Finally they hatched

After my black silkie went broody and not having a rooster, I purchased some fertilized eggs, after placing them carefully under her I marked in my diary 21 days and exactly to that date the first chick appeared. I kept picking up eggs listening if I could hear pecking and very faintly yes I did , I thought I was imagining things first and then I could hear cheeping inside the egg , I never knew that i would be able to hear the little chick but yes definately a day before hatching i could hear cheeping , thats when the kids started to get excited.
Unfortunately the first egg I found out of nest with dead chicken laying beside it, dont know what happened if it were ducks or another chicken or cat but I decided to lock the pen with the 2 broody silkies one on chicken eggs and the other on duck eggs.

Later that day went down to find another hatched and all ok, at the moment 3 have hatched and Im waiting on another 2 hopefully all goes well, the kids are so excited and have been in and out the chook pen but I think I have been in there more than them , Im lucky the silkies are friendly and dont mind the attention as we have been lifting them on and off so we can peek and now when we go in the little chicks pop out and come to us, they are just adorable

Selling bits and pieces

This winter weather makes it hard to get outside and do the things that need to be done in the yard.
So today I have decided to trial an Ebay shop for 2 months selling bits and pieces from around the house, and little treasures that I find in my opp shopping travels. Not sure if its going to be worth it but will give it a couple of months, gives me an excuse to have a clean up as I do tend to hoard a few things, over the last few years Ive picked up some vintage clothing and bits and pieces that I was going to have a stall at a local market but never got around to it.
Im really anti big companies at the moment and imported goods from China, everything I pick up seems to be imported ,what gets me is designer or different labels like sportsgirl, witchery and Target and really most clothing shops with a huge difference in prices all their stuff is from the one place .... China.
Me I prefer the opp shop I would prefer to buy second hand and leave out all the large greedy companies.
So my ebay store will be about re-use and recycle.
http://stores.ebay.com.au/Miss-Town-Mouse?_rdc=1
This is the link to my store if anyone would like to take a browse, Ive only opened it today but I plan on hunting around for some bargains to forward on.
Eventually even get some hand made things on there as my daughter and I make hair clips. In the past I have made jewellery out of vintage bits and pieces so when I find some extra time shall even give that a go, never know what will be on there.

Guinea pigs and rabbits

Being a animal lover and trying to become more sustainable nothing much goes to waste in our house.
At the moment we have two litters of baby guinea pigs and they are just so adorable. Apart from being a cute little pet the litter from their cages is great for the vege garden.

Our first litter the poor Mummy was huge and she gave birth to 5 little pigs unfortunately 2 were born dead but the other three have thrived. I was quite worried about the mothers as this was their first litter and they were over 12 months old and after reading a few books they are supposed to have their first litter under 12 months as their pelvic bones can fuse and just read a lot of stories of them not surviving. But both mothers delivered 3 successfully and are lovely little Mothers.

Next on the agenda is our bunnies which we will mate next month. We have 3 beautiful mini lop rabbits, Jett our black buck who is just beautiful with a great personality and Indira a sooty fawn doe and Peaches a blue fawn doe.

Also due to have a litter is a beautiful little white long haired guinea pig. In the picture is her and her mate , he is the father to all the little guinea pigs

What do you do on a rainy Sunday.

Well you can brave the cold and go to the local market and freeze just to buy some cheap fruit trees for your garden. In my aim to be more self sufficient I now have nectarine, cherry, apple, apricot, lemon, 2 olives and a almond and still going to add more.
That was enough of outdoors for me today so in I went to make home made pasties and two date loaves which are the best date loaves I have had.

India also made some chocolate cupcakes for this weeks school lunches but I dont think to many will make it into lunch boxes.

                 Date loaf

1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablsp butter
1 teasp baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 egg
3/4 cup SR flour
3/4 cup plain flour

Place dates, sugar, butter and baking soda in a bowl and pour over boiling water mix well and let cool.
Add egg.
Sift dry ingredients add gradually, mix well, pour into greased and floured bar tin
Bake in moderate oven for 40 minutes
Suitable to freeze.

       Pastie
500 grams mince
3 grated carrots
5 grated potatoes
1 grated onion
salt , pepper 1 egg
mix well.
3 sheets puff pastry.
Place mixture on sheets fold then bake

Chocolate cupcakes
100g butter
2/3 cup castor sugar
1 teasp vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 cup SR flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teasp bi carb
1/2 cup milk

preheat oven 180
Cream butter and sugar add vanilla gradually add eggs mix well
Sift flour cocoa,bicarb. Add to creamed mixture with milk, stir until combined
Spon 1/3 cup into patty pans and bake 15- 20 minutes

Look what we found today in the garden

Finally a day with no rain, after a morning of soccer it was time to spend some time outside, kids playing on trampolene and playing with rabbits, me cleaning spouts and planting more veges, the rabbits having a free range around the backyard. My silkie still sitting on her eggs.

I thought I would check out a garden that my ducks like to frequent and make a bit of noise while they are there and what did I find but 7 lovely eggs, Since I have a male and a female duck and Im unsure how long eggs have been there and the ducks wernt sitting on them Ive decided to place them under my other silkie to see if they may hatch. I will now keep a close eye on ducks to see where they lay and use the next eggs in baking.

Those are my eggs.....

My beautiful black silkie has gone broody, since I live in town and Im unable to keep a rooster I puchased 6 fertilized eggs online, they arrived in the mail nice and safe and have been under her a week now.

Today is the first day I seen her get off to get somthing to eat but not long after leaving the nest to grab a bite to eat, my other silkie jumped on the nest and claimed the eggs for herself and would not budge, much to my black silkies disgust as she pecked at her and stood on her and tried to squeeze into the nest. So after watching for a while I decided to make a nest next to her and lifted her off the eggs and popped the black silkie back on her nest. Im going to have to keep a close eye on these eggs I think.