>
I never seem to have the time to download the photos from the camera, but the good news is we got 13 live chicks out of the 18 eggs.
Only one egg wasn’t fertilised and I kinda knew that when I candled them a week before hand. One chick died within the first day – not a nice experience to feel it slipping away in your hand, and a couple of the eggs didn’t hatch quickly enough and although there were chicks in them, they didn’t get out in time. Still, 13 out of 18 is still a great result considering that a week before hand I thought they were all goners after the girls had abandoned them. And that it was our first time. We have 1 Pekin which we will keep if it is a girl, 2 speckledy cross breeds, 6 Marans, and the rest are Light Sussex. All of them ought to be pure breeds expect the 2 speckledies and the theory is that we will get them up in size and then sell on the ones we don’t want. Keep your fingers crossed that the bulk of them are girls.
They were extremely cute and cuddly for the first few days, and there are loads of wee stories about them like the time Jessica saved one from certain death because she happened to go into the run and check on them when one of the marans was on its back in the cold water. It took all day to reheat it enough under a light in the kitchen to put it back out with the others. There was that time when we totally forgot that the kittens were in the kitchen and when I rushed back in one of them had a chick in its mouth! The chick wasn’t too pleased about it and I am not sure at what point the kitten would have started to get serious about eating it.
The chicks are now so much bigger, with distinct feathers on their wings, and some of them are looking like young hens rather than chicks, all within a matter of two weeks. Lacey is taking frequent breaks away from them now in order to mingle with the others and pick up some grown up food.
We went to a fun farm today to get the kids out of the house and the owners had a couple of very nice chickens in a run with a clutch of eggs sitting. I am not sure what the chooks were, but they were nice enough for me to ask if they ever sold hatching eggs. One very long chat later with a very nice lady and I was coming home with 8 fresh eggs which should be fertilised (but can’t be guaranteed) and which I am going to add to whatever Granda can find for me and put under the to broodies we have at the moment. I am hoping for a few Pekin eggs from him. I would love to find some Silkies too but no one has answered my request for these so far.
For some reason every one calls the act of broody-ness “clocking” (it sounds like clocking rather than clucking but you can never be too sure!) and slowly but surely, I am starting to slip that word in to conversations too as if I have always been around chickens!
The kittens are going from strength to strength. They are in a nice routine of sleeping through the night in the bathroom and coming back downstairs for their food. They are continuing to form their own personalities and continuing to rip me to shreds when they decide to run up my leg to settle on my shoulder. They don’t seem to sit on anyone else’s shoulders! They are all fairly affectionate too, all of them want cuddles but they are still maniacs when they need to get rid of some energy.
It is still impossible for me to tell them apart although they do have different markings on them and Flossie is a good lot lighter than the two boys. I suppose it is just a matter of time.
If only they would stop pooing in the bath and behind Iain’s seat in the living room, we would be on to a winner!
Yes, I have to admit, I did finally put the screensaver on iTunes and let one of them watch it. That is good fun!
>
You would know better than I would!