Our *Don't Buy Vegetables In 2010* Challenge.

So the year 2010 is over, how did we do with our challenge?  I am very pleased to say that we succeeded.

During the year Hubby bought a small bag of onions so I had some to take to a family gathering and I bought a 10kilo bag of potatoes from Spud Shed to use as seed potatoes.  That is all the vegetable stuff that we bought during 2010.

Just about all the vegetables that we ate here were grown here but there were a few exceptions as in stuff from the pig food crates and stuff that people gave us.  Daughter L gave us a few bags of onions, for example.

Will I do the same challenge next year?  No.

I will definitely grow most of our vegetables but I will also not feel too bad if I buy a bag of carrots.  I have had a lot of trouble growing enough carrots so as to not have to skimp on using them and as I can buy big bags quite cheaply I will do that if I need to.  I don't have many out there now and we are going without them with roasts and a lot of salads because of this.

I don't think we missed out on too much.  Hubby would have liked more fresh tomatoes during Winter but he understood why there weren't many there.  I could do with more, bigger lettuce now, and the above mentioned carrots.

We had a lot of stuff not come up, Slater's ate a lot, cows got in and ate stuff, chooks got out and ate stuff.
A lot of failures along the way...nothing too bad though and I suppose I have learnt heaps throughout the year.

I'm glad we tried.  I class it as being successful.  It was sometimes fun, it got me out in the fresh air more than I might otherwise have done.  There were times that I swore, times that I wondered whose *stupid* idea it was, times that I was pretty proud of myself. 

I think it was a very good result to what was a pretty challenging challenge.  Yay Me, Yay Hubby for his support and garden building skills. Yay to us!

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

My computer is dead. It has been on the blink for a few weeks now and the computer guy said that it was dying and he'd give us a quote for a new one.  He hasn't yet, I will wait a few more days then give him a call. 

Anyway, I am in town at the library.  Thank goodness for them or I have no idea what I'd be doing.  Well I do, I'd be at home reading the book I got out from here yesterday but that is not the point.

The point is that a Library is a great place and I recommend that if you haven't been to one for awhile to go check your local one out.  They no longer just have books, who knew.  There are vidios, DVD's, computers, etc.

Our library lady told me yesterday that they have free lessons for *Seniors* and it seems that at 52 I am classed at one.  So I had a quick lesson then came on here to let you all know that if you don't read from me for awhile, I am OK.  My computer is not but I am fine.  So no need to worry.  Like you all would, lol.

Take advantage of your library, books and movies are free, lessons are free. 

I used to visit mine quite regularly but haven't for a couple of years but now that I have new glasses and can read again I will be here more often.  So many good books, maybe I shouldn't be looking at getting that new computer too soon.

What's Growing, What's Not.

The last couple of nights we have had some really strong Easterlies (winds)  A couple of branches came down, stuff blew off the verandah, a tarp nearly ended up down the back paddock...No bad damage here but a lot of trees down in town.

The bloke next door is growing corn and it is so close to being ready to pick and the wind has flattened it.  One day it was standing tall and the next it was lying flat.  It should be OK but does look strange.

I planted corn, bought seeds, at the same time as this bloke planted this lot of his.  Mine didn't grow so I planted more and then more again when they didn't come up.  That didn't grow either.  In the mean time the bloke next door had planted 2 more lots.  That grew. A few weeks ago I rescued a cob from pig food, forgot about it for awhile, found it all dried up and manky looking but planted it anyway... and that is growing.  It is now around 2inches high so has a long way to go before it will be ready.  But it seems that the bought seed is not as good as manky, dried up kernels.  It's a pity though that the first lot didn't grow as every time I see the corn next door I want some.  I could see if he wants to do a swap with some honey but we see him out there spraying stuff all the time and it puts me off.  I may just have to wait until our chemical free stuff is ready.

I have been to other peoples places and seen Sunflowers blooming and looking gorgeous as they raise their heads to the sky, not in my backyard though.  None of my seeds came up.  I love these flowers and am a bit sad that I have none out there.  I'm going to put more seeds in and hope that some make it.  I want these flowers on my coffin when I die and it would be nice if I could get a paddock full growing...just in case.  

Watermelons are another thing that didn't grow.  I should have these out there getting bigger by the day but there are none.  I have put more seeds in and will hope for a few.  Same with Pumpkin, None survived.  I have a few seeds coming up now and once again it is seeds from an old pumpkin, not bought seeds, that are growing.   When I think about it there is a lot of stuff missing from the garden, there are no flowers from any seed that I planted, not as much Garlic as last season...

There is still plenty to eat out there though.  We had our first cucumber yesterday and will be getting lots of them from now on.  Still heaps of tomatoes, the new chillies are ready to pick, Capsicum are doing well and there are more than enough for what we need.  The Silverbeet is pickable, still have plenty of Sweet Potatoes, potatoes as we want them, lettuce is small but added with other leafy stuff there is enough for salads for a few weeks and by then the next lot should be big enough.  Zucchinis are piling up on the bench...Onions are overflowing out of the bowl.  Beans are ready, I plan on having a few straight from the bush tomorrow.
There aren't many carrots left but enough to last a couple of weeks.

Apricots are finished.  We are picking grapes now and had our first apple last week and a couple more since then.  Strawberries still but not a lot.  There are a couple of Pepenos ready to pick and we get a few Passionfruit each week

That all sounds pretty good doesn't it?  I think I did well over the year and will continue growing most of the same next year.  Anyone want to join me?


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Hot Day, No Water...Dead Chook.

I didn't think that it was that hot here today but it was hot enough for me to go swimming in the dam a few times so hot but not unbearable.  It was hot enough for me to want to put sprinklers on in the chook pens but I couldn't as we had no water.

The weather report said that it was 40 in Perth.  It wasn't that hot here though, maybe 33-35.  One day I will buy a thermometer, it won't make any difference knowing how hot it is but it will be interesting to know.  I sometimes am surprised that it has been as hot as people say when I haven't felt that hot yet other times I am sweltering and it hasn't even reached 30. 

Even though I didn't think that it was too hot it was still quite warm and this afternoon we found that one of our old chooks had died.  It may not have been because of the heat, it could have been an age thing, being able to have the sprinklers on may not have made any difference.  But I am blaming the heat.  I know that the chooks don't like it when it is too hot.  All pens have water and shade so apart from making sure the water is topped up, by bucket if necessary, there is not much else I can do when it is hot and no water comes through the pipes. 

So one less Isa Brown chook.  We are down to 7 now, soon they will all be gone.
There weren't any problems with any of the other chooks but we didn't get many eggs from any pens.
They don't lay when it is cold, they don't lay when it is hot...
Cooler weather coming up over the next few days, that should keep the rest of them happy.

No Water...Again.

We have no water, again.
We are on irrigation water, it is connected to the house and all outside taps.  It is not potable but it is what we use for showers, flushing the loo, dishes...Outside we use it on the gardens, in the chookpens, for sprinklers to keep the chooks cool. 
We had no water one night and all of one day last week as well.  And a few times throughout the year we get a day or two with no water.
This morning the pressure was low and within an hour or so it was gone. 
And it is hot. I would like to put the sprinklers on in the chookpens to cool them down but can't.  They should be alright though as they all had their water topped up early this morning so it's not like they have no water to drink.
And really, we don't either.  Have no water to drink I mean.  We have a rainwater tank over near the shed which we use for drinking and cooking.  I fill up bottles as we need them.  We also have another tank that is full that I can use to fill up buckets for the loo if we need to.  And of course Hubby has made it so that I can connect a hose to it if I really need to water seeds or any plants.  There is no pressure from it but there is water.
So when I say "we have no water" I really mean that when I turn the tap on no water comes out, I need to go out and work a bit to get any water that I want.

It makes me think about how lucky we are compared to some countries where they have to walk miles to get a jug of dirty water.  It also reinforces my belief that too many people take "on tap" water for granted and too much is wasted.  I know people who rely on rainwater for everything, these people really know the value of water.

I worked for a couple once that had a son that wasted water. I was always telling him not too.  One day I said about there being no clean water to drink and he came back with the statement that we'll all be drinking recycled sewage water one day anyway so it didn't really matter.  Unfortunately, that may be true.  And I don't want to be drinking that stuff. 

So today I will use less water than I otherwise would have and tonight, or maybe tomorrow, when I turn the tap on and the water comes out I will be thankful.  It's not always clean, I won't drink it but it will be there and for that I will be thankful.

We *Don't Do* Christmas.

Once upon a time I loved Christmas. I loved decorating the tree, the house, the dog...Searching for presents was fun...Making special Christmas only food was fun.

Then something happened...It wasn't as much fun as it used to be.  Hubby's parents always gave too many presents.  Whose place do we go to.  Too much food.  People drinking too much.  Travel there, travel somewhere else, travel home late with everyone tired.  Too many expectations.  Upset people because we couldn't make it to their place.

And nowhere was there anything about what I feel is the real reason for Christmas.  His family mocked me when I spoke about it to them, my family...I don't think I tried to talk about it with them...Sorry 'bout that.
We asked the 3 kids that were still at home what Christmas meant to them and their answers cemented our decision.

His family said that it was about family getting together and having a good time.  They said that family was important.  But my eldest daughter and her family were never invited and when it was at their house I didn't feel that it was up to me to do that.  I was criticised for that.  I think that if it was about family getting together though then it would happen at other times throughout the year.

A couple of people did ask us why we didn't want to do it anymore but they didn't like our answer.
I do remember people were upset but they didn't really talk to us about it.  Some of them talked among themselves and I found out later that Hubby's family blamed me.  Most of them still do.

We did handle it wrong, we should have had a last Christmas like we planned and told everyone afterwards, not a month or so before hand.  I regret that. We did try to have both families come to a Christmas at our place one year and we were going to tell everyone then but my family couldn't come so we put it off.  A couple more years of doing it because we thought we should before we finally decided to just not do it anymore.

But you know what?  I don't think we are missed at all, by anyone. We don't get invited to lunch or tea just so the family can get together.  Not because it's Christmas but just because they like us and want to see us.  In the many years since we told them all that we weren't going to do Christmas anymore I could count on 2 fingers how many times we have been invited somewhere throughout the year for no reason.  There have been a few birthdays but no **no reason** occasions.  That used to make me sad.

Hubby gets criticised for not ringing his family and wishing them *Merry Christmas* but they don't ring him.   Why should it be up to someone that doesn't do Christmas to ring people, why can't they ring him if they want to speak to him?  And don't complain to me that you didn't speak with him on Christmas Day if you couldn't be bothered ringing him.  That made me cross, still does.

We don't send cards but I used to send out a letter to everyone, close to the end of the year, asking how their year went, telling them about ours, asking them what they had planned for the following year...We never got an answer from anyone so I have stopped that.  I remember talking to the inlaws one year just before Christmas.  I didn't say "Merry Christmas" but I did say that I hoped that they enjoyed themselves the following week when they were at the brother in laws.  The week later it was mentioned that a phonecall and Christmas wishes would have been nice.  I don't ring them anymore.

Since we stopped *doing* Christmas  we have treated the 25th December as just another day.  Usually we just stay home, mowed all the lawns one year, went out the beach and swam with a whale one year, that was pretty cool. Usually we don't even remember the date and we go about our normal day.   We don't eat Christmas food, we don't have a tree or decorations.  Sometimes I put on carols but that's because I like them and I also sometimes have them playing throughout the year so it's not a Christmas thing. 

We like the peace and the stressless day that we now have but...I think I miss it.  Not the excess food or drinking.  Not the bitching and disappointed people.  Not the presents.  But the family.  It was one time of the year that we knew we would see some of them.  Now, maybe we see someone a couple of times a year.   I have tried having family get togethers here in the weeks before Christmas but my family seem to be busy at that time of year and Hubby's family just sit around drinking so this year we won't be doing that.  I have also tried inviting people away to places throughout the year and that too doesn't seem to work out.  So this year, we will do nothing, invite no-one, organise nothing. 

This year, me and him, we will probably stay home, we may get a visit from  T and J, depends on what she is doing.  It's not expected.  We might go out the beach again. We know we will have a stressfree, happy day though and that is what is important to us.  But I will miss seeing my family.  I know that they will all be together having a lovely time, eating yummy food...My choice I know but I do sometimes think that maybe we could start again...

But no, instead, maybe next year I will have a couple of games days here for everyone.  That might be fun.  Families and friends shouldn't have to wait until Christmas and if we do then we may not get to spent time with those we love.  Maybe I could start a *Family Fun Day* tradition...Something to think about anyway.

Whatever you are doing at this time of the year, I hope you enjoy it.  I hope you are not stressed, that you have a calm and peaceful time.  Have fun with your families and be thankful that you have them around you.  Enjoy the rest of the year.

Mulchnchooks.

We've got a week of HOT days coming this week so today I need to change the new chickens over from their little pen into the big netted pen.  Which means that I have to decide where to put the big chickens...I will take out the oldest chickens that are now chooks and either put them with the Isas or try and catch them and put them in with the mixed Breed chooks which is where the parents are.  Putting them with the Isas is easier...and they don't fight, they have been together before...Decided.  The bigger chickens are my AussieRocks and though they are getting big I still don't want them in an unnetted pen.  I can shift them into the old Isa pen and then the new chickens can have their pen...Decided.
I need to put up another piece of shadecloth to give more shade to the small pen where I have a chook sitting.  She is due tonight/tomorrow.  I will also need to get the sprinklers in the right spots as I will not be home for 2 days this week but Hubby will.  He will turn them on for me to cool them all down but as he has to leave sometime those days for work it needs to be easy for him.  So the chooks will be sorted.

The gardens still need more mulch on them.  That seems to be an ongoing job.  I rake out the old stuff from the pens, put it on the gardens,  mow the grass and give that to the chooks to scratch over.  The next week the grass needs mowing again so I need to rake up a pen... so I'm not raking out every pen every week but each pen is probably done a couple of times a month.  I have 3 main pens and the 2 big netted pens used for the chickens so it does take me awhile.

I haven't put shade up over the lettuce bed yet so must get that done.  Hubby is helping L and M shift today so he won't be helping me much.  I might go and *help* as well so that will limit my time here.

And yet it is already after 6 and I am still here...Better go, I have another blog to update!!

Disregard all of the above as it is now 3.30 and I am not long home.  and this morning the computer froze so nothing could be done then either.  I am out tomorrow morning, all day Tuesday, all day Thursday...Something might get done this evening when it is cooler...

Wed, 15 December.

I was up early (4:30) again this morning and am tired already.  But I've been for my walk, fed and watered all the chickens and chooks, I've done the watering...Put up some more wire for the cucumbers to climb.  So that's a good start seeing as it's only 7am. 

I need some breakfast before I get out there again and start on the days jobs.  I need to put more mulch around things.  I need to do the spuds again, they are growing so fast they need topping up every few days.
I need to dig a hole and bury a chook.  This will probably start happening a bit now as the Isas are quite old.

The Apricots are falling from the tree so I need to cook some more of those up and get some more in the freezer.  I might have to dry more this year as one of our freezers died last week and so I may not be able to stuff the others with fruit and veg as they have other stuff in them.  One has a whole pigs head!! so if I really need the space then that can go but I think it will only be there another week or so anyway.  It belongs to the son and he will remove it soon. 

Heaps happening outside in the garden.  Rockmelon and peanuts have flowers.  The cucumbers have fruit.  The big Zucchini plant is still going nutso and the other smaller one has some that need picking.  We are getting lots of tomatoes.  Capsicum have fruit to pick, the Chillies are all in flower.  Looks like all the lettuce seed has come up so that bed will need thinning sometime.  Most of the chokos that I planted have taken off, much to Hubby's disgust.  Getting lots of Strawberries.  I need to get more onions out, a lot are starting to go to seed and we will only need a couple to do that.

What didn't work?  I have no corn, no watermelon, no sunflowers.    I have a few butternuts just getting flowers but all the ones planted months ago are gone. Carrots weren't much chop.  They took too long to grow or I left them there too long and though they are alright cooked or grated in a salad I can't't eat them fresh out of the ground.  Not sweet like they should be.

The grass needs mowing every week and if I miss a week like I am prone to do it gets out of hand again.  We have had a few people ask what we use on it to get it so thick and green but all it gets is me talking to it.  Hubby says that would work.  How rude!!  lol.

I think we have worked out a way to cut down on the slater population but it is still in the test stages and I will write about that soon.

Breakfast then back out there.

BLOGS and Blogging.

Do you have a BLOG?  If so, Why do you blog?  Do you have a regular time for blogging?  For reading blogs?
Do you not do other stuff so that you can blog or read blogs?

I have 3 now.  Yes 3.  Three that I write on but heaps more that I read, some I even follow.  But there is the danger.  You read someones blog, they have a list of blogs that they read, you go to one or two, they lead to more and 2 hours later you realise that the chooks haven't been checked on.  No wonder my house is a tip.
And now, because I have started walking again (and blogging about it) that takes out 40 minutes or so of my computer time so it has to now come from somewhere else.  Like housework time.  Not that there was a lot of that to start with but you can see my dilemma, I'm sure.  But it's a cheap. fun hobby so I'm sticking to it.

My other 2 blogs, yes this was just a way of letting you all know where and what they are, can be found here.
http://fitterbyfriday.blogspot.com/  About me trying to get fit.  I need it to keep me honest.
And here:
http://iwannawander.blogspot.com/  About our camping adventures and my journey to go off by myself, sometime.

This one was to help me stick to my challenge to grow our own vegetable this year and it has succeeded in that.  We haven't bought any for us to eat and it will be good to have a record of a year in the life of...Hey, that sounds like a good blog title!  A year in the life of us would be a pretty boring blog though so I'll just stick to the three that I have,  For now anyway.  This one was only going to go for a year and then I was going to stop but it's fun so I will keep it going next year as well.   Aren't you all lucky, you can still read all about my exciting adventures in my backyard for another year. 
Yeah, I knew you'd be pleased!!           

Tea With Friends.

Hubby is supposed to be working away but last night as I was coming home I passed him at the turnoff in Coolup.  I wondered what he was up to and as he caught up with me and followed me I thought that he was finishing early.  He had someone in the car with him.  I turn at our corner but he keeps going.    So not coming home.
So I am home, expecting the dog to be dropped off so I am trying the get the chickens fed and watered.  Checking on a sick chook when Friend with dog gets here. Hubby pulls up right after her.
We get the dog and his gear unloaded and Friend asked me if I have heard the new plans.  No, says I.
Dinners at our place, she says.  So that explains why Hubby and workmate are here.

A similar thing happened last week when the Friend rang with an invite for me to join them for tea as the workers were going to be there.

I really need to clean and keep clean this house as the workmate needed a shower and I had 2 minutes to tidy before he needed access to the inside.  Big sigh, but why worry, nothing I could do then and I haven't done it now so...

Back to tea.   These people live up a windy, steep, covered in kangaroos road, Hubby knows that I don't like driving up there by myself so the lovely man came here first to pick me up. 

As we got there we could see some roos under their clothesline.  Some more just up a bit and still more to the left...

The views from this place are amazing. 
Even more so when looking through $2000 binoculars!!  I so want some.  Not gonna happen anytime soon though.

This photo is looking westward toward the Estuary.  Use the binoculars and I could count the cows that were miles away.  (there were 18 in one paddock and 22 in another)




  

They also have a Brushtail Possum that comes out at night, sometimes they give it a bit of apple. 
It was there last week and came again last night while we were all eating out on the deck.
It is so cute. It is quite friendly in that it will let you touch it, so soft.





I'm not sure how this women does it but she can get a decent meal on the table for 5 extra people with a half hours notice.  Admittedly last night he cooked the meat on the barby but she prepared a salad and some chicken and garlic bread to go with it.  And they were leaving for their trip away at 6 this morning so she had to get everything cleaned up after we left.  I did try to get the blokes to hang around and help but they also had an early start the next day and a 30min drive back to their camp.  After dropping me off here first.
I have things so easy.
Last week she had everything ready and she'd only been home for 20minutes before she knew they were having people there in a half hours time.  Who does that!  Not me, that's for sure.  I wouldn't even know where to begin. 
When I think about it, I know a few people that could probably do that so maybe it is just me. lol.
Amazing lady and so nice.  They are both lovely people and I hope she will become a good friend. 

Bloody Mice.

I thought that the cat was inside because of the dog but it seems that it is here stalking a mouse.  I found out that they had been in the cupboards but emptied and cleaned them out last week.  We have also heard them under this desk but set a trap and caught a couple.  Found a dead one outside this morning...Have seen a few out in the hayshed.
This is a little one and it is hiding under the mat. 
Do I lift the mat and let the cat get it?  Set another trap and hope it goes quick?  Somehow chase it outside?
Bugger!!  The cat has gone to sleep on the mat.  Useless damn thing.  Bloody cat.  Bloody mouse.

What would you do?

He's Still Alive...

and visiting me again.  Of course I'm talking about my Clayton dog, the dog you have when you don't own a dog.  I have a couple of these now but Smokey is the only one that comes to stay.  I have one that I will take camping with me when I finally get that on the go, thanks to the son saying I can take one of his but I wouldn't trust it to stay here.  I know Smokey will stay, I just need to shut the gate and probably don't really need to do that.
Smokey is here again as his owners have gone down to Hopetoun.  I think he's here until Wednesday so that will give us both a good visit.  At the moment it is warm outside and he is asleep on the mat, in the shade on the front verandah.  Later when I go out to do more he will follow me around the yard.

I daresay we wont get any visits from the bandicoot while the dog is here.  The cat is inside keeping out of his way as well.

Apricots Are Ripe.

I have eaten 3 Apricots over the last 2 days.  I know, it's not many but they were freshly picked and scoffed on the spot.  The tree has heaps on it but usually once they start then they all get ripe at the same time so we will make sure that we dry more this year.  We did some last year but not nearly enough.

This tree was bought with 2 types of Apricot grafted on it, ones that ripened at different times, but a couple of years ago, before it starting fruiting, one branch was broken and so we now only have the one sort that all ripen the same time over a short period.

There are a few seedling trees coming up underneath, from the seeds that we throw there after scoffing some fruit, and these will be planted out somewhere after Summer.  We have seedling trees coming up in different parts of the yard as well, spread there with mulch and dirt from the chookpens.

A couple of years ago we had an unknown tree come up in one of the 1/2 x 44 gallon drums and we transplanted that into one of the chook areas.  Today we found 1 lone fruit on it.  An Apricot.   Hubby got that one and said that it tasted like an Apricot so we know that the seedlings produce fruit as good as the parent tree.

We have seedling peach trees that have smaller fruit than the parent tree that they came from but still good fruit producers so it is well worth trying to get some trees to grow from the seeds from the fruit that you eat.
Ours have produced fruit within 4 years of being planted out.

Next time you eat a really nice tasty fruit why not plant out the seed and see what happens,  Who knows, maybe in a few years time you wont have to buy that fruit again as you will have your own growing.
Wouldn't that be cool.

Chicken Update.

The new chickens are all doing well, they are a week old today. 

The Isa mum is brilliant.  Because she was friendly before the eggs hatched she allows me to pick up her babies so they are not getting freaked out by her going off her nut.  They will be friendlier than the other lot as the 2 Mixed Breed mothers go psycho when you go near their pen and that transfers to the chicks who run away in a panic.  None of the chickens that are hatched from the Mixed Breed chooks let us get too close to them.

When the eggs under the 2 MB chooks hatched I counted 9 but 1 must have been hiding as there are 10 there.  The mothers seem to share the chickens and I think the chickens share the mums.  They all huddle down together in the nest.

The daughter still has the 3 that they hatched for me and she will bring them out this week sometime.  They would be around 7 weeks old now so plenty big enough to leave their mum.  She says that they are more Plymouth Rock than Australorp whereas of the older ones of mine 3 are more Australorp and only 1 has the PR colouring.  The reason that I call them my AussieRocks.  All the chickens look the same when they are young and it's not until they are older that I can start to guess what they will look like.

All up now I have 31 chickens but seeing as probably around half will be roosters I am still going to be needing to get more hatched.  I put 7 eggs under a clucky this morning.  Once I have a few dozen females of these ones I will get rid of the Hylines and most of the Mixed Breed chooks.  Unfortunately the parent AR are not all laying so it will be awhile now before I get enough eggs to put under.  I have 2 cluckies out there so am now just waiting on some eggs. 

Isa Brown Mummy Chook.

About a month ago I noticed that one of our old Isa Brown chooks kept sitting on a nest of eggs.  I'd lift her off but she'd get back on again.  I had read or been told that Isas don't go clucky but I was pretty sure that this one was.   I wondered if it was worth the risk of putting eggs under her or not and decided that it was.so I swapped her Isa eggs for 6 eggs from my *AussieRocks* 
I had 2 Mixed Breed chooks go clucky around the same time so we put 6 eggs each under them as well.

End result?  I have more chickens.  They hatched sometime Sunday night or Monday and they are so cute.  More members of my *AussieRock* flock. 
The Isa mum is calm and friendly and doesn't seem to mind too much when I pick up her chicks.  She has 5.  This morning I shifted her from the nest in the Isa pen and put her and her chicks into a netted pen.  She looks like she has settled in OK.

Five AussieRocks hatched by Isa  B.rown

 Isa mum going into her new area

 The other 2 chooks hatched out 9 chickens and they are both being Mum.  These chooks are not friendly and go psycho if you try and pick up any of their babies.  I know because we had to this afternoon when I couldn't find one of the mothers.  I heard a chick chirping and went out to check them and found one out of it's pen.  Went to put it back in and only saw one chook.  Looked everywhere and it wasn't there.  Called Hubby to help me look as it had to be somewhere but it wasn't.  In the end we lifted the chook that was there to count the chickens and the other mother was under her.  I think maybe it might have suffocated if we didn't find it.  They were huddled in a corner so we moved them out and into a bigger nest where they and their babies fit better but they still squash in together.  I'm hoping they all survive the night and I will check on them early tomorrow.

 This is the 2 mums and the 9 chickens out of the nest where they hatched and sitting in a crate I had the food and water in.  I cleaned out the nest but they wouldn't go back to it.  I fixed up another one at the other end of this chicken enclosure.







I will post more photos later.