(The Late) Mar 8th Weekly Wrap Up

Hello again everyone!  Don't the days just go by so quickly when you're having fun, hey?!

We've had a long weekend with some fun pottering about and outings, so I got a little distracted from the blogging again, but I'm back now!  (smiles!)

Well .. we've been enjoying some of this extra warm weather that's been here in Melbourne for just over a week.  Today was just a bit too hot, though .. 37degC here.  Thankfully it's cooling off and only 30degC now (at 9:30pm).

We have a new arrival in the chicken run.  Little 'Freeman' hatched last Sunday.  Unfortunately not all the other little hatchlings made it, but we're still waiting on two more eggs ... so we'll see!

In our homeschool ...

We've had a few topics finishing off for both the children.  

In maths, Maestro began and completed the trigonometry part of his Geometry work, which has completed MUS Geometry.  The next level would be MUS Algebra II, but I'm thinking of first taking a slight diversion to reading String, Straight-edge, & Shadow: The Story of Geometry by Julia E.Diggins.  It will be a good break for Maestro on completion of Geometry, and also a nice book to share with Mariposa as she begins her geometry exercises in her Singapore Maths book after completing decimals (especially all those word problems!!)

In history, Mariposa is still slowly working her way through Carry On, Mr Bowditch with me.  We've had Papa join in with this and he's really enjoying the story.  We've had talk of acquiring a sextant .. but I'm not so sure about that one! :)
Maestro's been learning about the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions. He's starting Oliver Twist (and I think I'll have to download the unabridged version from Audible so I can catch up with him!)

An introduction to atoms and the periodic table started Maestro off into his science module last week. We've been playing with this site called 'Build an Atom', where we can test our understanding of how atoms work. (Yes, I'm relearning all this with him!)

This simple video from BrainPOP gives a summary on atomic structure with a quiz at the end.


Socially speaking ...

We've had another relatively quiet week, except for an outing on Sunday.  The children went to visit with friends whilst Papa and I took a trip into the city to preview a film called Performance.  I received the invitation   c/- the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which was lovely.   :)  This was a very moving film, and definitely one for those who enjoy the finer details of music, but more so about the dynamics of friendships in such a close knit group.  


That's about it for now.  I'll have some more to share at the end of this week, with another excursion lined up for Friday (yay!)

Until next time,

Catherine

Mar 1st Weekly Wrap Up

Autumn is definitely making it's appearance known.  Our car has had to go in for repairs, so on my walk back home I was enjoying the cooler morning, noticing the beginnings of leaf fall along the pavement.

Another sure sign of a change in the season is that the hens have begun their moulting. The chook run had a scattering of feathers everywhere the other day; it got me a little concerned hoping that a cat hadn't tried harassing the girls, but they were all safe and accounted for.   It's funny how both the black frizzles have started by losing their feathers under the chin first.

Moulting also means fewer eggs, so I'm going to start putting as many away as possible ready for winter.  Sorry neighbours, that's it for this season!

Let's take a quick look at what's happened this week.

In our homeschool ...

Maths for Maestro is a continuation of ways to prove triangles, and he'll finish this week's work with a review page of all that's been covered so far in this MUS Geometry book. Only a few more lessons and he'll have finished this book .. but that could take a couple of weeks still.  Mariposa's been practicing dividing decimals.  The use of large grid graph paper has been a wonderful help!

Our science lessons have revolved about safety and survival for Mariposa.  She's almost ready to read the first aid section, so I'm planning on pulling out some bandages so we can practice some simple techniques for making a sling and a splint.   Maestro's continued through with his early physics work and worked on friction.

We are reading Carry On Mr. Bowditch together, as well as completing the readers What's the Big Idea Ben Franklin and Phoebe the Spy with Mariposa.   Maestro's been learning about the Russian revolution, and has started reading The Trumpeter of Krakow which is set in Medieval Poland.

Mariposa has continued with her horseriding and is preparing for her Level 2 certificate now.  She's started learning about all the various horse colours, but after some discussion with the teacher, she now knows she needs to do a lot more research than she first thought.  A very creative picture presentation has begun.  I don't know if Mariposa's decided on making it into a poster or booklet yet, but I'm so glad she's just jumped right into this researching.  I've not had to give her any writing projects this week at all as this has been plenty for her to do.

Socially speaking ...

We've actually had a much quieter week!  No outings this week, except for those visits to nearby friends which the children have organised.  Eg: Mariposa's taking a walk with the dog with another homeschooler now and should be back by lunchtime.

A few friends have been discussing getting a girls sewing circle organised, so we're hoping to start that next term.  Meanwhile, I've scheduled an initial gathering for the middle of March where the girls can try out some flower arranging (similar to what I've done with Mariposa in 2011).  We just need to organise an alternative activity for the boys.

At home ...

Our broody hen we had back in December 2012 didn't end up hatching any eggs because they were 'duds'. She obviously wasn't happy about not having any little ones to raise as she's started sitting again.  I've ordered some incubated fertile eggs to pop under her, which Mum has graciously offered to bring over for me (thanks Mum!)  Once they arrive this afternoon, we'll put them under Miss Broody.  We should have chicks again soon!

The vegies are growing nicely in the pots too.  I went out and picked a nice bunch of silverbeet to cook up with some tomatoes for our breakfast.  Mmmm!

Also .. have to tell you quickly that we've started using water kefir!  It's been great for Mariposa's eczema.  I'll do a separate post on that soon as I've found out lots of information and had a month to try out favourite techniques.

I hope you all had a great week and have a lovely weekend.

Until next time,
Catherine

How cost effective is it for us to keep hens?

We've been keeping chickens for several years now.  Actually, I think we started keeping them about the same time I started up this blog.  What is it?  At least six years now?

The chicken housing and run was all made up by recycling pallets and wire we already had, so the initial outlay was just for the 5 hens, which only cost us $18 each back then.

Our flock has changed in a number of ways.  We started by keeping the Isa Browns, who are wonderful layers.  They kept us with eggs, even through winter, but then we found that egg quality deteriorated by the end of the second year, which sometimes affected the health of our hens as well (becoming egg bound).

Then, we happened to have an Isa Brown go broody (a very RARE occurance), so we made the most of it and put some fertilised eggs under her.  Those eggs were from Australorps, and the two surviving chicks which hatched from that clutch are now still with us.

Our first Australorps, hatched December 2009.

Here's where our hen keeping became a little more economical, although also experimental in that first trial year.  It now costs up to $25 for a pullet, but only $5 per fertilised egg.  We learned a lot with our first lot of chicks, and since then have only put confirmed fertilised eggs under any broody hens, close to the time of hatching to minimise the risk of losing any.

Of the various breeds we've had here, I find I have a preference for the White Sussex and Australorps now.  The Isa Browns like to boss the other breeds (yep, don't keep Isa Browns with other breeds). They are also quite adventurous. I don't know how many times we'd find they'd managed to 'climb' over the fence ( .. we had one who, despite having her wings clipped, could get a foot hold on the fencing and flutter up and over).  One bird regularly decided regularly venture into the neighbour's backyard, which became a nuisance as she was an elderly invalid.

The other side of the coin, though, is that Australorps and White Sussex go off the lay in winter. They also aren't regular layers, so the no. of eggs collected per day vary. Three months without a regular supply of eggs, but still having to keep up the feed, and an irregular no. of eggs coming in, has caused us to think through the economics of keeping hens.  As of the beginning of November, I've started keeping a tally of eggs coming in, eggs sold and feed costs.  Here's what the figures are looking like so far:

Feed - $15 / 20kg bag.  The hens go through 1 1/2 bags per month.   Total = $22.50

No. eggs collected over last 3 weeks with 10 hens = 116; averages 39 eggs / week.

Eggs sold: 6doz @ $4/doz = $24  ... averages to 2doz a week = $8, therefore $32 return a month.

If we only get 9 months of regular eggs collected per month, then I can expect $288 a year income.  With feed costing $22.50 for 12months = $270  ..... hmm, I'll have $18 left for a few fertilised eggs this summer.  Yep, we're kind of just breaking even.

I HOPE we'll have a better egg yield now that it's warming up.  The notebook will definitely be used daily to record what's happening and see if it's a better economical choice to go back to Isa Browns.

The photos that should have been here yesterday

Please excuse my camera's tardiness. It seems to enjoy taking excursions with my children to various parts of our home, then often gets a little disoriented before returning to it's rightful place in the study. At least when it DOES return, it leaves some clues as to where it's been!

Day old chick, named 'Esther',

an Araucana breed. 

Mariposa's hen "Beauty" who had patiently sat, being broody,

for 2 weeks before we put some fertilised eggs under her. 

'Apricot Delight' rose

Evening Primoses are abundantly sprawling on the pathway 

to the front door at the moment.  

They seem to have really enjoyed all the rain!

Teeny butterflies enjoying the nectar from the Evening Primroses.

YUM!  These were hiding under some of those primroses.

Good morning!

Hello everyone!

It's been another bit of a gap between posts, but the quiet in blog land only reflects that there's plenty of things happening here to keep us very busy.

The past two weeks have been especially busy with extra dance rehearsals in preparation for the concert, which was this weekend gone.  What a great night!  The format was a little different this year, with the juniors all performing in the afternoon with the theme 'Circus'.  Then, in the evening, the older students performed with the theme 'A Walk Through The Art Gallery'.  Pictures from famous artists were projected onto the back screen, and appropriate music and dances reflected these pictures.  We really enjoyed watching it, and the children enjoyed the different format.

In our homeschooling, we're looking to finish up in another month.  Many projects and books are almost completed.  Mariposa's almost through the level 3 Singapore Maths books, but Maestro is swiftly working through MUS Pre-Algebra.  We've also become the proud new owners of IEW. Maestro is LOVING this intensive writing course, and I'm really happy with the work he's produced so far. Science is still being worked on at a steady rate, but we're only about 3/4 through each of the levels (NOEO Chem I for Mariposa, and Apologia's General Science for Maestro).  It's the same with our history: Maestro's at the beginning of the Middle Ages through his Sonlight, whilst I only recently started doing Australian history with Mariposa this term.

I've been learning more about certain learning issues.  Mariposa has had several severe ear aches since a baby, thus the reason for her operation in September.  This week, I've been watching some online videos about the affects that all those antibiotics have had on her young body, and how they could be contributing to some learning difficulties, via Dianne Croft's site.  Once the cds, 'The Biology of Behavior', arrives here and we've had a chance to really study it, we'll be implementing ways to improve her health for better learning (and all the rest of us, too!)

In the henhouse, we have had one of our youngest hens go broody.  She's now successfully hatched 1 of 4 chicks that we planted under her as preincubated/fertilised eggs.  They're quite happy occupying a fenced off area along the side of the house (because I'm running out of room to put these chickens!!!!), so I often wake to the sound of 'took, took, took' as Mama hen takes her young chick out for a forage early each morning.



This morning's been one of checking over budgets, menu planning and shopping.  Now it's time to get the diary out and check what the rest of the year looks like, because I don't want it rushing by in a blur as the last two weeks seemed to do.  Time for a cuppa, and we'll get on with that whilst the children do their math I think!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

1st of July, and I'd like my holiday now please

It's Friday. The financial year is over and the paperwork is already done (yay!) We have no out-of-the-home commitments today. The sun's shining. I'd like to have my holiday now please.

Next week is actually the 'official' start of the term break, but we can lenient today, right?

What I'd like to do is get stuck into some gardening. There's a bed full of potatoes I'd like to scavenge through before Midgy, our dog, finds any more and eats them. An old bathtub, that's sitting outside, can then be used to raise these potatoes in a space that a dog won't dig them up.

 Some of these potatoes look a bit 'green', therefore inedible.

We'll plant these into the old bathtub to get a new crop.

I also have a narrow bed of raspberries being overtaken by some passionfruit root stock. It's as hardy as anything and I don't know how to get rid of it. The grafted part where the fruit develops died years ago. I've found some facts about this root stock here, and it looks like some pesticide (glyphosate) will be needed. From this discussion, it looks like Nelly Kelly passionfruit vines are out, and a better option would be the Sunshine Special.

 Too much vigourous grown from a Nelly Kelly passionfruit rootstock.

If I'd known the possible problems I'd have with this years down the track, 

I'd never have planted this variety.

I'm also tossing around some ideas for a new chicken run. Our hens have been keeping the grass under the fruit trees down for years, but I'm wondering if the soil there needs a bit of a rest. We still have the three Australorps and a White Sussex. I know our Australorps got very broody last Spring, so I'm also thinking ahead on how to handle that if we need to have separate areas for each hen to raise her chicks. This may need some time doing more research before actually laying my hands to any actual work.

Our hens, Australorps and a White Sussex.

One site I'd like to move the hens too, but we'd need fencing to keep our dog well away.

That may be enough to handle today. After all, we do want a break. At least the 'potato project' will be fairly quick to do.

Autumn, April 8th

The air smells of Autumn this morning, and the light has certainly taken on a softer tone. We munch on our very ripe William pears for breakfast, the juice dribbling down our chins and running to our elbows. This is obviously best done outdoors, preferably while taking a walk around the backyard to see what's been going on. A meander by the chook run means we can toss in the pear cores, check for eggs and see how the youngest to the flock are settling in.

This may be the end of a run of fine days, so the washing is all hung out early to catch the warm breeze. They say rain's on the way again tomorrow. I'm glad of that, as our tank has actually run dry. The chooks had to have their water delivered by bucket from the mains this morning, which hasn't had to happen for a while.

Cheeky hens; they've found a new laying spot again. Since introducing the youngest birds to the flock, some of the older birds have decided to lay elsewhere. Well, I found them out today and collected the eight eggs they hid away from their 'intruders'. We thought it was a bit too early for them to go off their laying. It's usually in late May, as the cold southerlies hail the call of Winter, that our hens begin to lay more infrequently. Still, I'll start saving most of these eggs we collect now, in preparation for the scarcity ahead. Our neighbours will have to revert back to store bought eggs for a while.

We'll have lemons this year! This is a huge achievement. We've not been very successful with our lemon tree. One tree was given to us by my mother-in-law when we moved here 15 years ago. To date, we have only had one fruit. A few years ago, I moved it, where it's grown a little larger but still no fruit. I also planted a different type of lemon, which was very small at the time and has taken a few years to establish. But, now, it's fruiting!

Time for a cup of tea and a read-aloud. We're starting a new book: Tarantula in My Purse. That will keep Mariposa quite happy. Then we need to finish the last chapter of Maestro's book today, a nice way to end a term, ready for a two week break.

Sunny Summer Days continued

Following on from my previous post, I'll fill in some gaps of what I was hoping to share before I went off on a tangent.

I mentioned that we went visiting a fair bit, and one place we went was over to the mountains to visit my youngest sister. She is now living in a peaceful town where the birdlife is vibrant and Puffing Billy runs along their back fence. Can you see it there, in the background? We weren't quick enough to catch it going the other way as it was headed downhill, but on the uphill trip we had time to grab the camera, and wave to the passengers.

I also found a lovely selection of new dvds and books from our library, one of which I'd like the children to read next. It's very much a 'living book' for English titled the "The Return of the Word Spy". Ursula Dubosarsky writes in an interesting, conversational fashion which is also a lot of fun. Here are some samples I couldn't resist sharing (click to enlarge).

As far as dvds go, we've been watching "Bleak House" and "Lark Rise to Candleford" (series 1) from the BBC. These have been lovely, and I've been surprised at the interest the children had with Bleak House in particular (although, I think a lot went over their heads ... and Maestro is now interested in reading the novel).  We're now watching some episodes of the "Lark Rise to Candleford" series, which is just delightful.


On the home front, our window painting has halted with the rain and hubby's return to work. Here you can see that one window has it's undercoat on; the other front windows are sanded and taped up ready to go. Even the bird feeder will get it's coat of paint soon .. when the weather dries up again.

In the kitchen, I'm having my very first attempt at making fermented ginger beer. Rhonda has all the instructions over on her blog, Down to Earth. I started making this batch last Thursday, so hopefully we'll be ready to bottle it up by the end of the week. The only set back I'll have is if I don't get enough plastic bottles by then .. and I'm thinking that asking around the neighbourhood won't go astray (yes, we do have some lovely neighbours who don't mind passing on their recyclable rubbish!)

Oh, and last of all, I'm so glad that our hens are laying so well at the moment. When we were visiting our friends (see previous post), most of their hens were having grief from mosquitoes, so laying was erratic. We were also told how some egg suppliers now dye their eggs brown, to promote 'wholemeal eggs'. Now, I haven't seen any labels on egg cartons, but it's something worth checking.

Chicks again!

This is our second year trying to have success hatching chicks with our broody hens. I know I gave you the saga a couple of weeks ago, but we're very happy to say that we do have chicks here now!

They were all due to hatch on Sunday, and slowly the count went up through the day to five little chicks.

'Little Foot' cares for them in her little A-frame enclosure.  Within hours she had some of them out and learning to scratch around.  We had to be very quiet, and quick to snap this photo, as it didn't take long before she summoned them all back to her nest.

I know, that lawn-mower catcher is looking very old.  It's become a little brittle from sun exposure.  Still it served it's purpose well and sheltered the hen on her eggs very well for the 3 weeks.

Can you see the chicks?  Out of the 6 eggs, 5 hatched.  We have 2 black australorps, 1 blue/grey australorp (in the front, left), and 2 white sussex.

A small bowl of water is set out for the chicks, with large pebbles placed inside.  This is to help should the chicks fall in.  We don't want them to drown and they can quickly get a foot hold on the pebbles to get out again.

'Sunday' was still sitting in the main chook house.  She had desserted the fertile eggs we tried to give her for the regular eggs the other hens were laying.  Then she just wouldn't budge!  So, we chose to leave her and I phoned the "chook lady".  She suggested putting a new hatchling under her when it was dark.

This has worked.  Sunday has adopted one of the chicks and was taking it out for a scratch around today.

So our little home brood has grown.  The children have already chosen names for the chicks as follows: "Monday", "Feathers", "Chip", with two still to be named.

Being 'Clucky'

There are many characteristics animals display which we use as metaphors for human behaviour. Doves are noted for their peaceful nature, foxes are cunning and lions are proud. When we describe mothers who admire newborn babes, we often characterise that as being clucky. The connotations are that the mother desires to have her own child, that there is warmth and affection ... but there is much more to this metaphor!

Two of our hens, our black australorps, are clucky. They've become very possessive of any eggs, hoarding them into a pile and claiming them all for their own. Of course, sharing isn't allowed, so whoever gets up to stretch then has the other hen trying to rob more eggs. The hens don't want to be touched, and in the case of one named "Sunday", not even looked at without the hackles going up. Then we hear the warning 'cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck' should we or another hen come any closer, or actually charging toward you, pecking and making a ruckus. Very protective and aggressive motherly behaviour, don't you think?

Well, we decided to work carefully and isolate these desperate 'want-to-be-mums'. Little Foot had actually started getting clucky first, so we watched her for a while, then she was supplied with a lawn-mower catcher into which we placed a couple of freshly laid eggs on fresh straw. We kept Sunday out of the coop until Little Foot settled, which didn't take too long.

 Little Foot's hideaway in the A-frame chook mobile.
The lawn mower catcher made for an easy transfer, having a handle and everything self-contained for Little Foot.

That night, Little Foot was then relocated to the A-frame chook mobile DH had made last year. If she stays on the eggs, we'll know that she's definitely broody and will get some fertilised eggs. There is a risk she'll be upset about her new home and not sit any longer.

Meanwhile, Sunday was all indignant about her relocation that day. How dare we deprive her of eggs! How dare we deprive her of her nest! She strutted around loudly exclaiming the injustice of it all (and it was only for a couple of hours). Once Little Foot was removed, we left an egg in the laying area of the coop for Sunday to claim.

This is the most we can see of Little Foot with the door open,

keeping a careful eye on us.

The next morning, Sunday seemed content enough. By early afternoon our other 3 hens decided to lay on the floor of the coop instead of sharing the box with this feisty lady. Sunday wasn't silly, though. She then moved to sit on the larger pile of eggs on the floor. Okay, so we had to do something here, and with great care (and at dusk, so as to minimise her temper) we picked her up and put her back into the laying box. Maestro then blocked her in with pieces of cardboard so the other hens wouldn't disturb her.

Having a lidded laying box helps when taking a quick photo.

This is our feisty Sunday who is vocally and aggressively protective of her clutch.

Little Foot took so well to her new location, that after two days we went out and purchased 6 fertilised eggs from the same lady we'd been to last year. Today is now one full week on since she had them put under her, and she hasn't budged. We do have water and food in there for her, but she's sat everyday, through all the rain and thunderstorms, and through the heat. We only disturbed her once, at dusk, to take 2 of these fertilised eggs to put under Sunday.

So, hopefully we'll have new chicks again in just two more weeks. We bought 3 blue-australorps and 3 white sussex, and we were told that the hatching success rate was high. Let's see how these new mothers behave once they have their little broods.  Australorps are known to be wonderful mothers.  We'll still have to keep them separate for a while, though, as I've been told that hens can still squabble about who's chick is who's. It seems that being a clucky hen is about wanting to own a chick, ANY chick, so long as she's not robbed of the opportunity of being a mother hen.

edited Tuesday 30th Nov. : Sunday has decided she no longer wants to sit on the eggs we gave her. She's driving me to frustration!! Short story, Little Foot now has all six eggs and we'll see how she goes. At least she's very calm / well settled.

Refreshed and 'almost' ready to go

I find it a humourous thing upon returning from any time away from the house.  There we were, not too long ago, aching for time to stop and see other scenes.  Then we return, bursting open the door and looking, as if with 'new eyes', at the home environment we set up for ourselves.  It's welcoming. The garden is blooming and letting it's fragrance waft in the warm air. There are jobs needing to be done, but it seems almost effortless to quickly run about and organise the simple things before we begin the grander job of unpacking.

Unpacking ... which means washing, sigh!  But I want to savour the moment of this energy, so the washing waits whilst I quickly rearrange my potplants on the window sill again. We then dash out to the garden to see how the vegetables have faired in the weather we didn't get.  It looks like the silverbeet has managed quite well, and we have a few spears of asparagus showing also.

The hens have been diligent I see, and in a flurry they come over to welcome us back.  No scraps for you ladies, yet.  I'll have to get a pot of something going soon, but our friends have ensured that they had adequate fresh water and their feeding container filled.

Let's put the kettle on and check through the held mail, favouring the gardening catalogues of course!  I know we need to think about our plans for the final homeschooling term of the year, but right now, we're happy and just want to savour the moment.  We're home, refreshed and 'almost' ready to start a new week again.

Winter gales

Brrrr ~ it was a cold and restless night here, last night.

Strong winds tried to creep its fingers into any opening, whistling through our skylight and trying to keep us all awake with its cries.  It even brought hail which was thrust toward our front door, which faces the southern Antarctic winds.

In the morning, everything looked grey.  The neighbourhood trees were tired of their fight with the wind and look limp, a few with missing limbs.  One of my favourite trees, over the fence in my neighbour's property, has been reduced by a third.

The view out of my kitchen window this morning.  Usually the house is hidden.

I've been keeping a watch on that tree, as it's had a new visitor in recent months.  There's a 'mystery bird' coming to feast there.  I'm pretty sure it's a type of honeyeater, about the size of a thrush.  We have plenty of Wattlebirds in the area, so I definitely know it's not that.  It's markings are similar with grey and black stripes, but it also has an orange/brown chest, reddish beak, and a black 'mask' across the eye.  It's song is either a short 'tock', or musical type of 'croak' ... a little like a tuneful frog song; not a harsh sound.  My attempts to photograph it haven't produced any results, but I did manage to capture it on video (but I can't show you, as I have no idea how to load it to my blog!)

Wandering out to feed my hens this morning, I saw the garden in disarray.  Papers have obviously managed to get carried around in the wind and the chook run was full of debris and any vegies scraps left over from yesterday evening's feed.

Poor girls.  They look miserable out in those conditions.  We quickly cleaned up their yard, put in some more straw and gave them a good serving of feed.  I also got lunch going: a pot of pumpkin soup, putting all the scraps into a separate pot so the hens could have a bowl of warm mash to enjoy.

Pumpkin and carrot trimmings (no onions!) for the chooks to enjoy as a warm mash on a cold morning.

I hope everyone's keeping warm and well out of reach from that menacing wind.  We're doing lessons with the heating on and smothered in quilts.

Cackle, cackle!!

We had a commotion going on outside. It sounded like one of the hens had escaped and was telling the world she'd found a new secret laying site.

We were worried as Midgy still sees the hens as playthings, so out of the house we rushed to see what was going on.

Well, it turns out that all the hens were quite safe. One of our two young Black Australorps is just breaking in her voice. She didn't stop for us, either. On and on she cackled, the sound bouncing off the side colourbond fence and reverberating into the house and surrounds. She sounds much like a young boy's voice breaking: loud and edgy.

Sunday and Little Foot hatched in Dec '09, so are coming on to 18 weeks. Their lovely iridescent plumage looks brilliant in the sunlight. Mariposa coaxed them both out of their mobile hutch and let them have a run around (with the pup tied up at the kennel) and cuddle. It was also a good time to grab the camera.