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