We ate at the Russian Restaurant last night, and it was simply: amazing!

I started off with a freezing cold vodka immediately followed by a pickled gherkin (the Russian way to drink it, apparently), and had a really tasty and filling veggie ghoulash.

With Bradford town centre seemingly in free-fall (half of it is demolished, the other half seems to be pound-shops), this place needs more of the recognition and support it deserves.

If you ever find yourself near Bradford and are hungry, get yourself over there for a meal (and say that hencam sent you - there might be a free vodka for me next time I go then!)

...see what it would be like if the hencam girls and their coop was on the pitch at a world cup match?

well wonder no more!

Sometimes it's nice to wake up, the sun is shining, the skies are blue and it's actually lovely and warm at 8am in the morning!

I drove to work the long way and had a leisurely walk around Redcar Tarn:







It was so relaxing, and now I feel ready to face the day!

I don't often post stuff like this but it's too sweet not to.

The amazing moment a baby's cochlear implant is activated and hears his mum's voice for the first time...

My sister phoned up tonight, and said her friend had bought chickens, and that one was called "Princess Layer".

I had to think about it for a few seconds (it was over the phone so I just thought they were a fan of star wars), then it hit me, layer as in eggs...

Who said I was a bit dim?!

I spent a bit of time tonight with the hens trying to set up an anti-fox thing - nothing bad, just something to scare it off, but I'm not sure I was entirely successful, more on this later...

I also moved the microphone to the other end of the coop, and it can STILL pick up the camera noise a bit! I had the volume turned up quite loud, so hopefully it's not as bad as it was. It's just sooo sensitive!

Ellie continues to make a great recovery, here's a quick (and slightly dull sorry) video from a recent walk (and if you consider she could hardly stand a couple of weeks ago, the difference is amazing!)

Some of you will know that a couple of weeks ago Ellie (Helen's sister's dog) had a stroke (and not the good kind) shortly before they were due to go on holiday.

So Ellie couldn't go into Kennels and we had to look after her - thankfully, Scarlet and Lyle came up for the first week and Ellie showed great improvements in balance and general health.

The last few days we've been looking after her, and the only worry left was that she wasn't eating, but I'm happy to say she's started eating by herself more now so hopefully she is going to make a full recover.

She's a lovely dog, and it was horrible seeing her so miserable after her illness but hopefully she's come through it and will be ok.

In five(ish) minutes it is officially Lyle's 20th birthday, so a big Happy Birthday to him :)

<3

Helen made the hens a fantastic treat this morning of trifle sponge, custard and tomatoes!

The hens approved!

We occasionally get asked how James is (Scarlet's cornsnake), so here's a quick update on what he got up to last night...

James is a 'normal' cornsnake and is about 1 and a half years old, and about 4 foot long (at time of last measurement - he's still growing!) When he's not hungry and in 'feeding mode' he's the softest snake you've ever seen and doesn't mind coming out to explorer or be handled...

I normally feed James by putting the warmed-up mouse on his feeding dish inside the viv, but tonight he was hungry and hunting around the front of his viv.

I wasn't brave enough to handle him when in 'feeding mode' as my warm fingers might look a bit too much like a tasty mouse, so I ended up trying to feed him from outside the viv, which kind of worked, except he very nearly fell off the dish when he kept coiling... luckily I caught him in time (and he had his mouth full so didn't bite me!)

You can watch a video of it here (it's not too gruesome, I promise!) but should come with the following warning:

* WARNING * shows snake eating a pre-killed mouse.

We buy our mice frozen as they have been more humanely despatched than James would. Sorry if this upsets or offends anyone - snakes need to eat...

Please could you help us select the inscription for Milly's commemorative plaque?

It will only take a second, and you don't even have to be a member of the forum to view and vote...

Read and vote here!

Thanks! :-)

Happy IRCD!

Today is International Respect for Chickens Day, please consider doing your bit for the welfare of these lovely little animals, even if it means buying free-range chicken instead of intensively farmed...

Of course, you could choose to support it by giving a loving home for some ex-battery hens, or promising always to buy free-range eggs in the future! :-)

Have fun!

I was woken up this morning just after 6am by a commotion in the coop...



Unfortunately the fox has been back and has tried to get the girls again...

Thanks to Ron and Lynn who raised the alarm and sent emails and messages via the screensaver.

We've got some anti-fox measures, extra wire at the bottom to stop them digging in, but it's impossible to keep them out of the garden and the hens out of danger.

We'll keep you posted of any updates.

Officially the best chicken-related song ever!

Chicken Dance...?

Hope this works, and enjoy :D

Milly's tree has leaves!! It's gone from bare branches to having buds and leaves in only a few weeks, now we're waiting with baited breath to see if it flowers this year!

Will post pics if it does...

Hope you like the new camera angles, and outdoor panning view of Wilsden which should be much better quality now (just hope that Helen doesn't make good on her promise to throw the cam fixed to the outside of our window as it's an eyesore!)

A few of my work colleagues were having a chat about silly ways in which you could promote a website (you might remember that it was one of these stupid chats that provided the inspiration for hencam), and two of the better ideas were, a personalised number plate for my car of 'HEN' or 'CAM', to the downright ridiculous 'sticking a huge beak and chicken comb on to your car'...

I quite like the idea of a hencam number plate, but they are pretty much a waste of money, unless you have a couple of grand for something like 'HN02 CAM'.

Tim at THD suggested this:


With lots of stickers with the website address in the windows!

That would cost you a reasonable £250 so, should I have a small collection request on the site?!

The problem I have is, it always seems to be the same few people that help out and it's lovely that they do, but it's not fair on them that they've supported the site over the years and then I come on here asking for more to get a stupid number plate for the car...

Everyone on the Internet expects everything to be free (I'm as guilty as this as anyone!) But if everyone who visited the site for one day donated just £1, even after paypal's fees it would probably buy enough hardware to enable you to select your cam feed, and control the moving camera, and a million other things that we'll never see on the site but that people request (and when I say how much it would cost, never hear from again!)

So this isn't a request for donations, it's a call to visit the forum and have your say!

Well, for no particular reason, Lyle and I decided to get the tandem out today and give it a shot!!!

Bearing in mind Lyle had never ridden a tandem before, and here I was sticking him on the front!, and I'd only ever ridden with my dad before. To add to our troubles, the seat was too high for Lyle as it was positioned for my dad, so he struggled to get on and off!

Anyway, after a few nasty falls (I have an impressive bruise on my knee to prove it!), we actually managed to cycle on the tandem!!

We were both so impressed, and I was so proud of Lyle because he really was terrified at first. So yes, just go for it! And if you fall off the horse (on in this case, the tandem ;) ) make sure you GET BACK ON!!! :D

Penny and Tilly enjoy a nice day out in the sun!



And Penny has a refreshing stretch!

Well, we bought a new 'toy' for the chickens today. It's a little wicker basket which we have suspended from the roof of the coop. The chickens have to either stand on the ladder and eat the treats in the basket from the top of it, or peck the treats from the small holes in the wicker basket.


Here are the chucks before we let them out


Basket in the coop!

Tilly has been pecking it like crazy (although she is now 'laying an egg'), but she has really enjoyed attacking it and watching it swing! Penny, on the other hand, is still a bit wary of it ;)



Peck, peck, peck!

So I'm signed up to this website where they offer various deals in your selected city, and notice there's an offer where you pay £4 for £10 worth of food at the Russian Restaurant in Bradford...

Too good to miss so I've ordered it! Not sure if I've ever had Russian food but you only live once!

If you like you can view the Russian Restaurant deal here, or have a search for the deals in your city! - you might be pleasantly surprised!

(if anyone orders anything I get a few quid to spend on the site too - wooh!)

Well, the power is back, but it was off for over 8 hours, and it only affected our house!



Two YEDL vans and a digger appeared at around tea-time and before we knew it, there was a large hole outside our house and then the power is back!



Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere to park the car now as they can't cover the hole until next week, but at least we have electric!

Sorry for the interruption currently, but we have no power AGAIN!

Update: I've just checked with our supplier and apparently the fault should be ok now, but it's obviously not, so maybe it also tripped our fuses, but Helen can't get into the cupboard with her knee like that so it will have to wait until I can get over...

Apologies to all... :-(