Cloacal Sexing of Chickens

Excerpts from p. 4 of Range to Range, Edition 1, 2010 (a local free newsletter serving the communities of Rock Valley, Larnook, Cawongla, Lillian Rock, Barkers Vale and Wadeville).

The art of vent or cloacal sexing of day-old chickens is difficult to master without instructions from an experienced sexer. Use the following to develop the procedure. Before examining the vent, discharge the chicken's excretions by lightly pressing on both sides of the abdomen in a downward motion [Oh bugger, mustn't have been gentle enough - pass me that box of kleenex will ya?].

...With the index finger start from the top of the vent moving down, back and around, rolling the vent in a sideways action.

At the same time a similar action with the free thumb, starting from the top and rolling down and back

With the thumb and forefinger placed either side of the vent (cloaca) apply gentle pressure [whoops, pass me a new chick, there's a good fella] and a rolling action to evert the vent and expose the male eminence [that's a new term for me] or lack of it [hmmm what will my feminist readers think about that 'lack' as a definer of gender, I wonder, not that I necessarily think chicks have 'gender' but that's another story].

After a little practice [if I was a chick I think I'd be hoping I'd be getting picked a bit further down the line], this can be accomplished without injury of significant discomfort to the chicken.

The article ends, thus:

Having access to chickens of known sex is a great help in developing the art of vent sexing and feather sexed meat chickens [if you can sex them via their feathers why do you squeeze their little bits?].

The longer you live in the country, the more you realise how little you know.....

Hello darkness, my old friend (not)

Now, while I am generally pro-daylight savings time, even though it does make calculating arrival and departure times at Coolangatta airport somewhat fraught with error on occasion, what we don't like (and I'm including Steve here in this diatribe) is awakening at 6am not, to Fran Kelly, because that's a good thing, but to darkness. Very darkness. Very dark darkness. We hate it in fact. In fact at the moment, we don't see the first rays of the sun poking up above the Billen Cliffs until around 7ish, which is almost the time we get in the car and head to work.

So, we shall both enjoy the ending of daylight savings on Sunday at least for a month or so anyway, by which time when the tables will turn and we'll be arriving home in near darkness. Bugger.

Singapore trip

The shot above sourced from Google Images doesn't do this new resort currently being constructed in Singapore any justice at all. It's an astonishing structure - three sky scrapers supporting a stylised ship that straddles them. The 'integrated resort' as it's called combines resort and casino. Another is also being built and both will be open this year. Singaporeans will, however, be slugged $100.00 just for walking through the door of the casino to discourage them from gambling their hard earned dollars away! The resort in the pic is called the Marina Bay Sands Resort and we looked out over it from where we had dinner on our first night, close to where this image was 'taken'.

Had an excellent time over the five days I was there. Found some fabulous restaurants, ate and drank (In moderation of course); spent a few hours at the National Museum which was hosting an amazing travelling exhibition of Egyptian antiquities including several mummies; took a river cruise which I'd never done before; and of course did work. My colleagues, Maree and Paul left on Friday and I stayed an extra day, leaving on Saturday night. Our final dinner together was at a riverside seafood restaurant down at Clark Quay which was a delight.

Saturday was rather wet and grey and my opportunities for exploring any outdoorsie spots was dashed, so I spent much of the day wandering around ginormous shopping malls and poking around Chinatown. I always enjoy Singapore.

Only at the airport...

I think you can just make out what this product is that I happened to spot at Sydney Airport last Sunday on my way to Singapore. Essence of Kangaroo! That's right...it's made from the testis of red kangaroos, put into capsules and sold through well a limited range of outlets I suspect. According to the blurb, red kangaroos produce twice as much semen as a bull (I'd like to know the source of this fact) which is rich in all sorts of goodies that give anyone who ingests it extra strength and sexual energy...a kind of marsupial viagra. 1-2 capsules per day or as directed by your nutritionist. RRP $38.00. I declined to purchase.

Singapore for a week

Well it's been a wet few days up here and as I sit here at my desk typing this on Sunday morning it's raining hard. A kookaburra looks remarkably undrenched sitting on a post along our driveway and the wallabies are grazing quietly. It was wet enough and cool enough (well we pretended it was cool enough) for the slow cooker to be turned on yesterday and I cooked lamb shanks for dinner which turned out to be rather delectable. Steve made his Armenian nutmeg cake which rounded the whole meal off quite well. Glen came over for the night which began with a good soak in the spa with some bubbly and ended with watching Misery on dvd. Well really ended this morning with scrambled eggs on toast before Glen then went to work.

I've been busy working on my reptile park book manuscript - the very last chapter indeed - which I was hoping to have completed by today but that's not going to happen. Never mind, we are almost there now and we will have the finished ms. to the publishers by early April.

Probably won't be much action on the blog now for a week or so, because I fly down to Sydney this afternoon and then on to Singapore tomorrow for week for work. I can't wait to hit the tropics!

Happy birthday, Stevie

Yesterday, the 9th March, was Steve's birthday. We celebrated by having a small gathering over for dinner which consisted of quiche lorraine a la Vivien, and the scrumptious banoffee pie above. Yummo!
Steve, Matt (from Georgica in the Jiggi Valley), Bryn from the UK (who came up with us after Mardi Gras for a few days) and Stewart, Matty's partner.

Mardi Gras party: celebrity sightings

Not too many celebrity sightings this year, and both from the same show, though not seen near each other. Todd McKenny from Dancing with the Stars, was dancing rather energetically near us with a bunch of his friends and his very hunky boyf, around 6amish I guess (it gets hard to recall exact times by this stage)...and...

another 'celeb' from the same show, Stefano, one of the professional dancers, who we saw at the Lemon Bar earlier in the night, and who looks much less plastic in real life than he does in this pic. Someone I know got to shake George Michael's hand at some stage.

Mardi Gras Party: the performers

Steve and I headed to Sydney on Friday afternoon, saw Wicked with my brother, Brett, and friends Brynn, Glen1, Glen2, Glen3 and Catherine and then headed off to the Mardi Gras Party on Saturday night. Arrived there at 11.30 and left at closing time at 8am, then caught a taxi to the airport. There was a different feel I think this year because the party and the parade were on separate nights but I think I was much more energetic because I came to the party fresh and not after standing for six or so hours for the parade. The shows during the party were as follows: Mitzi Macintosh, see above on right, with lots of boy and girl dancers did the Opening Show at midnight. The pic was taken during the night after the show. Fabulous makeup and costume.

Then, at 1.00am, George Michael performed Outside. This time with about 20 guys dressed as very sexy cops. Lots of energy and George seemed to be enjoying himself. A lot.

At 3am, Kelly Rowlands, from Destiny's Child performed something (I can't remember the name of the song) but all the dancers were dressed as brides and grooms and so the theme was about the right to be married. Probably the best show all round.

Then at 5am Amanda Lepore, someone I know very little about other than she's transgendered and has had massive enhancements. And not just to her lips. She lipsynched rather badly to a song about champagne...the weakest show I thought. Though it begin rather impresively with a bunch of boy dancers in lycra bodysuits slinking up like cats on to the stage and unwrapping Miss Lepore who was bandaged up like a mummy. Fantsatic beginning but not sustained.

And the closing show was this young man, Adam Lambert, who was runner-up on American Idol. Very sexy show, lots of energy, and yeah a great way to finish the party.Caught up with a few friends we hadn't seen for years and smiled at lots of strangers, so all up, a great night/morning!

Wednesday morning update

Much to our surprise the creek was a good 40cm under the bridge when we got there so all was well. We were actually a tad disappointed because we were looking forward to spending a night with the boys at Georgica - we'd bought chocolate, chips and wine. They'd gone out and bought wine and apple strudel....there seems to be a pattern.
We were kinda hoping we'd be flooded in this morning but alas, not much rain last night and the morning was dry and still, though very misty. As long as we don't cop anything majorly precipitive today, we shall get back home (though I did give the chooks double food this morning just in case).

and a rather wet Tuesday

It's just on 1pm as I look out through my office window at a foggy, leaden grey sky leaking rain - and lots of it. As we drove over the bridge that straddles Leycester Creek this morning we both giggled as we saw how high the creek had risen overnight with the 27mm of rain we had received. This bridge is our lifeline into and out of our property and it could well be underwater by the time we head home late this afternoon. I've already rung our friends, Matt and Stewart in the next valley over from ours, at Georgica, to see if it was OK to bunk down with them tonight. Luckily they said yes. I'll keep you posted.