Freddy comes out of his depression

Welcome back, Freddy!

Freddy has started going for me whenever he sees me, and this is a good sign.  The depression that took hold of him when his brood of chickens was sadly depleted one by one by predators, seems to be over now, thank goodness.  He has actually started circling the grounds again like he used to before the chickens disappeared / were plucked away.

Next, we need to buy some more chickens to keep him company.  One chicken companion is not enough..... We will buy some in the new year.  Watch this space!

Freddy & Solitary Lady Friend

Freddy chilling with lady friend

No eggs since the last chicken got taken and killed by a dog, and we only have Freddy now with his single companion.  He has been very quiet lately, spending a lot of time in the very spacious chicken coop.  He seems to be very fearful of any little thing nowadays, and so is The Only Hen Left Standing.  In the image above taken today, you can see Freddy sunning himself.  

Below Freddy having a quiet moment.  All his moments are quiet nowadays, and he only crows in the morning, but not as vociferously as he used to, pre all his beloved chickens disappearing....

Freddy having a quiet moment

We intend to get some new companions for him soon....then hopefully he will cheer up a bit!

A Sad Day - One more chicken killed, by a dog

Just a short while ago, a local farmer's dog came and grabbed one of  the Last Three Chickens Standing and it is now well and truly dead in the field.  I heard a great commotion and saw a huge black dog go flying past the kitchen with what looked like a chicken in its mouth. We rushed out but the dog had disappeared round the corner.  The master came up and immediately apologised profusely and offered to pay for another chicken. He was picking olives in the field opposite our house. He then put a lead on his dog and left again very apologetic.

Upon a quick inspection of the land, I saw the poor deceased chicken in the field below, with its legs in the air, head tucked under its body.  I got closer and pronounced it dead, feeling very sad as she was a nice gentle creature, and a very good layer.

Sadly no more freshly laid eggs in the near future.  I feel very upset indeed.  From Freddy + 6 chickens, we now only have Freddy + 1 chicken!!!!

I just found poor Freddy and his +1 cowering in fear behind the barn. 

These tragic incidences have all happened in the space of a couple of weeks.

2 More Chickens Gone!

Freddy and his deplenshed retinue of followers having fun amongst all the chopped wood....

We have not been having much luck recently with the number of chickens simply disappearing into thin air.  Two more have vanished in the past few days, and no feathers or anything this time to give us a clue as to what happened to them.

Freddy now only has a very small number of chickens following him around - down to two, from the six he had only a little while back.

We plan to replenish our stock of chickens in a few weeks' time. We only get one egg a day now, which is not good....

Below you can see Mini Me contemplating life in Abruzzo..

A lot of work recently cutting wood for winter time.

Two Chickens Down!

Sadly two of our chickens have lost their lives recently.  A pile of feathers scattered around the olive trees was all that was left of them.  Who knows what creature had got hold of them unexpectedly?  We are now reduced to 4 hens and Freddy. 

None of the eggs produced any baby chicks recently and we have learned from this experience!  Next time we will place the broody hen in a separate area, away from the other hens.  We live and learn!

News Flash: Chickens Run Amok!

Repost from March 2010 below

Yes, this past week I admit has been a bit of a learning curve while I've been "Home Alone" again. Nobody but dogs, cats, chickens, a kestrel, my computer and fantastic PLN for company. Last time I lost a chicken, this time, I'm running around like a headless chicken! Why? Well the following newspaper article has just appeared in the local news. It contains some rather disturbing details.


It is even being reported on the Abruzzo Channel 5 Live news as I am writing!

As you can see, Norris is getting rather rotund. The plus side is that she has been dutifully laying an egg a day in my plant pot, would you believe. She is providing the necessary main ingredients for fresh omelettes, pancakes, fresh pasta and tonight, a very fine cake, so I shouldn't really complain. With Easter coming up soon, I certainly won't go short of easter eggs!



Lesson Ideas
Fodey.com is a great resource for using with students of any age. In this post, I have demonstrated 3 of the different features available on www.fodey.com. The Newspaper Generator, Create a Newscast picture and the Ninja Text. I certainly had a lot of fun playing around with them! I am sure students would enjoy exploring them, too. These features could be easily embedded in a class blog for projects and assignments.
What do you reckon? If you have used fodey.com in any projects with your students, I would love to hear from you.

Eggstra Lesson Ideas
Sean Banville from Breaking News English has an excellent idiomatic lesson on Chickens.
Sue Lyon-Jones from Esol Courses has a whole selection of lovely lessons to do with Easter eggs and the theme of Easter
Ana Maria Menezes from Life Feast blog has some great Easter projects using web 2.0 tools for you to try out.
No need for me to "egg" you on! Have a look through these fabulous ideas and be eggceptionally inspired!

Post Scriptum Please do excuse my eggstraordinary use of one word in particular.News

Chickens Loupe Collage

To take my mind off the current state of eggs incubating I experimented with a new collage making tool called Loupe Collage.  It's quick and easy to create collages of photos and you can choose from a lot of different shapes.  I chose an egg shaped collage of recent photos.

Update
23 eggs in the chicken pen this morning, one egg broken with nothing in it. I then later spotted the broody hen pick one of the eggs lying in the nesting box with her beak and then she proceeded to break it, but it looked as if nothing was inside. 

Still no more chicks hatching....  They have 3 more days and then we will have to take action .......

Chikita

Chikita was one of the first chickens we ever had when we moved to Abruzzo.

She was a very happy bird.  Below you can hear her proudly showing off the fact that she'd just laid an egg!

21 Eggs and No More Chick

Sadly, the excitement of yesterday's lovely event turned to great disappointment this morning when the newborn chick was found dead.  We presume it had somehow escaped the safety and comfort of its mother's wings and then during the night, had been pecked by the other members of the coop.

So all we have left now, is a clutch of 21 eggs in the nesting box, 3 more than yesterday. Photo below taken today while the chicken had gone off for her usual walk. Knowing which of these eggs might contain a chick waiting to hatch is difficult to predict. Maybe we will have no more chicks....

The old adage of 'Don't count your chickens before they are hatched' makes a lot of sense right now. We learn from experience!!

I am seriously beginning to think that something is not quite right with this particular hen..... If no more chicks are hatched by the weekend, we will sadly have to throw the eggs away, as they will have gone way over the usual hatching period of 21-23 days. We will then have to make sure that this chicken does not sit on any more eggs for the time being....

A Chick is Born!!

We are proud to announce the birth of a healthy baby chick number 1!! Mother hen and baby chick are both doing fine as you can see in my picture above. The hatching happened this morning.  A lot of chirping and cheeping can be heard from the chicken pen now, and also a tapping sound.  This means the imminent arrival of more baby chicks who are knocking on the eggshells, trying to hatch.... As soon as I can take a picture of the first baby chick looking my way, I will add it to this post.

Mother nature has done everything during this incubating and hatching period, and I guess the mother hen will look after the chicks as they arrive, one by one over the next couple of days.  Survival rate of the remaining chicks could be 50% or even lower, from what I have read, so let's see what happens next...

I couldn't resist having a look inside the chicken hutch just now.  I found mother hen had taken baby chick -1 out of the nesting box and they were having a quiet moment together as seen above and below.

There is still only one chick that has arrived, and no sign of any others....

What puzzles me is the fact that there are now 18 eggs in chicken nesting box 2!! There were 14 eggs 2 days ago, so I still don't understand where these new eggs are coming from! Soon there will be no room to accommodate all the future chicks that are about to be hatched.  Chicks start hatching from Day 21 - Day 23 of the incubation period.  At the moment it is Day 21 or 22!

Today's new born chick hatched from the broken eggshell you can see in the top left hand corner... 

Watch this space!!

Freddy's Beady Eye & Friends

Freddy staring directly at me with his beady eyes. 

I usually keep out of his way when he is in this mood, as he often just flies at me and tries to peck me.  I keep a broom handy as a form of protection, and then at least there is a safe distance between me and him!! 

Below, some of the kittens going about their usual business relaxing and enjoying the Abruzzo sunshine.

Fluffy having a nap with one of his best friends, Olivia.

Fluffy waiting for his dinner to arrive in prime position for when the door opens.......

A Hungry Chicken & More Eggs

This is the broody chicken caught on her way to the feeding container.  She seems to be getting bigger....

She actually got into the big planter to gobble up as much as possible!

The image below was taken yesterday, Monday September 2nd 2013.  As you can see, there are 2 more eggs, making it a total of 13, the chicken is sitting on.  The shape of the eggs has changed from Sunday's image of 11 eggs.

The image below was taken today, whilst the chicken was out feeding.  The shape is different yet again from yesterday's image.  She is turning the eggs and moving them all the time!

What I would like to know is, where are these eggs coming from?  Are any of them going to hatch??  From what I have read, a chicken gathers a 'clutch' of eggs consisting of usually 12 eggs.  We now have 13, so does it mean she is almost ready to do what she has to do???

 I have no idea, and each day is a waiting game.  It is very exciting....

The Broody Chicken

Below you see one of our chickens, which has been incubating some eggs, the past couple of weeks. Apparently it takes 21 days for chicks to hatch, if the eggs are fertile.

 

As you can see below, the chicken has arranged the eggs in a distinct shape.  She had just popped out to stretch her legs and so I was able to quickly take this photo.

The eggs get turned by the chicken several times a day, to ensure that each one gets the required amount of heat necessary to develop properly.

Welcome to The Abruzzo Chicken Chronicles!

With the imminent possible arrival of some baby chicks, I thought I would dedicate this new blog in September 2013 to images and stories solely about our Abruzzo chickens.

The arrival of chicks is due to Frederick, the glorious, imperious, arrogant, scary, obsessed, domineering, swaggering and very handsome cockerel. Below you see him as a baby, on the day he came to live with us ..... he is definitely one very impressive creature!!

Today I will tell you a little bit about him.  His name Frederick was chosen a few years before we bought him.  I had always liked this name. Indeed, the anti-hero of An Idiomatic Love Story, is named Frederick.

I had a dream of listening to the gentle crowing of a cockerel early in the morning, and this dream has come true.  Freddy, as he is affectionately known, is a very considerate bird, in that he starts crowing after 6am.  This is a very reasonable time of day.  He also crows whenever he feels like it, or when he sees me.  I am the unfortunate cause of his stress and we have a love-hate relationship....