Duck Eggs Fertile

The 5 Runner Ducks eggs set last week are all fertile and seem to be developing nicely, so hopefully on the 21st November we will have 5 more runner ducks runing around.

Cutie Pies still broody

Cutie pie the broody hen is still sat happily on the 12 eggs I gave her plus another 7 that she pinched from the others.

Sadly one fell out the nest and got cold, it was one of our bantams eggs and had started to develop, so George is obviously more active than I thought.

We have now managed to move her to a Rabbit hutch, which she is none to impressed about.

Quail, no 14 days old

The quail are still growing fast. They are now 14 days old.

Quick Update

Haven't posted for a week as we have been so busy, and I have now succomed to Jamies Flu.

Quail, and more

Sadly the little poorly Chick gave up on Saturday, we were taking the kids to visit family and when we returned we found him dead, not a great surprise but still a little upsetting.

The others however are growing fast, and are now getting wing feathers.

Poorly Chick

The second to last chick to hatch is still a lot waeker than the others last night I had to seperate him from the others as they are fairly rough with him, This morning he is back with his siblings and seems a bit stronger.

The Quail

10 quail hatched, 1 dead in shell and one infertle, not bad for a first attempt.

No names yet, but a few ideas being discussed.

Pictures of Lady

Lady seems to have become very friendly with snowball.

6 Hatched

6 Hatched 1 more on the way

Eggs Pipped

Eggs started pipping last night.

Lady

Well Lady arrived last night and she has settled in well, after a bit of feather pulling and pecking by all the ducks. She is now settled next to Snowball the Aylesbury Drake.

Thank you Helen.

Drunks

Well last night or rather early this morning at around 2.15 am we had a call from the police to tell us there had been some damage to or property.

Getting up we saw 2 Police Officer standing outside our house next to a large hole in our fence. Some idiot drunks had decided to try and steal our For Sale Board, a bit of a local hobby, they then decided to pull the fence apart instead, and try and steal the Wheel Barrow, Luckily a neighbour called the police, though they had gone when the police got here.

Luckily other than being a bit spooked the Birds are all fine.

Seed Catalogue

Just been through the the seed Catalogue, making my selection and it came to £114 ooops may have to reconsider some choices.

Netto Fruit Trees

Managed to get an Apple Tree today from Netto, just £3.99. Shame it was the last one or I would have got some more.

ebay plants

Well my first ebay plants have arrived, 2 Rhubarb plants, can't wait to get down the allotment now and plant them.

Cracked Egg

I was turning the quail eggs earlier today and managed to crack one, Arghh, My book says to piant nail varnish over the crack. I have done this and popped it back in the incubator.

They are due to hatch next Monday/Tuesday.

Plants

I have decided to order some plants from ebay to get us going on the allotment.

Asperagus crowns , Onion sets and am now looking for some more.

Trains I hate them

Ok bad day, didn't get to Selby thanks to the stupid trains.

First 3 trains cancelled, next one late, conection cancelled (take another 2 hours to get there), Ticket office said they couldn't give refund only the ticket man on train as he had sold me the ticket, got on train to come home also late ticket woman wouldn't give me refund as she said the ticket office should have. Arghh.

To Selby we go

Henry and I are off to Selby today to see this other Poultry Auction.

Picture later.

Try again

There we go, its worked this time. That blurr is a clutch of snail eggs in the fish tank.

Eggs, yes more eggs

Well they are eggs but of another type, not Bantams, not ducks, nout any sort of bird.

No, they are Water Snail eggs. Yes the pair of little water snails that live with the goldfish have mated and layed eggs on the side of the tank. They can just be made out in the above picture a blur on the side of the tank.

Henry and Swimmer

Henry has enjoyed a cuddle with Swimmer his Bantam.

Ducks

Rosie has managed to catch all the new ducks today and ring the runners who look very similier at a glance (Well they do to me).

Our Harvest

Just Some of todays harvest, our slightly bent cucumber.

Some of our beans and peas

and our only red tomatoe

Allotment Trip

Well today we spent several hours on the allotment digging, weeding and harvesting, yes Harvesting.

About 4 lbs of Potatoes

2 lbs of Beans and Peas

1 Red Tomatoe

1 Cucumber
and several beetroot

Plus a sack full of dandelions for the ducks and bantams.

Henry helped with the compost by compressing it in to the Compost bin. Rosie picked Beans.

On the way home Henry was to tired to walk so had a ride in the cart.

Henry

I managed to get Henry a little boiler suit.

Opps More Ducks

Well we went to Thirsk Auction Yesterday. Sadly we had missed the Poultry Auction, looked good as well some really nice birds.

Decided to visit the cahp we had purchased our runners from. Well I got the 2 more runner female I wanted, as well as a male runner , and a Aylesbury drake , and ohh a Silver Appleyard Drake. I also feel in love with a Muscovy drake called Henry (we may yet be going back for him).

We have decided not to kep the Silver Appleyard and so are now looking for a really good home for him with other ducks.

Ducks

Still need some more ducks, and not having much luck finding any.

Rain, Rain and a bit More Rain

Well its raining, hard, I wanted to go out to the feed merchant and get some more wheat for the goose.. May go out later when it stops.

We need more Ducks and a Goose

We need more ducks, Brandy seems to be getting broody.

And Goosey needs a friend.

Goosey

Well Goosey has well and truly settled in, happily munching the lawn, and nibbling my plants.

Red House Stables Car Boot

Sunday we went to Red House Stables car boot sale, interesting sale with a Carriage driving theme.

Loads of carriages, horse riding equipment.

Selby Auction

Went to Selby Auction on Saturday to buy some new female ducks, need more eggs.

Sadly they didn't have any, they only ducks they had were a drake, 2 young drakes and 2 cages of very young unsexed khaki campbells.

We werre just about to leave when the girls saw a late lot arriving a lovely friendly goose. Well what could I do it looked so lonely and the only other chap interested was buying it for the oven. So I bid.

Any way we now have a very firendly goose, well gander. He loves the kids and follows them everywhere.

Incubator

Set the incubator up and started off the first lot of eggs.

more on my new hatching blog http://hatchingeggsandchicks.blogspot.com/