MASH

Well the chick that was raised from the dead last week is, by all accounts, doing very well. G. on the plot opposite me has the little fella with some of his other hatchlings in his warm brooder.

Sadly the last chick to hatch didn't fair so well. I thought I could do my resurrection thing again but it was not to be despite doing all the things I did before like trying to warm it up in the jeep.

Pecking at grass on a cloud somewhere now I imagine...

Life can be very cruel. Such a perfect little chick too. I suspect the effort of hatching took its toll.
On the plus side I now have five healthy looking chicks (including Lazarus from last week). Only one is the powder blue colour of the Copper Blue Marans, the other are all like this chap, black, white and yellow and should grow up to be the jet black / iridescent blue with copper bits of the Copper Black Maran type.

I'll post some pics soon but they're so bloomin' fast it's tricky to get them framed in the camera long enough to shoot a picture. Anyway here's some pics of the maternity unit MASH...

Now clad in clear plastic - des-res with conservatory...

Not amused

I'm hoping this wind will die down a bit so I can do something constructive on the plot this week. Far too windy to go fly fishing too unless I want to repeatedly rip sharp hooks out of the back of my neck and ears!

Hopefully though, early next week, I'll be seeing an old mate on a Welsh beach somewhere for some sea fishing action. Hurricanes permitting.

Joy 2!

Tonight, after struggling to get the dishwasher to work again and mopping up the ensuing flood, I made my way to the plot to check on the new additions to the family.

First thing I noticed was that a chick (Marans chicks are a lovely black, white and yellow colour) had been thrown out by Claudia and was lying seemingly dead near the door not moving. It was most likely knackered by the exhausting exit from its egg and as it was the last of the clutch, Claudia probably decided she had enough chicks to look after without this one.

I picked it up. It wasn't moving or breathing and was very cold. No signs of life, it hung limply, tiny in my hand.

Sadly, I went to get my spade and pick a plot where it wouldn't be disturbed to bury it and lay the chick on the soil next to the deep hole I'd dug for it.

I don't know why but something made me pick the chick up again. I gave it a stroke or two and cupped it's little body in my hands and f**k me it moved its head. Just a tiny bit but enough to get me scrambling to the jeep parked next to the plot.

The next twenty minutes was spent in the jeep stroking the chick back to life, breathing warmth onto it and then with the engine running and the heater going, gently blowing warm air onto this tiny bird. As it's downy feathers dried it let out a few squeaks and wriggled about.

I was going to bring it home and get the desk lamp onto it but G. over from me on the allotments turned up just as I was packing to leave. He'd just had some chicks hatch this pm and that he could put it in the heated incubator thingy he's got and keep an eye on it. It looks promising that this little chap will be ok.

Good day today...

Joy!

I've tried to keep myself  in good spirirs over the past few months despite the general lack of paying work and the rather gloomy weather recently (cloud and wind but hardly any rain - what's the point of cloud but no rain?)

One thing that never fails to bring a smile to my miserable face is the antics of menagerie - the dog, the cat and, when on the allotment, the chickens.

I was a bit bothered that Claudia, the perpetual broody hen, had left the nine eggs she had been sitting on for too long a couple of weeks ago and that they had got too cold to have any chance of hatching.

She was due on the weekend so I told her straight that she had until Wednesday (today) to produce some surrogate offspring or she was off the nest and back to laying to earn her keep. Sure enough this morning there were eggshells neatly pecked in two littering the floor of the maternity unit and I could just hear the 'cheaps' of the little chicks under Claudia's downy feathers.

Made my day that has...