More chicks to add to our brood...

A very, very quick update but last night, both of our chicks in our second egg hatched! This time we were trying to hatch white Orpingtons and the eggs we had named 'Steve' and 'Nugget' hatched.

Jeff saw a tiny crack in the Steve egg on Friday morning and by 11:00pm that night, both of them had arrived. It was so much better than the last time, when we had a horrible (and very emotional) time of helping our black Orpington chick (BamBam) out of her egg.

Steve is white, yet nugget is yellow. We left them in the incubator overnight and transferred them to the brooder this morning. Jeff set his camera back up (all hail hatch cam) and now we can watch them all day and watch them cuddling each other and pecking the chick crumbs off the floor. It's lovely, but it does hammer home the fact that BamBam is currently in a box on her own and that's not great as chickens are sociable birds and do best in a flock or at least with 1 other chicken. So, I think we're going to wait a couple of days and let them play together. We're going to keep these chicks for 2.5 weeks and then give them to my work colleague and unlike last time, I haven't got so involved so we won't need to do a mad dash to try and find some similar looking chicks and give those to him, instead.

I'm going round Jeff's house tonight and I really hope we can have a relaxing, enjoyable night with no stresses, no huge shopping trips and no late nights... in fact an early night sounds fantastic :-)

- Molly

Chick Update!

It has been waaay too long since I updated this blog and once again, loads of stuff has happened!

I guess the most important thing is, Jeff and I are still together and things still seem to be very much on track. It’s pretty much 8 months now and I can’t see anything bad just around the corner – especially considering we have 3 holidays planned, the first one being Northumberland in a few weeks! (which I think we are both looking forward to).

Let me take your mind back about 2 months, when I first posted that Jeff and I were going to try and hatch chicks. This actually came to fruition and after purchasing an incubator from Ebay, we also bought some Black Orpington chicken eggs and popped them in. As we had purchased a manual incubator, we had to turn them by hand a minimum of 3 times a day and make sure the water in the middle of the incubator was topped up so it had the correct humidity. After 8 or so days, we candled them (stuck them on a bright torch in a dark room to see what was inside the egg) and found that we only had 2 out of 6 eggs that were fertile.

For 18 days Jeff and I took turns in turning the eggs – if Jeff was at a pub quiz with his mates or working late, I’d go round after work or before work and turn the eggs. I thought we worked quite well together! The last 3 days we didn’t have to turn them and on the Friday, Jeff and I met at the pub and he kept saying he thought he had heard the egg peep. I told him not to be so stupid and he was probably imagining it, but anyway, we headed back to his house and a very long story short, it turns out Jeff was right, we did have one of the eggs hatching!

Our beautiful chick was born after a very emotional and horrible ‘labour’ and over the last two weeks Jeff and I have watched her grow and grow. She started trying to fly after 1 week and after 2 weeks she wanted to perch and jump on your legs etc. It was fascinating watching her grow and I admit right here and right now, I have got very attached.

So here’s the thing. When I started this ‘project’, I had promised my work colleague (who has a lovely garden with lovely chickens) that he could have any of the chicks that hatched. Neither Jeff or myself own our own house and we were worried in regards to the noise the chickens would made as that’s not fair on the neighbours. I was adamant that I wouldn’t get too attached and would be happy to see the chick go to a good and loving home. After a week of her being born, I visited Jeff at his home and burst into tears, admitting that it would be utterly terrible to give our ‘first born’ up, even though we knew she would go to a loving home.

Jeff really excelled himself in how supportive he was – he said we could keep her and I could let my colleague know that we’d just hatch him some more. However, I felt guilty that we had promised my work colleague a black chick and then I’d be letting him down and he’d have to wait a good few weeks for us to hatch some more. Cue ‘The great chicken switch of 2011!’ We searched on the internet to try and find someone who would sell us a black 2 week old, Orpington chick, thinking we could give that chick to my work colleague. Therefore, we get to keep our ‘baby’ and he still gets a chicken!

The only problem was, no one seemed to have chicks exactly that colour and that age. Some people had chocolate Orpington chicks (and we thought about saying ‘Oh! Look! She’s changing colour....’ (That idea lasted all of 10 seconds!) and some people had Black Orpington chicks that were about 8 weeks old, meaning we could say ‘Wow! Look, she’s grown fast....’ I eventually got phoned by a really nice bloke who lived in Wantage and he bred chickens with his son. He said he usually sold the chickens in pairs, but as the chicken would be going to a loving home, he would be willing just to sell one.

When we got there, we saw all kinds of breeds and it was obvious that all the chickens were well looked after. We found the smallest Black Orpington chicken we could and purchased her, drove back home and popped her in a box. I called her ‘Big chicken’ and she and our chick, BamBam got on very well indeed, to the point where BamBam was actually the top chicken! It was lovely seeing BamBam getting on well with Big Chicken and we got to cuddle her for a few days until she went to her new home on Sunday.

Now Jeff and I just have one chick left who is growing LOADS. On Wednesday, we are looking forward to seeing the white Orpington chicks which should hatch in a couple of days! I’m going to try very hard not to get as attached to them as they really should be going to by work colleague....

- Molly

We are parents!

It seems like such a long time ago since I updated this blog (and in fairness, it has been quite a few days!)

Where to start, well, I guess it’s best to start with the biggest news – One of the chicks that Jeff and I incubated hatched! Sadly only 2 out of the 10 we initially incubated were fertile, so last weekend we were hoping for both of the fertile eggs to hatch. On Friday night, I texted Jeff as I was bored and asked him if he wanted to go to a local pub. As he didn’t have anything else to do, he said yes and we met for a drink. The day before, Jeff hadn’t been in the office – he’d been at a local mental health hospital, helping the staff do some gardening (a volunteering thing his work signs up to). As  result of this, he was rather achey and his legs hurt so I suggested that we go back to his and I could give him a massage – one way of repaying the hundreds of hours he has spent massaging me!

After getting back to Jeff’s house and making his legs feel ever so slightly better, Jeff put together all the motion shots that his web cam had taken over the last few days (basically, Jeff bought a web cam and aimed it at the incubator so we didn’t miss anything!) I really didn’t believe that the egg had moved, but low and behold, I saw it with my own eyes. If you’ve ever seen ‘Paranormal Activity’, it was like that – you’re looking at the screen and then –WOAH! But even then, I suggested it was gravity and nothing else. Jeff said he could have sworn that the egg was chirping, but I said that once you want something so bad, you end up convincing yourself you’ve either seen or heard things that aren’t there.

That being said, I then thought I had heard something – but convinced myself that it was probably the birds outside, eating some of the bird seed. However, after looking at the eggs, I saw that one of them had a hole in the bottom, yes, one of our eggs was hatching! I nearly burst into tears and as the egg was hatching at the bottom and not the top, made the STUPID mistake of opening up the incubator and turning the egg around.
Jeff and I stared at the egg for ages – I finally left at 11:00pm, however as soon as I was home, logged straight back into Jeff’s ‘Hatch cam’ to see if any progress was made. I think I got about 3-4 hours sleep that night and at 5:30am on Saturday morning got up, had breakfast and went straight back down to Jeff’s house to see if any progress had been made. Unfortunately, the chick had not made any progress at all and at 08:00, I made the decision that we should help it out of the egg.

This is something that has divided a lot of chicken breeders – some say that you should never help a chick out of the egg and that if it’s not strong enough to break out on its own, then it will not be strong enough to survive. They also say that the chick has to break out on its own, as it helps it reach full maturity. On the other hand, some people say that helping chicks can save their life and they can go on to grow into strong, healthy chickens and have a normal life. I regretted opening the incubator as it meant that the humidity went down and therefore toughen the outer membrane of the egg, meaning it was too tough for the poor chick to break through – therefore, if we didn’t help, it would die and it would be my fault.

I got a cocktail stick (which was recommended) and started pulling bits of the shell away. This went on for the next 12 hours. I’d pull some of the shell and membrane away, then wait. The worry was that if the chick was still attached to the inner membrane, I could damage it and therefore the chick could bleed to death.

It got to about 4:00pm and whilst watching TV we heard a ‘crack’, the chick had managed to get both it’s legs out of the shell and was trying to talk. Unfortunately it still had a lot of the shell attached to it and it couldn’t get free of it, due to the low humidity. Jeff made me wait until after we had had some food to try again and with a massive cut of some nail scissors, the chick was free! I burst into tears and promptly put the lid back onto the incubator and left the chick in there overnight.

She is absolutely amazing – not that we know it’s a she, yet! Within an hour, she was walking inside the incubator and chirping and by the next morning, she was fully fluffy, very mobile and very vocal! We moved her into her brooder and after 30 minutes of her chirping quite loudly as she was worried about her new surroundings, she settled in incredibly well.

Unfortunately the other egg didn’t hatch and as we didn’t want her to be lonely, we got her a Teddy bear to cuddle into and also put some big shiny marbles in her box, as well as some crumpled up paper to play with. Within an hour she was pecking chick crumbs off the floor and within a few hours she was drinking and also pooping! I think both Jeff and I were quite amazed at how perfect and cute she was.

Her name is ‘BamBam’, after one of my work colleagues and we have her for 2 weeks, until she goes to my work colleague’s house as he has chickens and she’ll be able to live on his farm, with other Orpingtons. She’s a black Orpington, hence why she’s not the normal ‘yellow’ colour and my friend has Buff Orpingtons so he’ll be able to tell which one she is VERY easily.

For the last 2 days, Jeff, myself and a lot of friends have been logging into ‘Chick Cam’ constantly to see if she is OK. I went round to Jeff’s house yesterday to check on her and couldn’t believe how much she had grown in 24 hours. I picked her up for a bit of a cuddle and she didn’t seem to mind at all, in some ways, she actually likes company as when Jeff and I left the room, she chirped quite loudly for a while as if to say ‘Oi! You! Don’t leave me’  - I think for this reason, Jeff and I are going to get her some more toys and a mirror so that she thinks there are other chicks around.

It was one of the most emotional things I think I have ever been through and poor Jeff had to put up with me continually worried and crying on Saturday. The next set of eggs are in the automatic incubator and are due to hatch in two weeks. However, unlik the manual one, we don’t have to touch it at all, apart from to top up the water every few days and therefore when the chicks are due to hatch, we are just going to let nature take its course and NOT open the incubator. I said to Jeff, I don’t think I’ll be as attached to the next lot of chicks as I didn’t have to turn the eggs for 18 days, nor help them out of their eggs. I know we were always going to have to give the chicks up (both Jeff and I live in rented houses and it’s not fair on the neighbours to keep chickens, nor fair on the chickens to keep them in such a small space) but it’s really going to upset me when we have to give BamBam up.

Apart from hatching chicks, Jeff and I have continued our healthy eating – Jeff is following the ‘no carbs’ diet and I’m doing the low GI / Low carbs / Low fat diet, which means that mine is slightly less restrictive in some ways, but more restrictive in others – Jeff can have all meat, whereas I can’t really have fatty meats such as sausages. I can have vegetables, whereas Jeff can’t – yet Jeff can have as much cheese or egg as he wants – I can’t. Regardless of what we’re doing, it seems to be working as both Jeff and I have lost weight. We’ve still got a way to go (well, I think Jeff is gorgeous as he is, but I know I’ve got some more to lose… currently a size 14, want to be a size 10!) so we’re going to see how long we can keep it up and just be sensible on what we eat.

That being said, I’m still making lots of lovely cakes and things to eat for my work colleagues, recently I’ve made a wonderful ‘red velvet cake’ topped with yummy vanilla icing, I’ve also made some really gorgeous peanut butter brownies. We had half of one each but could easily have eaten the whole lot! I took them all into work and my work colleagues devoured them really quickly. I guess that’s one of the bad things about being on a healthy eating plan – you can’t really eat the things you bake! Yet, stopping baking and cooking for months would make me quite unhappy as I really like to cook!

Another piece of news – Jeff and I have booked Iceland! We’re already going to Cologne in December for the German Christmas markets, however yesterday we put a deposit on a holiday to Iceland in the New Year. I’m really excited as I’ve always wanted to go and see the Northern lights and considering a year ago, I didn’t think I would ever see Jeff again, it’s lovely to think that we’re back together and can experience these things as a couple. ALSO… we’re going back to Northumberland in August so that Jeff can see his family and so I can enjoy the scenery and have a few days off work.

I love Northumberland and whilst I am Southern, I really do think that the North has a few things that the South doesn’t – the people in particular seem so much more friendly! Jeff and I already have an idea of what 3 course meal we will cook for his parents (it seems to have become a ‘thing’ – Jeff and I cook for his parents) but I think we’ll have to practice a few times before we go up as one of the courses is Scotch eggs and we’ve not made them yet.

I’m seeing Jeff tomorrow and cooking for him. I thin I’ll probably spend a good deal of the evening staring at BamBam and cuddling her (may as well make the most of it!). I think we’re also planning on going for a walk along the canal on Friday night. We went for a walk along the same canal on Sunday afternoon as I wanted to get out the house and clear my head (as it was so emotional!) and it was lovely. Apparently you can walk for over 33 miles, however we only managed about 1.5 before we turned round and went back. If it’s raining, I am sure we’ll find something else to do, equally as enjoyable :-)

-Molly

Sad news about the eggs

The healthy eating is back on with a vengeance! That’s certainly true… Jeff and I have been healthy eating for a week now – no crisps, chocolate and no bread, rice or pasta. I weighed myself this morning and it’s certainly working, so I’m hoping another couple of weeks and all my pairs of trousers will fit again :-)

So, what have we been up to this week? Well… It’s been an up and down week, that’s for sure.  I first saw Jeff on the Wednesday and the weather was gorgeous – We had already decided what we were going to eat ‘Almond flaked cod’, which was one of the recipes in one of my BBC Good Food recipe books ‘101 fish and seafood dishes’. We thought we had all the necessary ingredients, however we forgot the fish stock so had to go out and get some.

Cooking took very little time and before long, we had dinner! In all honesty, I don’t think we would make it again as although it was ‘OK’, it wasn’t anything special and Jeff and I thought that the sauce was a little bit overpowering.

After dinner we turned the eggs and candled them – this proved quite emotional as it turns out, 5 out of 10 of them are infertile! I got quite upset at this, especially considering Jeff and I have been turning ‘the Oeuffs’ religiously 3 times a day for the last 12 days! It was quite nerve wracking when wee (Jeff) cracked the first one into a bowl, outside (we did it outside in case the egg was bad and smelt horrible) and we were met with – absolutely nothing! A completely normal egg with absolutely no bloody chick inside! We candled the others and the same thing happened.

So currently we only have 5 eggs in our incubator – We don’t think 3 of them have chicks inside, but we have seen veins and beating hearts in two of them, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for next weekend and hoping that at least 2 of the eggs will hatch. As it’s such a ‘poor show’, Jeff and I are actually going to get another incubator on Sunday night and I’ve already ordered some more eggs so we can have 2 incubators on the go at once! Currently we have black Orpington eggs being incubated, we’re going to add white Orpington eggs to it!

I also saw Jeff on Thursday night this week and whilst I was making home made beef burgers (with mince I had found in his freezer - I made loads of different types, cheese, mixed herbs etc) Jeff surprised me with flowers! It was really sweet of him and completely unexpected. I can't believe we have been 'seeing' each other for over 7 months now... it really does feel very different to last time round.

Unfortunately we’re not seeing each other until Sunday night as I’m seeing my crazy Uncle and Aunt ‘Oooop North’, however as soon as I get to Jeff’s we’re going to head off, pick up the other incubator and start the hatching process all over again :-)

- Molly