Day 2 - The Responsibility Begins

"The official photographer writes" So, day 2 is nearly over but alas, no more little chicks. The other six eggs have not hatched and it doesn't look like they're going to either, so we can only assume for now that they are infertile or dead in the egg. We're going to give them 24 more hours and then we'll find out what's happened to them.

The Mums

HOWEVER, the little'uns we do have are absolutely wonderful, truly marvellous!!! The Buff Orpington chick seems to be developing a very brave personality....we could have another Cybil on our hands here...God help us all!

Buff Orpington - Cybil's successor??

I came home tonight and the little Black Orpington was alone outside, both Mums were inside with the other chicks so I picked it up and put it back with Ruby, then we gave them all some mini mealworms, which they LOVED....the little Buff Orpington was whizzing around eating anything and everything it could get its tiny little beak into....wonderful to watch.

Blue Silkie with the little Black Orpington

The Mums seems to be coping very well although Harriet was sitting in the main inside area without any chicks.....Ruby had them ALL underneath her......little Madam! Ruby has really taken to this like a duck to water. Its amazing that this is their first time as Mums and yet they know exactly what to do with no help from us at all. Mother Nature is truly fascinating!

Come to me my Children

The Speckled Sussex chicks are looking good and healthy and are almost as brave and confident as the Blue Silkies and the little Buff Orpington (we're going to have to watch this one methinks!!!)

One of the cheeky little Speckled Sussex chicks

Anyway, I am loving being a new 'Dad' although all this adrenalin and worry is knackering me!!!

May the joy, stress, worry and sleepless nights continue and may our little babies grow into gorgeous, lovely little Girls....do you hear me??? Girls!

18.45pm and we officially have chicks!

After the cheeping of chicks this morning there had to be some more chicks when we got home and we were not disappointed. As I walked down the garden I could hear them even over the rumbles of thunder.

Ruby's nest first as she hatched the first chick. Fairly sure that the two brown ones are buff Orpington bantams, very lively and very noisy and climbing all over mum. Not sure about the other one as the writing had rubbed off the egg but its either a black Orpington bantam or speckled Sussex bantam. We think its the Orpington.

How cute are this lot. Two blue silkies and a light Sussex bantam that hatched under Harriet. Oh and she's such a lovely mum. I have to say that Ruby has turned into Mother Warrior!

"Hello world"

Of course all said all we wanted to do was watch chicks with mums but that wasn't going to happen as both girls still had three eggs to hatch and both had newly hatched chicks. Saying that both the little Orpingtons were very happy running over Ruby and the photo above shows a cheeky chick checking out the photographer.

So amidst torrential rain and thundering above we left eggs, chicks and the girls (no longer girls but the mums) safe, dry and snug in the little shed and we'll see what the morning brings.

05:45 am - Hatching news update

Went down to check how things were progressing and cheeping could be heard quite easily. A quick peek revealed that Harriet had just hatched a blue silkie chick, Ruby had at least one chick as well which had hatched sometime early as it was dry and fluffy - not sure what that one was but could have been either a light Sussex or a buff Orpington. How exciting!
Needless to say a day at work is going to pass very slowly as I can't wait to get home to see what others have hatched.
No doubt further updates when we get home later today and photographs I would imagine :)

Wot a weekend

Well the suspense has been killing us! The girls have been sitting fastidiously for the past three weeks and have just been brilliant. Every evening at 6.30pm after we have managed to struggle home through the London rush hour (and thanks Bob Crowe for the Tube strike - idiot) we gently lift Harriet and Ruby off their respective nests and eggs. If we didn't I am convinced that they would go as far as they could sitting on their clutches of eggs without food, water or exercise. Anyway they love their 25 minutes incubation break. Food, water, the biggest and smelliest chicken poo ever, a quick preen, and if they can fit it in - a dust bath, another drink and then straight back on the nest for another 23 hours and 35 minutes. Bless them.........and we have just been waiting and waiting for chicks!

It's been a great weekend. Saturday we went to the South of England Show, a huge agricultural meet-up where you can buy everything from a combine harvester to a ferret harness. Watching the cattle and other domestic stock being shown was humbling. The pride that the farmers and owners had in their animals was evident and it was great seeing them being paraded. Saying that I nearly bust a gut laughing at the youngsters trying to steer pigs around a judging ring with a board and stick - some pigs will just NOT do what you want them too!

Glad we got to the Show early as it became too busy and too crowded. The chickens (which was one of the main reasons for going) were disappointing with far fewer breeds than I have seen at other shows and the quality wasn't exactly that good either and in fact without being that rude I think Harriet our silkie would have walked it with first prize and not even a buff Sussex bantam on show (so by default Ruby was a winner). Still, a very enjoyable morning and we picked up some lovely plants for the garden at bargain prices.

Today - main event of the day was seeing "The King and I" at the Royal Albert Hall - a very generous gift from my boss for my birthday. All geared up for seeing it at 7.30 in the evening we were mortified when we got the tickets out at 3.00 in the afternoon to find it was for the 2.30 show - OH BUGGER!

Anyway -we had a good afternoon at the allotment where a spate of burglaries has scandalised the site. The worst was a poor plotholder having their entire shed stolen! I'm never going to complain about the occasional golden courgette (zucchini) disappearing again. We had some very tasty freshly harvested radish for dinner along with lamb marinaded in our own home grown herbs.

So back to chickens - and the waiting and the waiting, however this afternoon as I was putting the girls out for their daily feed and preen I heard cheeping. And it was the chicks in the eggs cheeping as they started to hatch from the eggs. John was amazed as the calling of the chicks was so clear and loud. Didn't take long for Harriet and Ruby to do their business this evening - its hatching night so tomorrow evening check to see how we and the girls did (and like there is going to be any sleep tonight).

News in early June

After the week of sunshine and very respectable temperatures we are now back into the early summer run of sunshine and showers. I think our incubating girls prefer this weather as opposed to the very hot times. Saying that, with no mud to bathe in Harriet has returned to her most white and pristine loveliest.

They are creatures of habit are our hens, as indeed we are, and get lifted gently off the eggs once a day for a good feed, drink and a very big poo (which as previously mentioned is very smelly and getting smellier as the incubation goes on it seems!). Both revel in having a good flap about, a quick preen but they are normally back on their eggs within 15 - 20 minutes.

We are getting excited now as the eggs could hatch as soon as Friday (only 5 days time). I think that we have got everything ready for the arrival(s) and needless to say no doubt lots of photos on the way.

The blue tits did very well and although we are not sure how many left the nest the parent birds still have a minimum of 6 chicks with them. The entire family are now using the bird feeder in the garden so we see them on a regular basis. The female blue tit looks as scruffy as ever - I wonder if they will do another clutch? There also seems to have been a small explosion on long-tailed tits, lots of them in the trees at the end of the garden.

Allotment and although we were a bit late in getting it sorted this year the strawberry plants have given a wonderful harvest and we are now getting to crop radish and salad leaves. The little fruit trees that we put in three years ago are doing well with apples and cherries on the trees but the Victoria plum has never done anything like producing blossom or fruit.

Finally the garden. Obviously lots of chicken poo has worked wonders and with the girls now incubating there has been a flurry of plant activity and its looking lovely. The downside is that the slug and snail populations seems to be on the increase as there are no little poultry predators to polish them off.

Next update hopefully we'll have some exciting news.............

Spring has sprung (a leak)

Bank Holiday Monday, after a slightly cloudy start, was glorious. It started raining late last night and 10 hours later its still raining, however the bananas are loving it.

Had a major tidy in the garden, yesterday, it needed it. Interesting that plants are a little later in flowering this year and quite a few didn't make it through the winter however all is very verdant and the aphids are rampant along with the plant growth.

Ruby and Harriet are still happily broody so yesterday we gave them 6 hopefully fertile eggs to incubate and hatch (all being well)

Our future flock still in shell suits

A few facts relating to broody hens

• As they come off the nest just once a day for a flap, feed, drink and clean up they do produce the biggest and smelliest chicken poo ever!
• They have got some new calls and sit next to each other gently clucking away (hopefully in contentment at sitting on eggs)
• They are not nest fixed - whoever gets into the shed first always seems to go to the nestbox closest to the door

It's also being very odd being in the garden and no chickens helping you remove the border to the lawn, rushing around in the hope of mealworms and dust bathing right in front of the lawn mower. Still, twenty days to go

Happy hens on the eggs

Spring has sprung

Life has now settled down - it's quiet, in fact its very quiet. Ruby is getting more confident and will happily take food from your fingers but touching her? Oh not a chance. Harriet remains a big white fluff ball of poultry happiness.

Both were producing an egg a day, garden devastation down to a minimum and truth is it was all getting a little to easy - and then they both decided to go broody. Ruby first but in truth the sniff of a hint of broodiness and it triggered Harriet as well. Most improper that both insisted sitting in the same box even though they had no eggs!

Hmm......an opportunity we thought. We are looking to replace the chooks that have gone but not sure what we wanted. Several breeds came to mind, more silkies in perhaps different colours, bantam Orpingtons and of course another attempt at bantam Sussex. No chance of buying all of these however as we now had two broodies it seemed a good idea to get some eggs for incubation.

As we were visiting Mum up in Cheshire a quick internet search found Sue Feild in Chester offering a selection of the breeds we had already talked about. May 23rd saw us (Mother included)off to visit Sue and collect the eggs and into the bargain got a tour of not only all Sue's wonderful chickens and marvellous garden but some great ducks as well! We left very happy with 12 eggs but some trepidity in that there is no way we can keep 12 more chickens if they all hatch however boys will needless to say have to find a new home (noise factor alone I imagine though Sue did say that the cock silkies were quite quiet)

So what did we get egg wise? 2 x BOBS (buff Orpington bantam), 2 x black Orpington bantam, 2 x speckled Sussex bantam, 2 x light Sussex bantam, 2 x white silkie and 2 x blue silkie.

A gorgeous black Orpington bantam hen

Both lots of Orpington bantams were stunning, the blacks especially so. The speckled Sussex were bigger than Ruby however Sue's light Sussex bantams were smaller than Margot was. As for the silkies we did see red silkies, never seen them before but very impressed, unfortunately Sue had no eggs available. Also saw for the first time miniature (bantam) white silkies. Tiny and absolutely lovely!

So eggs in today, 25th May and we await with anticipation the 14th June - hatch date!