One Year Later

Firstly, wow, it has been a very long time since the last post and so much has happened. Well, I guess not anything too exciting 'cause we'd have blogged it, right ... right?

The last post was about chickens ... they're gone now. No, we didn't slaughter them, they just got bigger and we couldn't keep them where we are so they went to a good home with a friend of Amy's. We have visited them a few times since, and one of them did make it to dinner - but the others are still going strong. The girls are laying eggs, and very nice indeed they are too.

So, other news? I started a new job last Monday. I'm still doing similar things, just at another place. It does involve commuting to London but after commuting costs I am earning fractionally more each month.

Amy applied for and received Indefinite Leave to Remain a few weeks ago (fast tracked as she's visiting the US this summer). Ashley is in the process of applying for her ILR (slow-track due to no going-away-urgency and as it is cheaper) and we're fully expecting that to be granted.

Oh, and Amy is pregnant (yes, it's mine, not the milkman's) and is due late December.

Today...

...was the first day the chickens spent the whole day outside.

This is the result of Stephen and I noticing that they are getting a bit big for their inside ... um... coop? house? playspace? brooder? apple shaped children's sandpit? Anyway, if they had a mom chicken, she would be taking them outside for most of the time now, teaching them how to fend for themselves and all. So we decided that they need to spend more time outside free ranging in the back garden on days we are home. More space, less mess, and chickens who don't think they live in the house. All good.

We set out plenty of water and food, and the garden is full of pretty tall broccoli, cabbage (both red and green) corn, aubergine and brussels sprouts, so they had lots of shade and dapples of sunshine. It was fairly warm today (it was about 80F) so plenty warm if they got cold, since they still need a heat lamp occasionally. I wanted to play in the garden with them. It looked like they were having so much fun.

They had a lovely time, but about halfway through the day Ashley came inside holding George. She was sitting outside watching them and they all 5 came and climbed all over her. So she decided they were saying they wanted to come in. That may have been true, but I'm mean, and made her take them back out. I find it amusing to think about them identifying Ashley as the one to cuddle up against in order to get their way.

Later, Stephen and I went shopping in town and left Ashley with the duty of staying downstairs (all the downstairs windows were open) and keeping the chickens out of the house. They tried, for the first time, to come into the kitchen. Ashley said they were standing in the doorway looking around in wonder. And they were all shocked when Ashley started flapping a dishcloth at them and telling them to shoo. It might have been the first time they heard the word shoo. And of course, it was Ashley doing it, so it must be.... a game! Yes, that's it! It's a game! A peck the flapping dishcloth game! Those are so fun, I'm telling you. Unless you are the Ashley trying to get chickens out of the kitchen before your mom gets home.

Anyway, that's my story!

Want a Video?

Yellow chick with red head is George.
Yellow chick with green head is Wednesday.
Yellow Chick with blue head is June.
Brown chick with pink head is Defoe.
Brown chick with blue head is the-chick-with-no-name-yet.

Everyone say 'Thank you' to Stephen now!

Thank you, Stephen!

A Funny Thing Happened...

As I was taking pictures of the new chick and the chick's new house, George climbed onto the highest perch in order to climb onto my arm. This was unexpected, because he is not one to rush into people's hands, however he is one to be the tallest chicken in the world. What was surprising was that Defoe, not to be outdone, followed him up to the tallest perch to do the same thing. She had never actually made it to the highest perch before, so it was rather exciting.

I holler for Stephen to come and help me, because I am bent over the coop with Ashley's good camera in my hand, and George has climbed onto my shoulder and Defoe onto my arm and I can't let go of anything to get them down. Stephen comes down and reaches for the camera when...



George climbs onto Stephen's arm in order to be even taller still. I manage to get turned round to pass the camera to Stephen, so he can take pictures of this, while George turns in circles on Stephen's arm.





Again, Defoe follows George onto Stephen's arm. Not to be outdone, George climbs up Stephen's arm and onto his shoulder, then onto his neck.



I just manage to get this picture when Defoe sticks her nose into the camera from Stephen's arm.



She makes a little jump back onto me, and George follows her, so I am able to give the camera to Stephen while the birds jostle for position on my arm.







I enjoy this for about 2 minutes until my arm feels like it is holding up lead weights, and not just 2 baby chicks with one-upmanship issues.







See this smile? It's not real. The ones before were real, but this one... not so much. Darn chickens weigh a freaking ton! But then George comes up and does something so incredibly sweet that you are going to say 'awww...'



...he comes up and kisses my nose. Ok, so maybe chickens can't kiss - but it was not a 'looking for food' peck like he does to my freckles or an 'I'm gonna pull out your feathers' peck like I've seen him do to his siblings. It was... well, a kiss.



Then he went back to my arm and settled down. Both of them stayed there for a few more minutes until Stephen and I forcibly banished them back to the not-so-high places. The other chickens were jealous - running and flapping and climbing as high as they dared (which for poor Wednesday wasn't very high at all.)



This is how high he got off the ground. But at least he tried. It was really quite cute.

Meet the Babies!

This is George. He likes to be as tall as possible, and is the best of the chicks at perching. He is also the most dominant, and will let Defoe do all the work of finding worms so that he can steal them. He also enjoys puffing out his chest at June. This is George at the very top of the highest perch in the babies new home in our home. Only he and Defoe can climb up that high.

This is June. He is my sweet baby. He loves attention, and is the first of the chickens to climb into anyone's hands. He will rush over to anyone who puts their hands down to be loved on. He is also very gentle with the hens. If I could keep one of the roosters, he would be the one I kept.

This is Defoe. She has a pink spot on her head now - because we now have a fifth chick. Defoe is an adventurous sort of gal, always climbing (though not as much or as high as George) and flapping and jumping. She is also pretty smart for a chicken. You can often see her stop and /really think/ about somewhere she wants to be and how to get there. She also loves worms more than any other chicken, though she won't eat them off the ground, only out of my hand, and only if George doesn't steal them from her.

This is Wednesday. He was the baby of the 4, and he is still the most timid and the most behind developmentally. He likes to do lots of running and flapping, but he doesn't yet attempt any of the taller perches, and often falls off the smallest baby perch. He is a sweetie, though, and is the most likely of all the chicks to have a good roll in the sand.



This is Defoe and our new chick. (Defoe at the back, new chick at the front.) She doesn't have a name yet. She was a hatchling from the Reception class brood, and I claimed her in case we get to keep the chickens when they get older. We wanted to have 2 hens for laying, and only managed to hatch one. She has only been with our brood for a few days now, and is still a little shy, but doesn't mind being handled (though doesn't relish it like the rest of my lot do) and seems to get on well, especially with Defoe.

We don't yet know if we are keeping the hens (we know we won't be keeping any of the roosters - we are not allowed in the city. They will have to go to a farm home when they get a bit older.) It all depends on what the owner of the house says. But I /really/ hope we get to keep the girls. Eggs.... nummy.

The Chicks' Outside Adventure!

The Chicks went outside for the first time today. The children enjoyed playing with them, and they enjoyed the sunshine, and really enjoyed pecking at the ground.

The children made them an enclosure out of wooden blocks.

They all enjoyed stroking the chicks and giving them toys to play with. The chicks, of course, had no idea what to do with toys except poop on them.

And a good time was had by all.

Birth...

We were very lucky to be able to hatch eggs in my classroom. We started out with 10 eggs. They sat in an incubator for a few days and then began to hatch.



This is the firstborn. His name is George (for St. George's Cross on the English flag) and he is a rooster. He was born on Wednesday, 23 June at 11:45 am.



After George came Defoe. She is names after Jermaine Defoe, the English player who scored a goal during the England vs. Algeria World cup, which was playing in the school hall on the Wednesday the chicks hatched. There were tons of parents that came to watch with their kids and lots of traffic looking for chick updates. She was born at 3:45, at the very moment that Defoe scored the goal. Thus, her name.


This is the third chick, June, working hard to hatch.


The very wet pathetic looking chick is June, born at 4:45.

And finally, Wednesday was born via Caesarean at 5:30. It was looking very much like he was not going to finish hatching at all, so I helped him out a bit. I like to think he still did the work, but just had a bit of a helping hand.

Out of our 10 eggs, only those 4 hatched. So we had 3 roosters and a hen. To tell them apart we coloured their heads. George we coloured red, June blue, and Wednesday green. As Defoe was the only brown chick, she didn't get a coloured spot. Yet anyway.