Meet Penny Pretty. Isn’t she just so huggable?

There are many reasons I love blogging more than working in an office. First, I hate offices. Stale indoor air, often no windows, etc. etc. Nope, not for me. Second, I love to write and take photos. I enjoy sharing my tiny life with whoever cares to read about it ~ and it’s a nice way to record things for myself, too. My employing agency is not so interested in a record of my life, unless it raises my insurance rates. Third, and most importantly, though, I love blogging more than working in an office because on my blog I can do whatever I want.

See where this is going?

Yes, I can not show up for months at a time and there’s not a thing anyone can do about it. Mwa ha ha haaaa! And even better than that, if I want to I could even sneak in and backload all the stories and pictures that have been languishing here, and shove everything back into order. I’ll try to let you know if I do that, dear reader, but you may just want to check back in occasionally and see if there’s anything lurking that looks unfamiliar.

So. Here I am. The hardest part about beginning is beginning, so I’m just going to jump back into the present and fix the rest as I go.

If I want.

And now back to banty madness. I am finding that once I know chicken folk, I am surrounded by enablers who are more than willing to provide me with more chickens than I probably ought to have. This problem, er, issue reared its head in late November as a bantam show in Georgia approached. I received two phone calls on the same day from folks I had been idly chatting with for months, and I suddenly found myself driving back from Dalton, Georgia with eight bantam chickens in the back of the Highlander.

I swear I do not remember exactly how they all got there. Is there such a thing as poultry-induced fugue?

I will elaborate more on the details of how this has worked out in my household, but for now let’s just take a quick look at the new girls.

There are two bantam Chinese cochins, one barred and one lemon blue ~

Two butterscotch booted bantams ~

And a couple of (OK, four) gold-necked Belgian d’Uccles ~

These photos were all taken in their quarantine cages (now now, I am not entirely spontaneous, folks ~ there was a plan somewhere beneath all this). I will snap more flattering pictures once the ladies are moved in to the new Banty Playhouse.

What is the Banty Playhouse? Ah, you will have to wait until the next post to find out more. . .

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If you want to learn more about these beautiful little bantam chickens, you might visit sites like these ~

http://www.bantamclub.com/
The American Bantam Association website features a great deal of information on breed standards, as well as important information on health and biosecurity for owners and the general public.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens
Feathersite is the result of an incredible amount of work by a dedicated poultry enthusiast. There are more breed photos here than any other place I have found on the web.

http://www.cochinsrule.com/
Browse for hours in this collection of talented bantam cochin breeders.

http://www.shadyoakbantams.com/
This Georgia breeder is doing some nice work to improve several bantam breeds. If you’re at work, turn down the volume before visiting!