Sad news

Sadly tonight when I got home the last chick had died.  It was white and was

doing really well until Friday night when I caught it to move it to the big house.

Somehow I must have got the butterfly net too tight and hurt its neck.

That night the hen stayed with it but left it overnight.  I went away for the

weekend expecting to come home and find it dead.  It was running about and 

eating well.  Yesterday it got out of the Chook enclosure and also Shilo

got out of her kennel.  Stuart got home to find Shilo with the chick so although

not hurt she may have traumatized it.  The other black chick died the weekend

I went to Tauranga so no chicks left.

Holiday

We had a great holiday at Matarangi.

Beware! 3 Black & Whites

The dogs loved the beach but were a bit wary of the waves.  Shilo got very good at

getting the stick but would watch the waves and wait until they passed before

venturing out.

The chicks had grown while we were away.  One of the black ones

died so now have 2 left.

Hen & her 3 chickens

The hen and her 3 chicks are doing well in their separate

enclosure.  

They are so cute when they are this small.

Please let them be hens this time!!!

Dogs and Horses

We went to visit friends last night and took the dogs.

They have a lifestyle block with horses, sheep, chickens as

opposed to our lifestyle block of bush.

In this case the horse is checking out the dogs.

Casey (partly cutoff at left), Shilo & Rocky at back.

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.