while some of our banty roosters were fierce, only a couple were truly mean. most of the hens were sweet as could be- a few a little skittish, but we babied them from chicks on. crooked toed crow was pretty nice- a little skittish, but not mean. we rotated our roosters out on the floor/outside- never more than one at a time to prevent fights. the others stayed in pens in the main chicken house with a hen or two for company. dad went through 3 house designs before he hit on the one that worked well for them. it was cement floored, very sturdy, insulated, & lightly heated with a space heater in winter. fairly large building- about 8'x16', maybe. there were stacked cages, 3 deep, 2 across, for a total of 6, about 3'x4' ea that we kept the roosters/extra hens in on the long side. the large rhodies, leghorns and buffs were on the floor, with some mixed banties- barred rocks, millie fleurs, wyandottes, cochins, etc. the silkies stayed in the cages, else they'd get too dirty. it had a big person door on the close end that was left open when the birds were out or the weather was nice so the cooped birds got light & air, and a chicken door in the middle betwen the nests & feed box that could be opened or closed. he also had many windows, some screened, again for ventilation & light. all in all, they were spoiled rotten. the ducks (mostly calls- minis-, a few runners through the yrs and 1 big pekin) mixed freely with the floor chickens. (i adored the ducks despite the mess they made). for a long time we even had a huge rabbit who lived in the space under the coops with the pekin duck, quackers, who was his best bud (they went outside with everyone else). it was sad when thumper eventually died. outside they all had a huge pasture in which to roam that was shared with a cow & goat, and in later yrs the e-fence got unplugged & they had the whole 2 acre yard. in the coop there was a long line of double decker nests, and a steel enclosed place for feed (to keep the mice down). it worked somewhat, but we always did have mice issues out there. on the far end was one bigger coop, used originally for the goat, but later whatever chickens needed separated out were there. he used sawdust on the floors & in the coops because they heated with wood and we had amill just down the rd. i would think any of the little outbuilding you see at h/d lowe's would make a decent starting point if someone wanted really easy (not cheap, tho). dad was the king of thrifty re-use, so his coops were made of whatever he could find- & they weren't pretty! the first was roofed with part of an old metal coca-cola billboard, edged with the old 50's metal awning type stuff. i looked down from my bedroom window on that silly thing for many yrs. mom's down to one geriatric rooster now, and he's been by himself for most of a yr. if she could find someone who'd let him live out his days & not fricasee him, she'd give him away to simplify things. after dad died, it was too much with her bad health for her to keep up with, and she said once they died off she wouldn't get more. she misses the fresh eggs, but not the work, esp in winter. when i lived at home, we had probably 70 chickens, tops, but by the time dad died they were down to maybe a dozen or so. i would never want more than 6-12. too much to bother with after that point. marsha & john- i love your creative names! what fun. john, if you ever do get chicks again, i'll come & help & get my fix now & again. you got a built in baby sitter for when you're gone. :) i have to admit, i don't miss mucking out the coop, though. gross. tam

Since the seed are from ET, I assume they are fresh seed, as it is near the end of summer down under. Some of the seed may require only a few weeks of chill temperature and then warmth to trigger germination. If your soil temperature is still below 40°F, you could plunge the pots in the ground (assuming it isn't still frozen!), out of the sun and cover with clear glass or plastic, to prevent disturbance by rodents and heavy rains. Moisture from the soil should wick into the pots, to keep the seed starting mix moist, but to be sure, check them frequently to insure that it never becomes dry. Not all of the seed will germinate simultaneously, some will probably not germinate until next spring or even later. Remove the ones that have, when they develop true leaves and pot them individually. Handle the seedlings only by the leaves, to avoid bruising the stems and roots, which can often cause the plant to fail. Good growing! Hope you will have some nice colors.

My son surprised me with tickets to see Aladdin on Broadway yesterday. :) Never mind he's almost 28 years old. He figured we loved the movie when he was a kid, so would enjoy the show and he was right! We did. Afterwards we headed back to the island for dinner in a local restaurant. All in all a perfect day. The only thing missing was my Mom who passed away almost two years ago. I miss her every single day. :) Oh and my memory was jogged about a peach tree we bought the first year we moved into our house when my kids were 2 and 6 years old. Every year we took a picture of the kids in front of the tree until our marriage fell apart. Worst memory? In I should have known at the time? LOL. My son was about 20 months and had quite a vocabulary already. My ex didn't get me anything for mothers day. Not a card with my son's name on it, nothing. I was so mad I confronted him and suggested that the least he could have done was tell our son to say Happy Mother's day to me. He insisted that would be too hard to teach our son. I turned to my son and said, J, please say "Happy Mother's Day." J then said, "Happu Muddah's Day Mommy." For father's day that year, I taught my Son to say, "Happy Father's Day" and found a picture of our son and I snuggling, put it in a cheap frame, wrapped it up, gave it to our son and had our son give it to his father and say, "Happy Father's Day." Needless to say, his father never forgot mother's day again. Too bad it took me another 14 years to see the writing on the wall.

I was extremely hungry a month ago and tried Chick Fil A. Staff and customers pleasant. My order seemed a long time in arriving. The chicken sandwich was wholesome looking and okay. Nothing special and short of flavor. I was eager to try their waffle fries, but found them lacking in both crispness and flavor. I generally prefer my own cooking or patronize small, interesting restaurants. Take out house pho gives me two meal opportunities, and it's a local business. We have a very good local takeout or 4 tables Mexican restaurant run by honest to goodness Mexicans. The food at these places is always clean, fresh, inexpensive and delicious. Ditto with a seafood markets fish sandwich. I try to support local enterprises and establishments that are socially inclusive and responsible. My understanding is that Panera donates a lot of its afternoon or dayold bread and baked goods to senior centers and pantries or soup kitchens.