Are they or Aren't They? Update 1.

If you have been reading then you know that I spent $50. on fertile Australorp eggs as that is the breed that I decided I wanted. I bought 2 dozen eggs but only ended up with 6 chickens. Hubby cracked the unhatched eggs open after the incubation period and 11 were not fertile so I wasn't happy with that but you buy fertile eggs trusting that they are but no guarantee.

In buying a certain breed of eggs though that is the breed that you believe you will end up with. That's fair isn't it?

The women that I bought the Australorp eggs from has emailed me back saying that she did have a Plymouth Rock rooster at one stage.

So the PURE Black Australorp eggs that I bought weren't.

She has offered to swap the PR chickens IF they are hens for Australorp hens but not if they are roosters. Not happy with that and have told her so. I believe she owes me 2 Australorp hens regardless of what these PR are.

I am waiting to hear back from her about that but am very disapointed. This was the first time that I have bought fertils eggs from someone and it is sad knowing that they may not even be pure. Now I only have her word for it that the black chickens are pure but the PR rooster was obviously in with the Australorp hens or I wouldn't have ended up with 2 different breeds.

I am waiting to hear back from her and will update when I do.

Fingers crossed that she will do the right thing.

Not A Resolution but...

I hate spending money, be it on food or clothes or stuff or anything. Unless it's a bargain! And cheap. Or doesn't cost much. I love op-shopping and garage sales, I think Swap meets and markets are the best but I don't go to any of these very often any more. I do miss them but cannot justify going and probably spending money when we (OK, I) have so much crap around the place already.


During 2010 I plan to have a few Garage Sales myself. This is to clear out junk so that I don't feel bad about going op-shopping or to garage sales or markets. lol. To this end I am going to start *decluttering* Come January. I have said this before though and haven't done anything about it yet so I'm not sure why I think this January will be any different. Maybe because I am *putting it out there* and now everyone who reads this will know if I don't. And I don't want any of you lovely people to think (know) what a slackass I really am.


So come on January, 2010

Sat 9th Jan.
I just found this post and realised that I hadn't send it so will do so now, to *get it out there*

Are They or Aren't They?

These are my 6 Black Australorp chickens. The end result of $50 worth of fertile eggs. 6 from 24. The start of my flock.

BUT... 2 of them are different and I have been told by 2 different people that they are not Australorps but Plymouth Rock chickens.

I was thinking that they might be roosters and so were taking longer to blacken up but now I'm starting to wonder. They all looked the same as newborns, they all had white on them. These 2 even have different coloured legs.

So, 2 look like the one on the left and the other 4 are black like the one on the right. What do you think? Different breed?

I have emailed the lady that I bought the eggs from but don't know when I will hear from her.

Sunflowers and Me.

Quite awhile ago I planted some Sunflower seeds that I pinched from the chook food. Not many came up but the ones that did are different plants.

We have the tall ones with the big flower

and the shorter ones with lots of small flowers.

I like them both and will hopefully beat the parrots to the seed from these to plant next year.

When It's Hot, We Swim.

It's another hot day today so Hubby took J down to the dam to cool off.

This dam is also full of Marron but they are down on the bottom during the day

The water is cool and refreshing and on a really hot day there is nothing better than diving in and getting cool. And because it is quite deep we need to pull ourselves out using a rope. but it is all good and, we think, heaps better than travelling in the heat to the beach.

If you sit still on the edge for long enough hundreds of minnows

come and nibble your toes.

Hubby was just watching a travel show on TV and they were showing how people go to pools to have small fish eat the dry skin off them. We can get the same treatment for free! lol.

What's For Tea?

We have a dam out the back, we swim in it but mainly it it used for the marron. Over the week before Christmas we had a few friends asking if they could get a feed for the special day.
After seeing a few nets pulled, all having more than a few marron in them, I asked Hubby "what's for tea?" His answer of "dunno" got me thinking that we should catch ourselves a feed, he readily agreed and here they are.

We only needed enough for the two of us so we were satisfied with this five. I did them in garlic butter in the frypan and we had them with homegrown salad. Yummo.

For anyone not knowing, Marron are freshwater crayfish.

That's About The Size Of It.

Over the last week we have had a few big eggs from the Isa Brown chooks.

The tiny egg is the one from the Aracaunas last week. It weighs not even a gram. The next one, second from the right, is from the Mixed Breed chooks, weighing 49gm. Then there is an egg from the IB's, 70gm. The big egg? It weighs 112grams. I don't know if the big eggs are fom the same chook or not but either way, they're big!

We had to crack one open and see if it was or not and it was...

A definate double yolker.

Where do I bury him?

This is a question that I asked a friend when he asked us to dog-sit their old dog. Hubby thought that I was very insensitive. the wife laughed and said that the dog wouldn't up and die on me but if he did then let the crows have him. She was joking. I think. We do get a lot of crows here though...Wouldn't take long for him to be just bones...No! I will not go there. lol.
I know he won't, cark it that is...but what if he does? He is an old dog, they will be away for 10 days, what if he fretted and died? Or had a heart attack? Or got bitten by that big snake that is unaccounted for? "What if he carks it while here, where do you want us to bury him?" I still think it is a valid question but never did get a proper answer.

He is a big (fat) beautiful dog and I think I will enjoy having him here. He got dropped off on Tuesday and seems quite happy so far. He is old and arthritic so won't be coming on my walks with me but he follows me around when I am outside and sleeps when I am inside.

He likes to sleep on the mat in front of the door and is deaf so I don't like to push it open on him, I use the other door.
Told Son to do that yesterday and Hubby scoffed and said not to expect him to do that. Guess who used the other door this morning? Ha! You're a softy too Darl.

Free Food

Today will be another day of eating what we have produced ourselves.

I will have scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, zucchini added for breakfast.
Lunch will be rooster and salad. I could add cheese to this as it was free from Hubby's work.
Vegetable fritters for tea. I have zucchini that needs to be used and will add anything else that is out there. Will have these with rooster or fish that Hubby caught.
Throughout the day I will munch on strawberries and apricots.

I hate spending money so being able to grow our own food really pleases me. I do still need to get more stuff in and plan on getting seeds into some empty drums this morning.

There's Something in my shed.

I have a big, open one side, shed just outside the back of the house. It is used for the garden stuff, bins of chook feed, lawnmower, junk...I do tend to use it as a general dumping ground.

Was in there just now getting chookfood and I heard a noise. Coming from an untidy corner. The noise stops, I move toward it and it starts again. I back away.

Now as we still have an unaccounted for BIG snake I am a little worried. Do I presume it is the snake and go look for it to get it out of the shed and out into the back paddock? Do I leave whatever it is alone and hope it goes away itself? Do I presume it is a rat or loud mouse and stop worrying?

What would you do? I usually have shoes on when in the area but not always. Not this morning.

If it is the snake then I want it gone. Pronto. We have dogs running around the place and grandkids to worry about as well.

There is no-one else here to help me today or tomorrow. But I NEED TO KNOW! So will put shoes on and go and quietly pull some stuff out. Using a long stick, not bare hands as I usually do.

Wish me luck, I'm hoping for a mouse.

I really gotta get this shed organised.

Update. I pulled a few things out but nothing happened. I heard the noise a few time throughout the day when walking outside. It's like something running away so I'm thinking more rat than mouse. A snake would slither away quietly. We have benches and a couple of crates on the floor in this area. I'm not going to pull them out, just in case. Straycat slept in there most of the day and even when the noise was happening he didn't seem too concerned. We used to have a Bandicoot over near the other shed...maybe he's moved.