The chicks born last week are getting bigger very quickly and have the beginning of proper feathers on their wings.
Only one of the four brown eggs hatched – yesterday during our Writers’ Group meeting – so I have popped it in with the original five as it was looking very lonely alone in the incubator.
They are now housed in a wooden box with a heat lamp over it. This box is part of the outside system they will live in for the first few weeks of their lives outside. It gives the older hens to get used to them before they are introduced feather to feather.
As I went over to look into the box to check on them, I passed the cats’ food dishes. Hiding between the milk and biscuit containers was a frog, or perhaps a toad, I’m not sure.
He seemed fine, so I walked over to the pond and gently slid him into the water. He breaststroked off, away from the goldfish, and disappeared immediately under the plants.
The flowerbed by the pond is ready to be weeded now that the very tall hedge behind it has been cut.
In this photograph you can see that this side of the hedge has been cut, but the other side still has high growth, which has disappeared in the next photograph.
I think the chap who came and shortened it must have taken 4-5ft (120-150cm) away in many places. It makes such a difference to the light coming into my garden and I can also enjoy my neighbour's forsythia!
I went off to the hospital on Friday last to have the tests regarding my parathyroid glands. The scintigraph confirmed that there is a tumour - benign - on one of the right side parathyroid glands. I am having another blood test on Friday morning to see how my calcium levels are. If they are not raised further, I can wait to see the endocrinologist on 21 April, but the appointment may be brought forward if they are very much higher. When I've seen her, I will go in for an operation to remove the the tumour, after which my energy levels should be much better, which will be very welcome with all the gardening to do.
I came in from taking these photographs of a hellbore and a primula denticulata
to find myself unable to use my laptop because of these two.
I just had to laugh at the cats on the laptop -- hmm... but the chicks! You've got chicks! How exciting!
ReplyDeleteHello Beangenie!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. Yes the chicks are growing fast, so fast. The bottom of their box needs changing about three times a day and I can't wait for the warmer weather so they can leave my kitchen for an outside run! The cats lie on my table as the woodburner is so near - you can see the logs in the photo above - eventually they have to move because they get too hot. Sandra