It is 6:30 am and still absolutely dark outside.  The stars are shining brightly and there is no sign of rain, no clouds, no wind.  The weatherperson predicted possible rain for us last night with showers more likely today.  We shall see.

I think that Prince has grown back his fighting teeth.  Upon a closer look at Stewie, he has a big chunk out of his ear which was not there before their fight the other night. Not only does he have a piece missing, it also looks like Prince tried to pierce his ear, which is Prince's hallmark.  Tinker has a hole completely through one of his ears that you could hang a tassel in because of fighting Prince.  

I was going to go to Tucson today and look at trailers, however, I have decided to wait awhile before jumping into another purchase by debt.  I can transport alpacas in the back of my SUV, only one at a time, but it can be done.  Also, I don't know if I will have any customers for stud services yet.  

Tinker's jaw is still not healed even after a whole month on antibiotics.  I will have to consult with the vet again, but it looks like he will likely be put down after the holidays.  I do not want to ruin Christmas with the death of my first favorite alpaca on my mind.  I just don't want to think about that now.  Fiddle-de-de!

The hens are laying lots of eggs now.  I have been leaving the heat lamp on in the barn at night.  I think that helps.  I have four 18 egg cartons in the frig that are full and one 12 egg carton full.  I will have to make more room today.  I should put out a sign to sell them at $2/dz, which seems to be the going rate right now.  Steve is also picking up about 5 turkey eggs a week.  I don't go in the turkey pen.  They attack me, so I make Steve go.  In fact Mr. Washington attacked me the other day too so I keep an eye on him and keep the feed bucket between us.  He is a good sized rooster and gorgeous, but those toenails and beak can be painful.  He seems to like to sneak up behind me and attack the back of my legs so if I just don't turn my back I am OK. 

I am hoping to visit another alpaca farm this weekend.  This lady called last week and is interested in using Cimarron, my grey boy with the white face, for stud services for her females.  Cimarron is only 3 years old and is not a proven stud.  Males only just reach breeding age at 3 years so I will have to see how much she is willing to pay to take a chance with him.  I will keep you posted.