and then there were two

Friends of Nefley the silliest, whitest fluffy chicken will be pleased to hear that one more little chick has hatched. From the wild colouring it looks like we have one bearded buff, and one black one. The bearded buff has hairy middle toes (hooray!) and I haven't checked the little black one's toes yet. I think that both the remaining eggs still have live chicks inside, but I fear that they are too weak to pip the shells. They are not cheeping, but I could just hear them tapping very quietly when I held the eggs up to my ear. This is not a good sign, and makes me a little sad, but I have to be strong and not interfere - as it only leads to weaker chookies in the end. Poor little Nefley hasn't left the nest since Sunday while she waits for her little ones to hatch. I have given her some water and food in bed so to speak but it is so cold, and she is so into being a mum that I am not sure she has had any.

Lessons learned from this latest batch include making sure that there is better bedding in the nesting box to prevent eggs from falling through the walls of the nest out of sight, and making sure the bedding is dense enough to prevent the girls from making the nest so deep the eggs end up resting on the wooden floor of the nesting box. Silly fluffy chickens - they could learn a lot from their ducky neighbours about serious nest construction, that's for sure.

Anyhoo, little Nefley is trilling and cooing happily to her little ones while Jenni and Maurice look on. I went to take some photos this morning, but the batteries in the camera were flat. Hopefully they will be all charged up by tomorrow and I will be able to get a shot of Mum and both babies.

In other news, today I found some Brandywine Tomatoe seeds. There has been far too much raving and ranting about how yummi these are around the traps - so I couldnt be left out! I wonder if it is too early to start them off in the glasshouse.....perhaps a few more weeks just in case.