Back and bigger than ever!

Well,

After 2 weeks in France and then frantic workload, none of us have blogged for ages!

Sandra and Dave looked after our girls while we were away and our lot 'bunked' in with their two (Salt and Pepper!)
When we got back I was convinced that ours had all died and Sandra had replaced them, because the chicks that Sandra brought back were HUGE¬

Have been working hard on the chicken area and the girls are now in. Only that it looks like they are not all girls after all!

I emailed Cockerdoodle Mark with the latest pictures and he thinks Nancy (black and gold) is a Nigel - and not EVEN an Orpington! Mertyl (white) is a Martin and believe it or not....Dolly (ginger) is a Derek!!! Only Pearl looks like she will be a girl!
You won't believe how they look now...What on earth am I going to do with 3 cockerels?

..

Pheweeeeeee!

Man alive it is HOT!

The girls seem to be getting bigger by the hour! Glad that 6 didn't hatch otherwise there would be no room in that broody cage. It is tight enough as it is!!

To let our girls/boys get some fresh air and a bit more freedom - Geordie and I created a 'Chickpee' from a bit of netting some sticks and a few bricks that were lying round the garden. We had it done and dusted by 7.30am on Saturday morning - the joy of having 3 boys!!

Had loads of visitors this weekend, all very admiring of the chicks! Although I think Nancy/Nigel might have a Mertyl/Martin to join him! Will we have any hens at this rate?

Chicks go to school...

Geordie has been nagging me for ages to let him take them in - today was the day! Poor girls - when I picked them up they were knackered...couldn't even cheep!!

Geordie's teacher (the lovely Mrs Thomas) is petrified of birds, so that didn't help much. Just as well Geordie is such a chicken expert these days. By all accounts he ran the show and organised the chicks and Mrs Thomas.

If that wasn't enough for the poor girls it was Kenzie's class next. According to Kenzie the chicks caused such a stir that he had to be their body guard over lunchtime! I heard him telling Alfie a story tonight about how Nancy ended up under Mr Downes' desk at one point - I didn't dare ask! Kenzie spent most of his afternoon taking the girls round to the other classes and showing off his expertise, which made him feel very important!

Then our Alfs got in on the act and they went into Year 5 for the last half hour of the day. Mertyl pooed on someones head - apparently - Once again, I didn't ask how or why!

When I went in to pick them up they were in the middle of ukulele club....

Think they might need a rest tomorrow!

When I dropped them off I made sure that I went to say hello to my lovely pig Tilly (oh and some of the staff!) Turns out that Chico (school cockerel) has not produced many fertile eggs this year - only 1 chick!
Chico is about 5 years old now - so either he is passed it, or it has something to do with the fact that the hens he is with are his daughters! I am sure this can't be good.

Anyway I have suggested that Chico can retire to 'Chicken Doug's' farm and if any of ours turn out to be a cockerel, school can have him.

Thanks Cockerdoodle Mark for the post...looks like we might have at least one for them! No surprise which one!

CockerDoodleMark said... Hi Al, Nancy has huge feet because she is a Nigel!! one of the first give away signs in a young 'grower'. Young male birds also have a more pointed face, the hens have a softer rounder face ..... but you never know, all part of the fun.

Summer? Surely Not!!

The girls have been out and about in the sunshine! They LOVED it!

They certainly are getting big - especially Pearl who looks MASSIVE!

They have also had another move. When they managed to cover the clean washing in poo and wood shavings - they were moved down to the workshop at the bottom of the garden. So now Fee and I share our workspace with scrapping chicks. Man Alive, they scrap all of the time.

Nancy can now get from the floor to his/her perch in one leap! As much as I love her/him he/she is certainly going through her/his 'gangly' phase!

Here are our girls at 21 days D and P. 18 days M and 17 days N. They are modelling with some of Fee's latest stuff.

Check out Nancy's feet. They are HUGE!

The Great Escape!

Were woken up EARLY on Saturday morning by Kenzie, who apologised for disturbing us but felt he had to tell us that Mertyl had escaped from the broody cage and pooed all over the utility room floor!

I had visions of being knee deep in chicken poo and spending the rest of the day on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor lest my wife throw me (and my chickens) out!

In truth, Mertyl was indeed out - perched on the top of a wellington boot! As for the poo...there were four small blobs and that was it. I had sacrificed a 'lie in' for four small blobs....GUTTED!

Because it was such a lovely warm and sunny day I put the girls on the lawn with the top of the cage over them while I cleaned out the bottom. As far a I can tell...they loved it and did loads of scratching and pecking about.

Have started to turn the broody light out for periods of time so they can get used to the fact that they are going to be living in the North West of England - not Spain!

Here are our girls today at 19 days for Dolly and Pearl, 18 days for Mertyl and 17 days for Nancy! I have put them next to a picture of them at one day old - so you an see how they have come on!

 

fee says....

I'm not gonna lie, those teenage chickens are getting on my nerves. Take the poo out the utility room and bring on the lovely organic free range fresh eggs. On the basis of the noise and the poo....I'm out. (Soz)

POOOH!

Man Alive, these bids have gone into overdrive on the poo production front - still it is all good for the compost bin!

Have been moved into the Utility Room for hygiene reasons! They also have a great view of the garden so that they can begin to get the hang of the fact that the world does not look like our kitchen bathed in a red light.

Not that out kitchen doubles as a brothel or anything, the light in their broody cage is red!

This is how they looked yesterday...day 17 for Dolly and Pearl, 16 for Mertyl and 15 for Nancy.

Fight....fight...fight...

Things are certainly hotting up in the broody cage! There is lots of flapping and fighting going on! The cage is tall so I have installed a perch and some bits of branches - to give them a bit more space and for them to practise their roosting.

Nancy was the first to flap up (no surprise!) with the others watching closely. Now they are all doing it! Tail feathers are really beginning to show on all of them apart from Mertyl who still looks remarkably like a penguin!

The guy at the hatchery said that Mertly was a white Orpington chick but Cockerdoodle Mark thought she might be blue and I have to say the feathers that she has got are not pure white some are a definite grey - so I think Mark might be right again.

Pearl looks brilliant at the moment - she is a combination of chick fluff and really beautiful mottled feathers that stick out all over the place! She is like a walking feather duster!

Sickness and...

Can't believe that it is Monday! Where did the weekend go? Well I know where it went in our house...It was like a house of the ill with sickness playing havoc with our plans!

We were going to fence the chicken area on Sunday but too many poorly people at our house so we have postponed.

Thought the chicks were changing fast before but the change seems to be accelerating. They eat loads more and therefore poo loads more and therefore smell loads more - I think their days in the corner of the kitchen are numbered....

Still really cute though - although I can't get the buggers to stand still!! All photos have a lot of soft focus today as none of them were still enough to get a decent picture - tomorrow I use double sided sticky tape!

Ahhhh Haarrrr!

Bit of a Pirate theme today!

Also discovered  a bizarre website today that provides nappies for 'house chickens'!!(http://www.chickendiapers.com/) I mean, I am all for chicken keeping...but nappies??

Now then, cockrdoodle Mark has had a good look at the photos of our birds. Although he is not guaranteeing anything... he suspects that Dolly and Nancy are cockerels! We will see!!

Lilac time!

Missed a day yesterday! It was a bit of a funny day in our house!!

There is a beautiful lilac bush growing in the wilderness at the workshop. I wouldn't normally cut it down, but no one can see it and the smell is divine!!

Here are our girls 'in lilac'!
It is getting harder and harder to take their picture. Dolly and Pearl are always very well behaved, but Mertyl is a nightmare!! She is lucky she is not stew!!

I blame the incubator....

Cracked open the eggs to have a look and see what happened. Both chicks were well formed an black and white. They looked like their insides were in a bag on the outside. It wasn't like a yolk sack - it definitely looked like innards! Was glad they hadn't hatched as would not have been a pretty sight for the kids!

From what I can find out it is often a result of inconsistent temperature in the incubator - which might explain why the others didn't develop. The problem with a little amateur dome incubator like ours is that the temperature cannot self adjust - so if there s a window open or the sun shinning, the chicks just have to put up with it!

Sticking with the four we have until we can properly determine their sex and then...who knows!

Craaaaaayzzzzeeeeeee!

So, turns out I have ANOTHER dead chick and a crazy husband who hears noises! Ok, I may have said I heard tapping, but I never heard cheeping!

Just hoping all our lovely girls are indeed girls. I have asked if there is no way of taking the cockerdoodledoo out of a cockeral but apparantly not. Was worth asking!
Fee x

(Mark, if Crazy asks you for some more eggs, please say no!)

I hear tapping!

Oh yes, just when I thought that I was as mad as I am feeling at the moment, Fee confirmed that she too hears it...tap....tap,tap.....tap.

Maybe it is 'chicken morse' for 'will somebody get me out of this flaming egg!!'

Coco started tapping around 9am and there is still no sign of the shell breaking - was sure I heard her cheap at one point (but as you know I have a 'history' for that sort of thing)

Thought I heard Geordie Boy's tapping when I held it to my ear, but now think it might have been the egg squashing my ear hairs!

OMG I just wrote ear hairs...in relation to me! Being 40 has a lot to answer for! Will get the strimmer out tonight!

Of course, as always, will let you know! About the chicks, not my ear hair!!