Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

2011, my, the, 22, blog, to, and, march, thursday, 2012, sunday, 20, wednesday, tuesday, august, june, on, new, it, that, what, do, winter, mountain, wildlife, friday, 2013, january, november, october, 13, september, 14, 30, 21, monday, archive, click, read, posts, current, moon, phase, southern, hemisphere, followers, blogs, inspire, useful, links, visits, one, year, seemingly, insignificant, decision, business, crazy, chook, lady, again, bargain, yarn, find, now, with, clueless, broody, emergency, rescue, first, award, awww, thanks, not, so, quiet, bread, book, inspired, me, difference, day, makes, veggie, garden,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (235), and (227), have (73), for (65), with (49), our (48), was (42), are (37), that (36), but (35), they (35), from (35), this (29), had (28), all (25), now (25), out (24), one (23), will (23), you (22), not (22), time (22), very (22), which (21), been (20), them (19), has (19), can (19), blog (18), few (18), new (17), about (17), well (17), here (17), work (16), when (15), were (15), back (15), garden (15), like (15), more (15), would (15), she (15), chicks (15), much (14), just (14), little (14), over (14), there (14), home (13), day (13), trees (13), some (13), made (13), good (12), year (12), massage (12), lot (12), into (12), still (12), first (12), her (12), #business (12), gardening (11), life (11), winter (11), posted (11), mountainwildlife (11), even (11), other (11), think (11), own (11), around (11), old (11), making (11), hens (11), also (11), working (10), roosters (10), chooks (10), comments (10), happy (10), started (10), long (10), bread (10), although (10), too (10), things (9), blogs (9), eggs (9), labels (9), last (9), quite (9), then (9), since (9), after (9), who (9), weeks (9), yarn (8), start (8), patch (8), kids (8), may (8), 2011 (8), what (8), than (8), its (8), love (8), could (8), their (8), job (8), keep (8), mountains (7), how (7), family (7), great (7), get (7), huge (7), because (7), soil (7), while (7), each (7), less (7), only (7), hours (7), book (7), found (7), different (7), haven (7), got (7), already (7), course (7), chook (7), planted (7), award (7), woman (7), australorps (7), broody (7), blue (6), living (6), enough (6), did (6), veggies (6), friends (6), march (6), feel (6), plant (6), room (6), kale (6), bought (6), whole (6), really (6), find (6), look (6), local (6), rest (6), side (6), again (6), next (6), both (6), looking (6), years (6), yet (6), lovely (6), hatch (6), food (5), girls (5), changes (5), knitting (5), herbs (5), crochet (5), building (5), posts (5), october (5), november (5), january (5), june (5), take (5), another (5), post (5), see (5), couple (5), trying (5), yesterday (5), put (5), down (5), quickly (5), half (5), most (5), front (5), make (5), bit (5), process (5), before (5), big (5), flour (5), left (5), nest (5), always (5), wanted (5), his (5), natural (5), under (5), want (5), any (5), sell (5), hen (5), between (5), didn (5), rir (5), followers (4), snow (4), school (4), fruit (4), climate (4), baking (4), august (4), peas (4), shop (4), going (4), excited (4), used (4), having (4), block (4), bed (4), results (4), through (4), thing (4), shape (4), hopefully (4), picked (4), cold (4), today (4), beautiful (4), pleased (4), try (4), way (4), getting (4), maybe (4), large (4), use (4), white (4), week (4), across (4), ago (4), done (4), whilst (4), space (4), along (4), off (4), inside (4), granny (4), full (4), means (4), needles (4), liebster (4), your (4), pair (4), chick (4), plan (4), rooster (4), until (4), rhode (4), island (4), blondie (4), went (4), gave (4), probably (4), owner (4), right (4), yarns (4), took (4), thrilled (4), balls (4), therapist (4), facebook (4), soap (4), window (3), growing (3), eat (3), mind (3), lou (3), grow (3), end (3), moon (3), wildlife (3), weather (3), selling (3), seed (3), recipes (3), fun (3), hour (3), awards (3), december (3), september (3), 2012 (3), free (3), leave (3), anything (3), else (3), pretty (3), actually (3), spinach (3), curly (3), section (3), rather (3), such (3), weeds (3), various (3), main (3), metres (3), cost (3), doing (3), quick (3), raised (3), easier (3), product (3), plants (3), handsome (3), something (3), without (3), veggie (3), young (3), lots (3), area (3), fence (3), hoping (3), came (3), extremely (3), hope (3), head (3), myself (3), part (3), say (3), ingredients (3), should (3), perfect (3), loaves (3), generally (3), others (3), perfectly (3), perhaps (3), using (3), strong (3), worked (3), better (3), though (3), away (3), bargain (3), believe (3), planning (3), following (3), months (3), moved (3), many (3), past (3), ideas (3), ourselves (3), fresh (3), pine (3), tree (3), built (3), pen (3), boxes (3), plenty (3), buying (3), including (3), luckily (3), where (3), bushes (3), naturally (3), outside (3), walking (3), idea (3), sure (3), surprise (3), reading (3), chris (3), days (3), breed (3), existing (3), reds (3), aid (3), incubator (3), box (3), hatched (3), shell (3), later (3), born (3), wasn (3), australorp (3), anyway (3), hatching (3), seems (3), meant (3), know (3), ones (3), asked (3), crazy (3), pot (3), exactly (3), soon (3), place (3), interested (3), offer (3), friend (3), soaps (3), theme (2), mts (2), australia (2), freecycle (2), permaculture (2), links (2), dome (2), loopity (2), penyakit (2), funky (2), frontyard (2), farmers (2), come (2), summer (2), speed (2), honey (2), animals (2), phase (2), current (2), link (2), top (2), sewing (2), reviews (2), native (2), incubating (2), nut (2), earth (2), compost (2), change (2), christmas (2), read (2), february (2), april (2), july (2), 2013 (2), keeping (2), chickens (2), takes (2), choices (2), chose (2), don (2), english (2), silverbeet (2), rocket (2), lettuce (2), shed (2), garlic (2), potatoes (2), leeks (2), certainly (2), feed (2), worm (2), given (2), helping (2), seeds (2), tiny (2), gaps (2), thyme (2), lemon (2), broccoli (2), starting (2), worth (2), breaking (2), layers (2), grass (2), beds (2), these (2), whatever (2), timber (2), short (2), star (2), pickets (2), colorbond (2), exciting (2), difference (2), tuesday (2), lately (2), knead (2), real (2), why (2), load (2), breads (2), onto (2), children (2), nothing (2), water (2), dough (2), story (2), wholemeal (2), often (2), plain (2), oats (2), turned (2), usual (2), texture (2), traditional (2), prefer (2), loaf (2), tried (2), cheap (2), photos (2), unfortunately (2), forgot (2), pizzas (2), pizza (2), everything (2), online (2), amount (2), rate (2), easily (2), hand (2), inspired (2), wednesday (2), quiet (2), ahead (2), ever (2), rushed (2), ground (2), immediately (2), laying (2), egg (2), vision (2), times (2), self (2), provide (2), healthy (2), enjoying (2), watch (2), feathered (2), property (2), behind (2), overhanging (2), corner (2), house (2), apple (2), smith (2), red (2), gala (2), varieties (2), thinking (2), random (2), sunny (2), loved (2), canes (2), against (2), acidic (2), create (2), mulch (2), small (2), bulbs (2), ruby (2), spring (2), gardens (2), pots (2), flower (2), row (2), hazelnut (2), thank (2), rose (2), privacy (2), wonderful (2), mine (2), 300 (2), write (2), nominate (2), choice (2), mother (2), genuine (2), honest (2), blogging (2), amazing (2), creations (2), hard (2), talking (2), talk (2), walk (2), fine (2), nominated (2), herself (2), gully (2), grove (2), moment (2), legs (2), explained (2), nearly (2), leg (2), once (2), properly (2), raise (2), lost (2), incredibly (2), almost (2), clueless (2), band (2), lived (2), happily (2), membrane (2), pop (2), warm (2), kept (2), need (2), check (2), seemed (2), price (2), said (2), finish (2), reasons (2), flock (2), thursday (2), dear (2), become (2), squares (2), road (2), market (2), spotlight (2), stall (2), mixed (2), items (2), stash (2), win (2), contained (2), decent (2), wool (2), either (2), comfortable (2), follow (2), checking (2), crafty (2), blend (2), sale (2), stickers (2), sunday (2), chooky (2), update (2), odds (2), doesn (2), total (2), numbers (2), lady (2), boys (2), miss (2), splint (2), culling (2), comes (2), option (2), buy (2), breeding (2), clearly (2), crowing (2), feathers (2), officially (2), pullet (2), everyone (2), fell (2), unexpected (2), suddenly (2), happened (2), plans (2), him (2), yes (2), qualified (2), opportunity (2), sadly (2), seemingly (2), insignificant (2), housekeeping (2), thought (2), door (2), clinic (2), charge (2), registering (2), professional (2), etc (2), essential (2), waiting (2), clients (2), month (2), views (2), holiday (2), changed (2), every (2), guesthouse (2), page (2), emporium (2), range (2), never (2), oils (2), mountain (2), picture, images, powered, blogger, andynwt, visits, bushcare, conservation, society, sustainable, aussies, simply, institute, useful, aussie, organic, footprint, reduction, burbs, eight, dixiebelle, traps, animations, launched, busy, bees, waspadaa, dahulu, serang, orang, umur, tua, kini, ini, malah, makin, gencar, mengincar, anak, muda, mudi, cluttercut, greening, gavin, attic24, dailies, crumps, domestic, dioramas, outdoorsish, meet, mikes, inspire, southern, hemisphere, wyandottes, video, thrift, shopping, tags, stats, shows, saving, revolution, renting, propagating, dig, music, moving, mothers, mixer, markets, craft, humour, hazelnuts, green, cleaning, flowers, fencing, fairtrade, fabrics, costa, coffee, chocolate, challenges, blackheath, birthdays, autumn, action, click, 2008, 2009, 2010, archive, comment, keeps, posting, welcome, fancy, lookin, subscribe, atom, older, limited, season, tuscan, italian, sugar, snap, massey, shelling, recycled, poly, pipes, blanch, stems, unless, live, supplementing, groceries, project, learnt, fat, worms, street, fertilisers, waterings, diluted, juice, farm, goodness, broadcast, thickly, sown, rows, germinated, fantastically, possibly, packet, teeny, spilt, principle, coax, string, parsley, oregano, balm, coriander, romanesco, cicco, broad, beans, greener, pictured, wide, cubic, fill, kikuyu, lawn, truly, digging, carpet, cardboard, thick, newspaper, heap, 30cm, deep, nursery, rich, mix, animal, manures, mushroom, specific, vegetable, helpers, newly, filled, roped, laws, help, staying, hey, lunch, materials, borders, offcuts, sign, cut, replaced, hardwood, sleepers, hold, bricks, makeshift, steppers, middle, crushing, showed, showing, promise, receives, sun, sheltered, warmer, open, wind, shady, important, microclimate, equate, monday, looked, nowhere, survive, makes, niggly, voice, pushing, inspiration, river, cottage, series, seen, borrowed, library, goes, detail, initially, history, shares, strangely, interesting, instructions, build, ugly, brick, bbq, fabulously, simple, minutes, flopping, puffy, pillows, plates, mins, cheering, puffed, pan, curries, casseroles, salt, batch, rival, magic, pudding, rolls, above, unbleached, parts, coated, crumb, sourdough, slice, lunchbox, sandwiches, form, tin, baked, taking, coatings, recently, bakers, brand, easy, kicking, earlier, vanished, 500g, smallish, 20cm, bowls, pineapple, delighted, combinations, greasy, style, forward, focaccia, croissants, poppy, caraway, crackers, mmmm, copy, daily, exchange, saved, mention, depository, bases, 1kg, note, daughters, size, roti, clay, oven, best, books, supposedly, reflection, kidding, busier, fairly, desperate, hit, fed, greens, colder, laid, stopped, coming, reality, impatient, fluid, morphs, ultimate, aim, sufficient, practical, achievable, forgetting, brushwood, boundary, hide, tangled, mess, ivy, lopping, several, limbs, similar, chicken, wire, gate, frame, shelter, sleeping, approx, scratch, visible, covered, transforming, mini, orchard, call, equivalent, normal, sideways, fuji, nectarine, peach, dwarf, rhubarb, raspberries, double, grafted, pear, deciduous, cypress, creates, shade, north, facing, daughter, claimed, son, apples, variety, dormant, berry, thornless, blackberry, boysenberry, raspberry, fences, tied, profusely, blueberry, northland, anna, spot, hanging, blueberries, fall, ideal, conditions, established, australian, purple, separate, potato, sebago, nicola, desiree, 500, flowering, throughout, suit, view, daffodils, tulips, freesias, jonquils, muscari, anemones, ranunculi, ixias, snowflakes, dutch, iris, chincherinchee, hedge, original, somehow, miraculously, survived, thrive, strip, competing, bare, rooted, screen, passing, bushwalkers, locals, dogs, flattered, receive, promote, lesser, known, otherwise, persons, received, grammatically, recieve, checked, peek, hers, laugh, cried, amazingly, resourceful, social, conscience, strives, world, ours, cooks, grows, permablitzes, anne, fabulous, whip, piece, elegant, earthy, same, kind, clothing, ooh, ahh, saw, store, stroke, shes, yay, joe, fantastic, spreading, word, community, crop, swap, group, sounds, mighty, basis, definitely, deserve, thats, please, pass, linking, nominating, allowed, mentioned, wouldn, struggle, juggle, enjoy, jacqui, dixiebelles, awww, thanks, suspect, limps, improved, splinted, splinting, procedure, splay, severe, standing, far, body, chickies, classify, mad, homes, rejected, cared, continue, fully, cope, outdoor, ended, sad, helped, giving, annoyingly, straight, being, hogging, difficult, sympathetic, chance, blew, physio, spacer, brooder, save, chirping, remaining, dead, difficulty, drying, prolonged, hatches, assist, drops, peeling, sections, trouble, unable, painful, throwing, itself, blindly, knocking, suffering, waited, clear, improve, awful, suppose, responsible, ownership, result, cross, fingers, hubby, gathered, lifeless, jumper, cupped, hands, breathing, rubbing, gently, set, record, minute, grrrr, thousands, fuss, racket, alone, fact, buried, wood, shavings, prepared, calmly, popped, peace, travelled, helpful, wait, worried, stint, sitting, wrapped, towels, warmth, carefully, guarded, barters, hatchery, pure, talked, crossbreeds, bred, intensive, suited, pets, chookies, reason, timing, hogged, appear, scarily, guards, non, existent, adding, warming, consistently, emergency, rescue, collector, wicker, basket, assorted, oddments, knitted, sqaures, practiced, stitches, excessive, bathurst, stumbled, town, park, pleasant, instead, charity, table, serendipity, couldn, resist, holders, prices, donation, 8mm, thinner, amounts, apart, novelty, type, acrylics, blends, mohair, alpaca, expensive, patons, cleckheaton, knit, basic, level, awkward, quicker, patterns, scarves, amigurumi, japanese, toys, looks, leftovers, bigger, 50g, cotton, denim, cream, reduced, goodies, altogether, loooong, average, maths, genius, cockadoodle, doodly, present, omg, seem, macho, fighting, displays, grand, guys, dolls, candidate, handled, goodbye, mean, future, feeding, hungry, beaks, btw, remember, report, afterwards, track, problems, theory, realised, photo, captions, named, lessen, attachment, individual, emotional, black, roo, anyone, creature, lining, speaking, options, considering, dispatch, wants, unfair, deciding, especially, might, to3, stock, lines, identical, comical, feather, stuff, guarding, ladies, camera, cockerals, obviously, glad, firm, favourite, biggest, bunch, stunning, temperament, sit, laps, arms, pat, shot, whopping, six, finding, comfy, seat, age, cute, fluff, grew, reside, chasing, pecking, knows, currently, lined, judge, sometimes, does, flip, heading, totally, direction, dropped, dreams, shocked, hadn, told, points, guessing, guests, 2005, finishing, diploma, pregnant, twins, gorgeous, babies, premmie, madness, general, remained, kick, launching, overheads, expenses, reasonable, rates, completed, paperwork, associations, upgrading, obtaining, liability, insurance, ordering, cards, flyers, name, networking, revisited, shopped, appropriate, furniture, finished, decorating, ready, provider, number, health, funds, claim, rebates, reminds, path, hardly, eagerly, nudge, unstoppable, venture, supportive, grateful, employer, ball, rolling, albeit, incidentally, fans, finally, settled, permanent, reducing, somewhat, weeding, saddened, state, grounds, groundskeeper, abandoned, aplenty, tidying, keen, gardeners, training, offered, services, groundskeepers, jumped, literally, knocked, ask, team, twice, employed, accepted, decision, shame, assured, minus, died, plentiful, supply, yummy, watched, protected, jet, veg, projects, brimming, variousl, produce, managed, 700sq, metre, fruited, events, commenting, turning, handed, someone, therapy, suits, regular, client, base, people, decided, handmade, places, became, apparent, demand, asking, lisa, running, businesses, loves, understand, adventures, etsy, pages, somewhere, science, art, creating, cooking, recipe, disappointed, approached, artisan, agreed, master, website, familiar, concentrating, skin, friendly, synthetic, colours, fragrances, let, face, based, milks, botanicals, matters, friday, journey, learning,

Text of the page (random words):
big change we made a year ago when suddenly everything fell into place and went full speed ahead and it did so easily because it was the right path for us i can hardly believe how much i have done in only a month i feel like this plan has been waiting eagerly for the right moment or a little nudge and now its unstoppable i am very excited about my new venture and my family are all very supportive and excited too i will keep my other 3 in 1 job for as long as i can the hours are few and i feel so grateful to both my friend and my employer that they started the ball rolling for me albeit incidentally i will post a little more about my business soon and hopefully also an update for the chooky fans out there i haven t forgot you as we have finally settled on our permanent flock after reducing the numbers somewhat posted by mountainwildlife at 11 17 am 6 comments labels life changes massage working life sunday january 22 2012 it s that crazy chook lady again about time for a chooky update i think it has been a loooong time so the cute little balls of fluff all grew up made it outside to reside in the chook pen with our existing 5 girls and after a little bit of chasing and pecking everyone knows their place and is happy we currently still have all of them with us i did have 2 friends lined up to buy some around christmas time but both fell through for different and genuine reasons really i didn t mind either as i wanted to watch them all grow and it took us quite a while to judge the girls from the boys finding a comfy seat age 9 weeks of the 13 chicks 7 are australorps and 6 are rhode island reds australorp pullet hen 15 weeks rir pullet 15 weeks of the 7 australorps we have 3 hens and 4 roosters average odds of the 6 rir s we have 4 hens and just 2 roosters better odds it doesn t take a maths genius then to work out that we have a cockadoodle doodly total of six roosters with us at present omg luckily they all seem to get along fine with no macho fighting displays as yet and since we are talking crazy numbers the grand total now in the pen old and new guys and dolls is a whopping 18 chooks i think i am a very strong candidate for crazy chook lady of the mountains and quite a few out of shot the young ones are 15 weeks old today which means the cockerals will start probably start crowing in the next few weeks and officially become roosters obviously we can t keep 6 roosters but i am glad we have kept them this long we are planning on keeping one and have a firm favourite of the australorps he is a very handsome young chook the biggest of the bunch with stunning feathers and a lovely temperament he will sit quite happily on our laps or in arms for a pat as long as we want as the others will too no 1 rooster guarding one of his ladies from the camera and look i can do comical feather stuff too but the rir boys are lovely too they are very happy to be picked up and handled and i don t really want to say goodbye to them i would like to keep one but 2 roosters is probably too many for the 12 hens we will have it would mean that we could breed both australorps and rir s in future years though one of the 2 identical rir roosters getting his lovely feathers in clearly i am not good at culling and we are still deciding exactly who to sell the roosters will probably have to go soon especially if they start crowing i might sell 2 to3 of the hens or perhaps a hen and rooster as a breeding pair they are good stock lines so it may be an option speaking of options we are considering if we can t sell the roosters that we may dispatch and process them ourselves not a option we like of course and we haven t done this before but if no one wants to buy them for breeding and they are going to end up in a pot it may as well be our pot hens will always find a home of course seems a little unfair doesn t it pot is that why we re lining up no 2 black roo how could anyone not want this handsome creature you may have realised from the photo captions that we have not named this hatch lot yet it has been a long time but it has worked to lessen our attachment to individual chooks so when selling culling time comes it should be less emotional in theory btw do you remember i had to splint one of our chicks legs i am happy to report the band aid splint worked perfectly and just a week afterwards i had lost track of which chick it was so it is now one of our healthy happy chooks with no leg problems anyway i will leave you with a couple more photos from today miss a feeding the hungry beaks 3 girls having a rest posted by mountainwildlife at 8 48 pm 10 comments labels chooks sunday november 20 2011 bargain yarn find now what do i do with it oh dear it seems i have become a little bit of a yarn collector i already have quite a big wicker basket full of assorted yarns and oddments such as random granny squares and knitted sqaures from when i practiced new stitches it didn t feel excessive though until yesterday we were enjoying a day out up the road in bathurst yesterday and stumbled across a small market in the town park always a pleasant surprise i had been hoping to pop into spotlight to check out any cheap yarn they had but instead i found a charity table at the market stall selling a whole load of new mixed yarns talk about serendipity well i couldn t resist now could i the stall holders had no prices they just asked for a donation for any items i took 2 of the 3 yarn boxes and 1 pair of 8mm needles i have thinner ones already and asked if 20 was ok they were thrilled with that and i was thrilled with my new stash win win since getting home and checking out my new goodies properly i think i have a real bargain 75 balls of yarn altogether one box contained 44 balls of 50g cotton 38 denim blue blend 6 cream blend they all have sale stickers from spotlight reduced to 2 each so there is 88 even at sale price worth right there the other box contained 31 mixed balls although most have decent amounts of each and apart from a few novelty type acrylics most are wool blends lots of mohair and even alpaca wool some expensive looking yarns there all of the yarns are either patons or cleckheaton so now dear friends i just need some ideas of what to do with it all i much prefer crochet to knitting although i can knit at a basic level i still feel quite awkward with knitting needles i find crochet is much more comfortable quicker and easier to follow patterns i ve been making scarves and granny squares lately and checking out amigurumi japanese crochet toys which looks like a lot of fun and great for using up leftovers but now i have a bigger stash any ideas you crafty lot posted by mountainwildlife at 4 16 pm 9 comments labels crochet knitting yarn thursday october 13 2011 the clueless broody and the emergency rescue the story we had been planning on adding to our existing flock this year and spring is the perfect time to do it the weather is warming up well maybe not so consistently where we are and it s the time that more chicks hatch naturally as mother hens go broody that s another reason for our timing we had a broody hen blondie for weeks now she has hogged the nest and made herself appear scarily huge while she guards her non existent chicks so it seemed the right thing to do at the perfect time we wanted pure breed chickens again i have talked before about our reasons for this and against short lived crossbreeds bred for intensive egg laying australorps and rhode island reds are good layers and well suited to our climate as well as making good pets and generally lovely looking chookies we travelled down to barters hatchery who were extremely helpful and not only gave us the eggs we wanted and gave us 15 for the price of 12 but also gave us ones that were in the process of hatching so we didn t have to wait the usual 21 days the owner said he was worried that our broody would finish her stint before the 3 weeks was up as she had been sitting for so long already so home we rushed with our australorps and rhode island red chicks with 4 hatching out on the way home wrapped up in their boxes and towels for warmth carefully guarded between our 2 kids in the back we got home and quickly prepared the area and calmly popped the eggs and new chicks under blondie she seemed happy so we left her to do her thing in peace and privacy but then it seems no one had explained to blondie what she was meant to do now most hens will naturally know how to hatch and raise chicks they ve been doing it on their own for thousands of years after all but when we went back to check about half hour later she was off the nest making a huge fuss and racket and there were the eggs and chicks left alone and very cold in fact she had buried the 4 chicks under the wood shavings in the nest plan b hubby quickly gathered up the eggs and i got the 4 chicks 3 of which were very cold and lifeless got them inside in my jumper and then between my cupped hands to try to warm them breathing on them and rubbing gently we got the incubator out and set it up in record time about 1 minute luckily we kept it from our last hatching although i didn t think we would need it with having a broody hen grrrr anyway all we could do is pop them all in to warm up and cross our fingers the 4 first to hatch with one australorp just hatched in the incubator the result incredibly the 4 chicks that i had tried to save have all lived they are now happily chirping away as i write of the remaining 11 eggs one was half hatched and unfortunately dead in the shell when we found it the rest all hatched later that day or the following day although a couple had difficulty with the shell membrane drying out as they had very prolonged hatches i had to assist a couple with drops of water onto the membrane and also peeling off tiny sections of shell as they had trouble breaking out probably because of this and the time they were left cold we did have one chick born that was unable to walk it was painful to see it throwing itself around blindly knocking the other chicks over and generally suffering we waited until day 3 but when it was clear it wasn t going to improve we had to put it down it is an awful thing to do but i suppose also part of responsible ownership from this to this in under an hour first lot out of the incubator and into the brooder box we have also had a couple of chicks with suspect limps but one improved over the first few days and is now walking perfectly and another i have splinted at the moment and is looking very good now the splinting procedure for splay legs is explained here although our chick was not nearly as severe as that one just standing with one leg too far out to the side rather than under its body chick physio section of band aid used as a spacer so all in all we have ended up with 13 chicks from 15 eggs which although it is sad we lost 2 is an incredibly good hatch we have 7 australorps and 6 rhode island reds of course buying them at almost hatch helped whilst giving them to a clueless broody did not as for blondie well most annoyingly she went straight back to being broody and is still hogging the nest it is difficult to be sympathetic now after we gave her a chance and she blew it mind you we do get to keep this lot inside now because our hen rejected the chicks they will not be properly cared for outside so we will continue to raise them inside for a while until they are fully feathered and large enough to cope with outdoor weather and our other chooks we plan to keep some hens for ourselves maybe 2 of each breed perhaps a rooster too since we still have our existing 5 girls i think any more would classify me as the local mad chook woman the rest i am hoping to sell on to good homes once we find out who is who love my chickies posted by mountainwildlife at 12 52 pm 5 comments labels chooks incubating eggs wednesday september 14 2011 my first blog award awww thanks i was very pleased and flattered to receive my first blog award today from the wonderful chris over at gully grove the liebster blog award is given to little blogs like mine with less than 300 followers to promote the lesser known blogs and also to provide links to others we may not have otherwise found the idea is to link back to the persons blog you received the award from i am sure there is a better way to write that grammatically and then nominate 3 blogs of your choice to recieve the award so thank you chris x if you haven t checked out her blog at gully grove yet have a peek hers was one of the first blogs i came across when i started and she has inspired me made me laugh and i have even cried at times she is an amazingly strong and resourceful woman the 3 blogs i would like to nominate for the liebster award are eat at dixiebelles a wonderful woman and mother with a social conscience who really strives to make a genuine difference in this world of ours she cooks she grows she even permablitzes is there anything this woman can t do i think not and yet she is down to earth and so honest in her blogging loopity lou anne is a fabulous woman who can whip up amazing creations with nothing more than a pair of knitting needles and a piece of yarn her creations are so lovely elegant but earthy at the same time the kind of clothing you would ooh and ahh over if you saw it in a store while trying to not stroke it and shes a mountains woman yay funky frontyard farmers is my surprise choice surprise only because i just found their blog yesterday jo and joe are also in the mountains here and have a fantastic blog full of great reading they are working very hard on their own garden but also spreading the word in the community and not just talking the talk they are walking the walk and have started a local crop and swap group which sounds like a mighty fine idea and on that basis they definitely deserve a liebster award so thats my 3 choices if you were nominated please pass the liebster along by linking back here and nominating your own top 3 blogs with under 300 followers i could have picked more if i was allowed i would certainly have mentioned the chook woman herself jacqui at life in the dome but chris had already nominated her and i wouldn t want her to struggle and juggle 2 awards hope you enjoy reading some new blogs posted by mountainwildlife at 4 49 pm 5 comments labels awards blog tuesday august 30 2011 the not so quiet winter if you believe the gardening books winter is supposedly a quiet time in the garden a time for rest and reflection maybe planning ahead for the following year are they kidding i have been busier than ever this winter working in our garden i posted about building our veggie patch a few months ago after we moved here i am pleased to say that although it was a fairly rushed job with me desperate to get something anything into the ground before winter hit it has done extremely well and has fed us many greens over the colder months plenty of kale spinach silverbeet rocket and lettuce through the winter followi...