Nothing to tell!!

Nope! Still nothing in the incubator. Having said that Dolly and Pearl were two days late - so will give it another day (maybe two) before we give up completely!

As I have no news about our chicks I thought I would share some of my favourite chicken facts! (You can take the man out of teaching!!)

Little Known Chicken Fact
There are more chickens on Earth than there are humans.

and another...
Chickens can cross breed with turkeys. The result is called a 'Turkin'.

and another...
The greatest number of yolks ever found in a single chicken egg was nine!

and another...
Chickens experience REM (rapid eye movement) during sleep.

and another...
The chicken is the closest living relative of the tyrannosaurus-rex.

and another...
The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime can supply enough electricity to run a 100 watt bulb for five hours.

and another...
China has the most people in the world, and also has the most chickens. There are over 3,000,000,000 chickens in China! (The United States has only 450 million.)

and another...
The longest recorded distance flown by any chicken was 301.5 feet.

and another...
The record for laying the most eggs in one day was seven.

and another...
A chicken will lay bigger and stronger eggs if you adjust the lighting in their cages to make them think each day is 28 hours long, instead of 24.

and another...
The fear of chickens is called 'Alektorophobia'.

and finally....
Laid head to claw, all the chickens consumed from KFC worldwide would circle the Earth at the equator 11 times.

How could you crispy crumb gorgeous girls like these?

  (today in an homage to  Dumpling Dynasty)

Not AGAIN!!

It is the whole knock, knock scenario all over again! There is not a sign of life in that flaming incubator, not a crack or a cheep - NOTHING! Poor Geordie is beside himself with excitement over the impending arrival of his chick. Think he might end up a little disappointed! Having said that the others were a little late - so we will see!


Clearing coming along nicely...

This is the view our girls will have - Can you spot the shopping trolley?

Today the chicks do 'Andy Warhol'! I was talking to the children over lunch about the fact that I was going to run out of ideas soon and (this is why I LOVE my children) they suggested that we dressed them up as famous female singers like Dianna Ross and Madonna - like they did with the baby on 'Modern Family'

I was SO tempted to start manufacturing a  Dolly size conical bra... then I got a grip of myself!

Having said that...if I really do run short of photo opportunities - you never know...

Even though Mertyl is a day older than Nancy her feathers are the least developed. The others are sprouting so fast, you would think that you could see them growing in front of your eyes!

I know this is a bit chicken geek (is that a cheek?) but here are the girls wings today!

Pearl, Nancy, Mertyl and Dolly respectively.

Will let you know if we have some new arrivals as soon as they arrive - or not!!

Al

OMG...

Who wants to see a chicken actually laying an egg? And more to the point, WHO films that kind of thing (and how?). Cleggy, please don't tell me to watch the clip and find out...I really don't need to know.

Liking the chicks in front of Cath K, it was a good call and successful shoot! Thank you Kath (Taylor, not Kidston) for the beautiful gifts. Most unexpected and VERY appropriate, natch.

Cleggy, glad you have finally started calling the shed a 'workshop'! Thinking you must have accepted it is no longer your 'home office'? You'll find that in the 'dining room'!!!

And remember: creative people are rarely tidy!

Fee x

Another digging day

After a day of clearing shrubbery yesterday, I felt like I had done loads and it looked like it. Today I knocked down a couple of fence panels (took 30 seconds)! Then the rest of the day was spent sawing branches - by hand! - and digging out roots which took AGES! Still got one lot left to do...Can't wait.

What was great, was listening to the children play and explore the land behind the house. It is really peaceful back there and the amount of trees and undisturbed undergrowth make it feel very secluded. Which made it all the more surprising when the children turned up with a shopping trolley and a parking cone - Where on earth they found them - I dread to think!!

Reminded myself why I enjoy working with children so much...When I dismantled last years leaf pile,  I found all sorts: woodlice, ear-wig, millipede, centipede, caterpillars, siders' egg sacks, HUGE earthworms, spiders - the list is endless. It was glorious! Geordie and I had a great time until he announced that his centipede was disabled. The reason for this sudden disability?.Some of its legs had 'mysteriously' disappeared, leaving it looking more like a 'tri-pede'. Poor creature.

At that point we left the leaf pile with Geordie enquiring - do you think you could make it a wheel chair?!

Really beginning to get an idea of what the space is going to look like now most of the shrubs are gone. Was doing a bit of research tonight about 'fox proofing' your area. Found loads of dull stuff about making sure your fences are high enough etc, etc. My favourite fox repellents, so far, are...Get the man of the house to urinate around the perimeter of the area. This tells the fox 'hands off - these ladies are all mine!' apparently! Also leaving bags of human hair around the area does the same job !

If you are a bald woman then you are a bit stuck! (shame for Britney!)

Here are our girls doing a bit of Cath! My brain is so addled at the moment that I put the wrong number of days on their blocks, so I had to crop them out! You get the idea though!

Now then...those with a delicate disposition may want to look away but the rest of you will love this. It is an actual chicken laying an actual egg. No wonder they make such fuss once it is out!! Fair makes your eyes water!

Chicks and Sticks

Spent the entire day round the back of our garden workshop 'clearing'! It has been great. Apart from a string of little,and not so little, helpers (who actually help for about 30 seconds before finding an excuse to go exploring!!) It has been a great distraction from any of life's madness. The progress has been really visible - not only in the landscape but also in the state of my baby soft hands!!

Am completely knackered and ache all over, but can't wait to get back to it tomorrow! This is what we have done so far...

Cant wait to start trying to dig those roots out! It will be good for exercising any pent up frustration...

Speaking of which, they should give chicks out on the NHS (of the bird variety of course!!) they are the best thing for stress relief. As well as cheeping they have started to do this little 'cooing' noise and they cuddle in - too cute !

No noises or wobbles from the incubator yet. It occurs to me as I write that my claim to have seen my egg wobble in the incubator was an hallucination backed up by my eldest son. Having cracked that egg open there is no way there was anything in it that could of managed a small vibrate, never mind a wobble! I was obviously just over excited!

Here are our gorgeous girls today in their homage to all things la marelle!

                                                                                                          

Urban Cluck - Bespoke Living Spaces for Chicks!

Neale came round today to discuss 'fencing options' (what an exciting life we lead!) He has booked in for a week on Sunday to come round with Graham to do the deed! The girls are going to live in a fenced area behind the workshop at the bottom of the garden.

In the meantime, I have been given the task of clearing the area before the fencing goes in. 'No problem...' I said. 'I can do that easily....' I said. Then me and Geordie squeezed, clambered and climbed down the side of the workshop to have a better look...

Hmmmm! me thinks it might take a while... But it will be worth it when the girls have somewhere gorgeous to live!

Speaking of the girls, Geordie made them a 'chick treat' today...mashed hard boiled egg. Apparently it is good for their feather development. We boiled it...waited for it to cool...peeled it...mashed it and put it in the broody cage. Did they love it after all of Geordie's effort?
No! they stood in it and then pooed in it and then we put it in the bin! If they end up bald it is their own fault!

Perish the thought!

Here are our gorgeous girlies today. Their wing feathers are really coming in now. Nancy's are a beautiful colour they look like they are shot brown and orange. What a stunner!!

re: 'going spare'

I think what you meant was 'we are about to put our incubator and broody cage back on Ebay where they belong'?

If anyone fancies chick sitting (and in case you haven't been following, don't worry, it isn't the role of a mother hen, you don't actually have to sit on them) that would be great. At the moment I'm more concerned that Alistair 'chick whisperer' Clegg might not actually join us in France as he needs to look after the ladies!!

Toulouse anyone???
Fee x