Terry: Read your idea of putting in a concrete footing at the gates. We had three pens but only two entrances: one thru the main building and one from the outside. The outside gate closed so the bottom of the frame rested on top of a 2x12 board with latches at top and bottom. The internal gates allowed us to herd the birds from one pen to another to separate them by age. If you aren't opposed to recycling, old screen doors make excellent internal gates. Those with metal kick panels on the bottom are even better. We used fruit tree, oak and willow trimmings for the brush. Occasionally, we'd throw in a few flakes of oat hay to give them something to scratch and thrash in. One of the peculiar things about pheasants is that they can become cannibalistic in captivity. When that occurred, our vet suggested we put blinders (blinkers?)on the dominant birds. These little gems looked like solid Ben Franklin glasses and were attached by running a pin thru the holes of the blinkers then thru the nostrils of the birds. Sounds cruel but they were effective. The reason we didn't butcher the offending birds was they tended to be the best laying hens. We hatched the eggs (200 at a time) in large incubators. Carol

On another site they have a seed trading parcel going around. Whoever starts it puts in whatever varieties they want to spread around-usually someone with several varieties in larger quantities to share. They send it to the next person on the list who in turn replaces seeds they take out and send it to the next person. Lable everything-name and if it's isolated seed or open polinated and could be a cross.Most is o.p. I think. Several people put in larger packs of seeds so you take 10 seeds out you put a pack of 10 seeds of whatever you have.However many varieties you take out you put back in of whatever you have.Seed for seed and variety for variety. The parcel can get pretty big. Someone that looks like me put in over 75 varieties one time. LOL I've been told by people that the only hassle is some people take all of several of the more desirable varieties no matter how many seeds are in the pack so others don't get to try some of the rarer varieties. A lot of people put packs in with hundreds of seeds in them so at least a couple people could check them out but the packs seemed to dissapear fast and never made it very far...not as far as they should have if everyone would have shared... The seeds went to Canada and the U.S. so everyone put 25cents in the parcel to pay the added postage it cost to go to Canada. In general it works pretty good. The package got so big and popular they started send 1/2 through Canada first and 1/2 to the U.S. The last person from each place sent it to Canada or the U.S. to go around there. It's been going around for quite some time. It'll keep going as long as people are interested. I think if you don't get the next guys address in 5 days you skip them and go to the next guy. E mail the next guy and post where the package is when you get it and send it out.2 or so day turnaround is expected. Costs a couple bucks in postage to possibly get some seeds you can't buy in the store etc. If the right people are involved and stick to the rules and don't get greedy a lot of seeds keep goingg around to the pepper impared...

Hi, y'all-- Received a package from my Secret Pal!!! I have the best pal EVER!! In the box were: A cute little yellow and pink hand-painted planter bucket...the colors perfectly compliment the purple shamrock I put in it. A bag of easter colored Hershey's miniatures (I should REALLY seek help for my chocolate addiction!!!). A card of Easter stickers (which my 8 year-old DGD promptly made off with!--oh, well *grin*). A package of white plastic plant markers (SO much better than the popsicle sticks I usually use). A packet of dark lavender Dianthus seeds (going in dirt this afternoon, tee-hee). A tin of Nivea hand cream (which will TOTALLY get used up...in addition to constantly digging in the dirt *g*, I also raise poultry, which means I wash my hands A LOT and all that washing often leaves my hands so dry that they crack...thanks for the relief, dear pal). Some decorative seed packets and home-canning jar labels (so pretty I hate to use them!). I'm not sure what the next item is, but it looks like a decorative Mason jar ring. It has a foam pad that goes underneath the ring. One side of the pad is adhesive, so I suppose you would stick a pretty picture to the pad and then use the whole assembly to store dry goods? If I'm right, I've never seen one before and it's really cool. Finally, my pal included a personalized Easter card. I also received a personalized St. Patrick's Day card with the prettiest decorative cut-out edging on the inside. I really wish I knew how to do that (hint-hint). SP, your parcels are always filled with very thoughtful things. You're the greatest! Thanks again! Best to all, Cheryl

Hey, are you STILL looking for pen pals? Would you be interested in a couple who are young at heart, do quite a bit of travel and have volunteered as docents (giving tours for school kids and working with scouts) for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Zoo? What state are you in and what topics are your students studying? Would your class like to receive some post cards from London and Paris in mid March? Or maybe something you could use with your class from the British Museum or the Louvre?