Thursday, January 6, 2011

Selling Birds

My tame Rosy Bourkes have all moved in together.
If you've followed my earlier posts, you will know I wasn't able to sell my most recent batch of baby Bourkes. In the past, nearly all went to a woman who had a contract with a national chain of pet shops. Presumably the major downturn in our economy is affecting them like everyone else. 

Last month I spoke to one of our two locally-owned pet shops and they took a young pair of Bourkes, a male and a female. When they sold, I expected to sell more to them just before Christmas. However, for inventory reasons, they preferred to wait until after the new year.

Yesterday, they bought three young Bourkes and two male Splendids. That's right. I've given up trying to find hens, or raise some, for my two extra male Splendids. I still have my tame Rainbow, father of the two I sold, and an unrelated male called Rudy. Rainbow is with Jewel and Rudy is with Rivkah. Neither hen has ever produced, but one can always hope. Rainbow and his first mate were successful. Unfortunately, she suffered egg binding and died before I realized she had a problem. These two have had several clutches, but to date all their eggs have been infertile.

You ask, "Why didn't you advertise your birds in your local newspaper?" For several reasons. Primarily because we are a long way out of town, difficult to find, and my husband doesn't want strangers wandering in and spending our valuable writing time while they view the birds. Smile.

Truthfully, Ed (E.G. Lewis) is trying to finish the third novel in his series "The Seeds of Christianity."  As a child in Witness, Rivkah goes with her father and the other shepherds into Bethlehem andas any young girl wouldshe asks to hold the new baby. As she grows up, her life intersects many major events of that time. Also, the man she's believes she is destined to marry appears to be killed in a temple riot. Instead, he's been carried off into slavery. The novel runs a parallel story about his life as a Roman slave and hers as she avoids her father's efforts to have her married. Will they be reunited? She doesn't even know he's still alive. Witness is a well-written, touching tale. Disciple, is even more so. It follows Rivkah's family after the crucifixion. Both are Biblically and historically accurate full-length novels.

Meanwhile, I'm blogging about birds.
But, I love them ... and love reading my husband's books.
I'm sure you'd enjoy them too.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and
will have only wonderful blessings in 2011. 

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