black oiler sunflower seeds are definitely the best overall birdseed, drawing in more types of birds than anything else. And I'm loving the hull-less mix I got yesterday at PetSmart. It has peanuts and a bit of fruit in it, too, and boy do the birds love it. A much smaller mound of it goes as far as a HUGE heap of seeds in the shell. This morning, a red-bellied woodpecker was taking advantage. (They are just about the only woodpecker that will come to the feeder. The rest prefer insects. The red-bellied will eat both insects and some seeds...usually sunflower. A photo of two red-bellied males enjoying some peanuts, another favorite of theirs. You can tell these are both males because the red on their heads comes all the way foreward to their beak. On the females, the red starts back much farther on the head.) Marcia

we did bells at our wedding. it was really cool. my mom went by a hobby store and bought enough bells for each reception guest. then, bought ribbon in our wedding colors and tied this on each bell. she enlisted a couple kids to help distribute these as the time came for my bride and me to depart the reception. as we left, we saw everyone joyously ringing the bells. that is a beautiful memory for us. the bells came out well in wedding pics - better than bird seed or bubbles. no clean-up required. the bell was each guest's little gift - if i had thought of this sooner than 4 days befoer the wedding, i could have arranged names and date on ribbon. not very expensive. the only trick is getting people to hold off on the ringing until the couple departs. we didn't really hear bells being rung early because we were dealing with luggage confusion (the wonderful wedding planner was working on the day's next wedding).

I'm so sorry you missed out on it. I only caught it because the store is two blocks from my house, and I walk up there to get staples a lot (since I don't have a car). My old DG in Venice had much more markdown stuff than this one does. I remember buying seeds and a lot more there at 90% off during the final markdown, but there are so many gardeners around here, the seeds are gone at 50% off, as is most of of the better garden stuff. I snagged this stuff at 70% off so I wouldn't miss out on it, but if those shepherd's hooks make it to 90%, I'll snag a couple more.