The Most Exciting Thing Ever

So our wonderful chicken Muriel had eight little baby chics yesterday! Very exciting! Pictures to follow shortly. But that isn't the most exciting news! Four didn't hatch so we brought them inside and left them on the windowsill while we sorted the others out. I completely forgot about disposing them, but I am so so glad I didn't because about an hour ago I heard a noise coming from one of the eggs! One of the chicks is still alive! YAAAAY! I tried to put the eggs back under the chicken but she rejected them and is just focused on looking after the chicks she has. So, I now have the chirping egg (along with the other three just in case there's something in them) in a cardboard box with sawdust in it and a light positioned over it to try and keep them warm. Fingers crossed for the next 24 hours! I'll keep you posted on any developments! If anyone has any chicken hatching related advice please tell me! This is the first time I've ever had to do this! xx

Sensory Gardens = Much Fun

On Saturday I went on a rare but wonderful day out to Knaresborough with my friend Rachel. It is a beautiful place and it was such a gorgeous day. We went boating on the river, drank tea in a wonderfully quaint tea shop, had ice cream, went to see the castle and stumbled upon a sensory garden in an arts and crafts center. The sensory garden was amazing. It had different areas dedicated to different senses and was clearly designed for children - which is probably why I loved it so much! :D I especially liked a tree that kids had decorated with clothes, toys, mobiles and flowers. It was so lovely.

Sad news though :( One of our chickens died. We're not sure why. We noticed she had a bad leg yesterday so we think it must have been something to do with that. And we didn't get any chicks. We broke one of the eggs after the broody hen had been sitting on it for the right amount of time and discovered it hadn't been fertilised. The rest of them were like that too. But our remaining hen is now sitting on some different eggs so hopefully chics will be here soon :)

Snow Day!

Wow! It's been so long since I saw snow this heavy! It was so deep and everything looked so beautiful that I had to abort my jewellery-making today in order to jump up and down like an excited child. I also had to rescue my parents' chickens - we nearly couldn't see the coop this morning! Poor things. You will be pleased to know that Henry, Muriel and Matilda (our feathered friends) now have a snow-free home and that their pen has been protected against further blizzards. Although, weirdly, they really enjoyed paddling about in it when we let them out this morning. We even opened the garage - a favourite place of theirs - so they had a snow-free area to play in, but they only went in for about a minute. I guess even chickens are children at heart.