Wednesday 13 July 2011

Well the maybe chick turned out to be a girl once dry with curled in feet, splayed legs and yolk sac not absorbed. Two days later and with the help of some plasters cut to size she has perfectly functioning legs and is walking around fine and yolk sac almost gone. She is in the 'hospital wing' at the moment - in a plastic box with non slip drawliner as a floor to help with the legs and an angle poise lamp for heat. Another day or so for the yolk sac to completely absorb/heal/dry up/drop off and she can join the others. A very rewarding experience. The other two eggs that were rocking in a bowl of water on day 23 but didn't hatch did contain fully developed chicks. One with yolk absorbed one not. So final tally 15 hatched - 4 girls 11 boys, 2 failed to hatch, 7 not fertile.

Incubator cleaned and ready for the next eggs.

Monday 11 July 2011

Well the latest batch of chicks has now hatched, and what a bizarre hatch it was! First chick was a suprise arrival when i woke up one morning which was techically half way through day 19 as they were set at a lunchtime. Then a slow trickle of hatches with the last one being an assited hatch today on day 24! This chick has not absorbed the yolk sac properly and has curled in toes. It is in the incubator drying at the moment. Once were sure what sex it is when its dry we'll decide what action to take. So out of the 24 eggs 15 hatched and how many girls?....3 and a maybe! Grrrr hopefully the odds will swing the other way for us next time!

The ponies were moved to their new field at the weekend with the stables and it has made life easier already! Definitely the right thing to do.

The pigs are booked in with the butchers for the week of the 8th August. Just need to book them in at the abattoir the week before. In the meantime we need to get the right paperwork sorted and attempt slapmarking(!).

Had a think about life since we got back from out holidays and have made some fairly major decisions about where our lives are heading. Still lots of details to sort an planning to be done but overall i'm quite excited about the future now and feel like a bit of a weight has been lifted.

Monday 4 July 2011

Finally catching up with everything after a fabulous week camping in Cornwall. What a beautiful place it is. Its been a few years since i've been and i'd forgotten just how lovely it is. Grace had a fantastic time playing on the beaches and splashing in the sea. It's got us thinking about whether we would like to relocate down there. It would be a huge move but one full of fantastic opportunities for all of us. Food for thought there. Holiday snaps to follow as soon as i have had chance to upload them.

Back home all is well. It's been a traumatic couple of weeks with the pigs, well one of them anyway. The hernia that turned into an abscess has been a pain to treat. Capturing a pig each day to inject it has been an, erm, 'interesting' experience! We have learnt several new methods and hope never to need to use them again! He's 90% right again now though at last. Theres only another month or so to go now before we get to try our sausages and chops. Ringing the butcher is on the to do list this week to see how much notice they need at the moment. Then we move on to the next challenge...slap marking!

The first batch of chicks are now fully feathered at almost 6 weeks and have moved outside a couple of days ago and seem to be enjoying it, although they haven't got the hang of going to be in the house yet.  Going by comb and wattle development i thik we have 4 boys and 8 girls, if i'm right i'll be very pleased with that! Interesting all of the 5 dark birds look like girls. The crests of the legbar crosses are just starting to appear too.

The next lot are due to hatch on Friday. I haven't candled these ones and they were from an ebay seller so i'm keeping everything crossed at the moment!

The black chickens eggs if she is indeed sat on some would have been due today. We havent seen her since we got back but she was seen by the chicken sitters while we were away so we will wait to see whether she reappears some time son with a brood in tow.

Ponies look good and as we have finally signed for the new field and stables we hpe to move them on there next weekend and give their current pasture a break.