Chickens

One of my gold silkie hens has been sitting on 8 eggs.  My husband managed to drop 1 and break it and on the 14th January, these 2 chicks hatched.  We managed to transfer the hen and her 2 little chicks in to a rabbit hutch so they were separated from the rest of the chickens and safe from predators.  Another black chick hatched and the hen abandoned the rest of her eggs.

Last year the rats got some chicks from the hen house so I wasn't going to risk it this time.  Also the tiny chicks can't get back in to the main hen house so end up under it.

This is a photo of the 2 young silkie roosters.  The black one is Jackson son of Jack and the gold rooster is the only survivor of the 11 chicks hatched last year.

Jack the original rooster leads a charmed life and is living in another hen house with 2 black hens that are too old to lay.  He has one eye after he lost it fighting with his son.  The rabbits are in the background of this photo.

My veggie garden this year is doing very well.  

Here are the tomatoes.

  The one at the front self seeded and has a massive crop.

The zuccinis are also doing well.  I am rather proud of

myself for taking this photo with the bee in the flower.

Rocky has retired from agility

It is official.  Rocky is retired from agility.  I had entered him for Akarana yesterday but after running him in Jumpers last Saturday and watching how he jumped carefully, had 2 jumps down and was over time, decided that he needs to retire now.  He has been a great agility dog.  My first senior dog and a lot of fun.  He hasn't had a clear round since October last year that has been in time.  We will continue to do flygility for as long as he is happy doing it.  He is slow in that too but loves it and the jumps are lower.

One of my favourite photos of Rocky

Rocky won his last Novice in April 2008 to get in to Senior.

Jemima Puddleduck

George has been lonely and wandering off to the neighbours to hang out with the wild ducks so we bought him a girlfriend.  They have been together for a whole day.

This photo was taken not long after we brought Jemima home.  She is 10 weeks old.  George has been alone since Mildred drowned in March this year.  I can't remember how old he is but he is the offspring of our first drake Campbell and duck, Katie.  Katie was a Cayuga and Campbell a Khaki Campbell.

Chloe & Arnie

Arnie loves his cushion and so does Chloe.  She got on when Arnie wasn't

around and wouldn't move when he wanted it.  It was a squeeze but they shared for ages.

Casey has fully recovered from her liver disease and is now back to normal being noisy, stealing cat food, running and playing.  It is so good to have her back to normal.

Casey and other things

Casey is much improved and back to her old self. stealing cat food, licking dishes and trying to break in to the rubbish bin.  She definitely has her spark back much to our relief.

I did agility with Rocky and Shilo today.  Poor Rocky is demolishing courses again and struggling to get over the jumps.  He had 35 faults in Senior and 10 in Jumpers.  I scratched him in Intermediate as it was a long course and had some tight turns.  He had a great time in the Tunnelers.  I am going to retire Rocky at the end of this year from agility but will continue doing flygility with him.  He does enjoy both sports so it is hard making the decision but I don't want him getting hurt trying to please me.  He has been a really good agility dog and is my first Senior dog.

Shilo was good today and had 5 faults in both the Novice and Jumpers C.  She had a clear round in Starters and was 4th.  The ribbons went to 3rd.

My Casey pup

I am still worried about my Casey pup.  She had another injection on Saturday and to get away from the Vet, she kept climbing on the scales.  She has lost nearly a kilo in weight since I took her 2 weeks ago.  She seemed bright enough but slept a lot over the weekend.  Sunday night she wouldn't eat the fancy tinned food I bought for her so offered her some cat food and no wouldn't touch that either.  We had chicken for dinner on Sunday night so gave her some and she ate that alright.  I was late home tonight and Stuart tried her on her tinned food and no she wasn't interested in that or the mashed potato pot.  I cooked her a piece of chicken in the microwave and fed it to her while I ate my dinner.  She ate it and then went to lick the plates in the dishwasher.  That is a good sign as she does like to do the prewash cycle.  Fingers crossed she is getting better!!!

Update on Casey

Casey has perked up and seems a lot better since her injection on Wednesday.  I am taking her to the vet tomorrow for another injection.  She still is jaundiced but seems a lot brighter.  She is eating tinned food at night but still not interested in any dry food.  She is following me about the house again which is more like the old Casey.  It is still too early to tell if she will recover form this but we can only take each day as it comes.