What utter diabolical weather we have been having, as droughts go, this is the wettest one yet! (Might have stolen that from Ewan Cakebread but, eh, I'm going with it). Still it's not over yet!
So I thought I would start by sharing with you how the crew have been finding it! In true Pirate fashion these Cluckaneers were not fazed in the slightiest of slightest's (insert some kind of water wings joke here, and laugh at your own leisure). In fact for a species that, on paper, doesn't enjoy getting wet, they seemed to stay out far longer than necessary leading to the massacre of hundreds of defenceless earthworms. Brutal.
So just for you a made this rather stunning 'drippy chicken' collage...Feast your eyes.
Okay...it's a rubbish collage. In fact it is more a mosaic then anything else. (Little thing you can do for fun, write in 'water chicken' in google and see what the first thing to come up is. Interesting. Warning though, not for little faces.
So onto our mam to be. You will all be pleased to know that Madonna is proud as punch still to be sitting on the eggs and since being separated from the crew, has not had a single roll away egg! She comes out some mornings, (almost in fast forward) and quickly has bits to eat and drink and then rushes back to sit on the eggs! (Video to come in the next blog post, promise).
While she was out the other morning I had a feel of one of her eggs, and I can tell you she is defiantly doing her job! It was warm as anything. I was hoping to be able to feel movement inside but can't as of yet.
Still only a week or so left now so it's getting pretty exciting stuff!
We do have more exciting news. Let me show you in picture form:
Yes, Coco is broody! What a surprise! She's been this way for 5 days now, so not long, but here's the dilemma...
Dilemma - Do we put Coco in with Madonna? I mean after all she was the first to go broody until we stopped her. And after letting Madonna sit on eggs, it seems a bit mean to kick her out of it again!
So let's weigh it up...
Pros - If we put her in with Madonna, and put 3 of the fertilised eggs underneath her, they will both mother all 6 chicks! This would be so great, and we would have our own little mother and baby unit! It'll make no difference to the chicks (although they may naturally stick slightly closer to the mama hen that hatched them), and it'll mean Madonna doesn't have to look after 6 toddlers on her own! What a Billy Bonus!
Cons - It will not be very easy to move Coco as you tend to find that if they have been nesting in one spot, when you move the eggs to another nest box and put her in with them, she will assume her eggs are left in their original nesting spot! Which will be quite distressing as you can imagine. The way around this would be to move her and the nest, as one, at night when they get a bit dopey. Though this comes with its own set of problems! Humph. Also if she decides not to stay broody, it could upset Madonna, if she starts pecking around her.
So I'll let you know what the outcome is! But any thoughts on this would be greatly received! (Whether it's by a Comment, Email or via Twitter)!
Until next time!
