Speedy

Here is Speedy nesting. This is her bed and nest, even to the point where I thought about getting a sign for it. Actually the sign was more me writing on it with a nikko pen "Speedy's Bed". I opted against this option when I realised the neighbour (who lets them out every Monday) would think I was pretty crazy. I'm beginning to think that Speedy's eggs aren't going to hatch, as an incubation period for chickens is 21 days. Speedy has been sitting on these eggs since the day after we got home from Japan, so well over 21 days. She's been getting off the eggs every morning so I think she is starting to realise this as well. I'll have to get papa to take the eggs as I don't want anything to tarnish our relationship.

Miss Muffets revenge

Miss Muffet has been seeking out Golden Child exact her revenge on him. I think he's no longer attempting to mate with her anymore has he's now getting some hen action (brown bitch).

The photo above is Miss Muffet and Golden Child (I keep calling him Young Boy) and the next photo is her chasing off after him.

Sticky Beak

Here's Brown Bitch coming over for a sticky beak yesterday when I was taking photos of her adopted kids.

Speedy got off her eggs this morning for some food, it was good to see her walking around. I'm beginning to think her eggs should have hatched by now.

Orphan love

I was watching crazy hen last night and noted that she let brown bitches reject kids sleep with her. It seems that is just what she needed - a little chicken love. She's now their surrogate mother hanging out with them. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in my wrap up, but I will do so now. You see crazy hen really wants kids of her own, but I think she may be too old too lay - I'm really not sure. She was sitting on one of the brown hens eggs. When we got home from Japan I found a hen nesting outside of the pen on the ground, the nest was really not hidden or anything. So one day when she was off eating Papa and I moved the eggs inside the pen thinking she's either going to forget about the eggs or go and sit on them. She forgot about them and crazy hen came along after about 3 days and started sitting on them. I knew they wouldn't work out as there was that space of a few days before they were incubated again.
I'm very pleased with this new development as crazy hen really needed to stop sitting on those eggs as they were really rank.

Its official

Well its official - Brown Bitch is the worst mother hen ever. Maternal instinct isn't really a thing you'd associate with chickens but after watching my brood over the years I've now realised it is.

We've had three really good mothers over the years - the current mother that has 8 chicks, she started with 8 and I'm sure all eight will grow up. Speedy's real mum, she was a good layer and always brought up a lot of kids, she even died protecting her kids. And lastly me - Speedy is still alive, she's two now.

Brown bitch on the other hand has just rejected her two latest kids and they are only about 2 months old. She's already pecking them to leave her alone. Its hard, because although she's a bad mother and rejects her kids it means now she'll start laying again and we get eggs again. I'm sure her latest rejects will grow up as long as they stick together. One of them is this cute light grey colour so hopefully it will mature.

I didn't want to take a photos of Brown Bitch so here's a mildly in focus picture of my backdoor bandit Miss Muffet. I now put water at the back door, do you think this encourages them? How green is the grass? I'm lovin it at the moment with all the rain we've had.

Monthly wrap up

Well here I was proclaiming I was back from holidays (which I was) but then I've been trying to get on top of all of the works since returning.. boring stuff really. Not much has really been happening but I've made a few mental notes and report them now.

• I've noticed that not only does Tommy know his name he also knows when I say "Go for a swim". I was watching him one day have a drink of water and then start bathing in it, when I said "Go for a swim Tommy" at that point he looked up and walked off hurriedly to the pool for a swim. This has happened on a few occasions now.


• Speedy is nesting, she was nesting in the shed but as I removed her from her nest at night I told her that this is a "bery bad place Speedy". As Leon can concur from my grasp of the Japanese language every thing was bery.


• I ended up moving Speedy into the shed with a few eggs and now shes happily sitting in there. I've never known another chicken to sit on eggs even though the nest has been disrupted.


• Lady has lost all of her black on her head, I can still Miss Muffet and Lady apart as Miss Muffet is far friendlier.


• We've pulled two ticks from Miss Muffet and she still comes to the back door for some food.


• Last lot of Speedy's babies died when we were overseas, as did the other rooster as the neighbours curried him up as he was attacking a hen.
• Golden child is no longer going after the ducks and I even saw Tommy chase him to claim his territory.

And I think that's about it, oh my photography is still just as crap. I will blog more now that I've brought you up to speed. Speedy should be hatching sometime soon.

Post holiday results

While I tried to keep my fears hidden from my loved ones while I was on holiday, I was secretly worried about the animals while I was in Japan.

"Would they still be alive when I get home?" "Would they remember me when I got home?"

I was only concerned about Speedy and the ducks, mainly Speedy though as she's so tiny and I thought would be total snake food. Much to my relief when I got home yesterday - everyone was fine, and they all still remembered me.

Miss Muffet was straight down to the back door, Ralphy flew down from the tree and Speedy let me pat her under her wing - I was home and talk about a whole world away from the Shinjuku.

My trip to Japan was amazing, it was the best holiday a girl could have. While I wont go into it too much here, above is a photo from when we went and saw the snow monkeys.