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This year the chickens have laid 103 eggs so far!
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posted by Neil, 24 August 2010, 11:51am [more]
Nice one NN
Yep their eyes are on stalks - if you look real close at a snail you will see the black dots which are their pupils! And yes they sleep inside their shell most of the time for safety, although Sid used to get lazy and leave himself hanging out sometimes :)
I got home from work yesterday, ate a big bowl of the lovely stew hubby had made, and within half an hour was in the loo, and spent the next 2 hours in and out, culminating in the emptying of my stomach. Went to bed, slept fitfully, stayed in bed today too. The kids were outside playing football again too, so I'm terrified that the sickness was because of that (stress induced), and not a stomach virus. But i had felt rough in the day so I hope it was 'proper' illness! I feel so fed up about being so stressed over some kids kicking a ball about. What is more normal for boys to do?! I've got to find a way past it but don't know how just yet.
Thanks Neil. Hopefully it will NEVER be needed, but its good to have just in case!
That's a complicated one TM!! When my mom got married my stepfather had 5 kids; his daughter was the eldest, then there were four boys. I fitted right in the middle of the four boys, one was 6 months older, one was 6 months younger. They were allowed to do whatever they wanted, I had to be in by 10pm. I hated it.
They look great! Is it true that their eyes are on the end of the stalks, or is that a fallacy? Do they sleep inside their shells? Do they come to you when you put your hand in (do they know their names?!) Lotsa questions!!!!
CC said "The more you knit, the easier it'd be...you have to admit that TBII wasn't a tenth of the trauma that TBI was!" I have to admit that you're right, but maybe that's because #1 was sooooooooo bad, not because #2 was better!! My attention span is very short - I get bored too easily!
Yes, lovely pictures! How lovely to go on holiday and be the only people around. Ultimate peace!
Oh Bless him, youngest son don't look none to pleased Lee, The bridge one is real nice.
I made some banana chutney today, I found the recipe on the Cottage smallholder site. I was a tad unsure about it so only made half the amount. It is real scrummy, I got Grandad North to have a taste tonight and he is real pleased. It is supposed to be even better after a month. So that's my best for today.
Ha ha they do ok for eats that's for sure !!!
Oh I spot another picture it is nice to see you both. My your son is already taller than Sara he looks a smashing lad Lee. The horses certainly looked friendly enough. It is a beautiful part of the country and so nice and green.
I got a little rant today. I was in a rush to make a green salad as the lasagne was ready to serve and I cut right through my thumb nail into the flesh below. Oh my it hurt so much I felt sick. It still hurts like heck. I got it plastered up nice and tight, it was a real sharp knife so hopefully it will knit together real quick. I did well though and didn't bleed on the lettuce !!!
Lovely pictures Lee, I love the horse it is a beautiful colour. There certainly is a lot of water about.
Some pictures of our stay in the New Forest.
They eat far more healthily than I do!
Here is one for F1 fans.........only funny if you saw Sundays race
You can just see the stripes starting to come through on their shells now. They have a large piece of courgette that has turned into a marrow. sweet potato, Cos leaves and an apple today.
No I dont use any thing on their shells but clean tepid water CC. They certainly are much more shiny that Fluffy was, although they are a different breed to him so I don't know if that makes a difference.
Hi Red, I use one of those microfibre cloths on the glass every day with just plain water and remove any poo or past it food. Then once a week they come out and have a nice tepid bath under the tap and they have some time out on their bubble wrap mat. I take all their food and cuttles out and give the substrate a good riddle through. I replace the grape vine cuttings I give them to hide under and lightly scrub the cuttles. I only replace the substrate every six to eight weeks. I don't over wet the viv so it doesn't get sloppy so stays fresh longer. I do give them a warm water misting every day, but not a heavy spray. I hope this answers your question. I agree it can be confusing as every one says different things, I just do what I think is ...
Cor that is spooky Lee and Shobhna. That will be nice a camping weekend Red. I hope the weather is kind to you.
Hi Julie nice to see you again.
Poultrygeist..... fantastic CC well thought out ha ha. You could easily write a book of wittisisms.
You really crack me up CC I don't know how you come up with these things...... Thatched Bathroom Monthly almost had me choke with laughter.
How lovely to see such an unusual thing Red and Ollie. You were very lucky indeed.
I think I need to go and lie down in a darkened room for a while...
No mine was the top thiird of a rainbow but straight above. Google these for some ideas. Nacreous clouds Iridescent clouds
The more you knit, the easier it'd be...you have to admit that TBII wasn't a tenth of the trauma that TBI was!
Posted By: Trevs MumNeil maybe a neighbour is sneaking in to move it around. Can't imagine anyone would be bothered enough to be honest! I think it's Tilly/Penny's idea of a joke...
If you see or hear anything on hencam that you think needs looking at urgently, then please feel free to contact me: SMS or mobile: 07590 735196 If you are ringing from outside the UK then please bear in mind the costs to ring (it's a standard mobile number but I wouldn't want you getting charged lots! Maybe send a text instead?) +44 7590 735196 If it's not an emergency, my email account for neil@hencam.co.uk is picked up fairly regularly on my phone (every hour), but it could be some time before I notice it as I don't get a notification. If it's definitely not important then post a message on our screensaver - we might see it if we are passing, but remember anyone else might post something on there which would overwrite your m...
Posted By: Shobhna
Brilliant Red i like loads of legs!!! as I call them the way they move is fascinating.
CC said: a poultrygeist. Ha ha brilliant CC. We should bring back the 'where's the Puffin' I liked that game. Neil maybe a neighbour is sneaking in to move it around.
I am the eldest of two but then mum remarried and I then fitted in as the fourth eldest of six and I have two sons. My mum married her dead sisters husband so my first cousins became my brothers and sisters and my uncle became my dad as he legally adopted me and my brother. Confusing...I know.
Congratulatins Kate to one and all, a dear little new boy to love and cuddle. Hi Lynn nice to see you passing through. Hope you are well. big hugs, Julie
Sounds like the storms we have been having here Lee. We have had an unusually cold winter , lots of nice rain but too windy. Glad you got away for a break anyway.
Nope it wasn't in the water, it was in the sky...it was like two extra suns had appeared! Posted By: ollie in UKI saw the biggest refraction (can't think of it's proper name) this evening. Like just a piece of rainbow in the sky straight above. Took a pic with my phone, it didn't show very well and I am a dunderhead to do anything with my pics! Yours sounded fascinating. Worth trying to find out more... Did it look sort of anything like this, Ollie? Because it sounds very similar, what with the rainbow and all...ours was sort of like two mini suns with mini rainbows by the side of them too...
Actually it has been a lovely day here in Yorkshire. I even topped up my tan a little.
I have been watching geckos all my holiday. They are sooooo pretty. Little skinny lizards too. The girls saw a small snake with a lizard in it's mouth. Cicadas are very pretty too, when you can get up to one! And noisy...
I found that a lot of the caring profession (nurses and midwives) folks are third children.
I saw the biggest refraction (can't think of it's proper name) this evening. Like just a piece of rainbow in the sky straight above. Took a pic with my phone, it didn't show very well and I am a dunderhead to do anything with my pics! Yours sounded fascinating. Worth trying to find out more...
Its so sweet that Lyle has done that - he knows the things that float your boat!
How did that happen Red? Was it the reflection in the water? Don't quite get it but it sounds fascinating!
Very funny CC! When I saw it I kept wondering what I'd do if it moved!!! So I figured I'd post a message on your screen saver thingy (does that still work?) then phone CC and see if she knew of anyone who had your number or Red's (that's if she was still up and answering calls!) I figured the local constabulary wouldn't be inclined to send out a task force to capture a stoat. I don't know, what do we pay our taxes for?!
Saw something really cool and interesting today; when me and Lyle were walking on the prom an old lady pointed out the mirrored rainbow effect on the sun. So there was the real sun in the middle, then a duplicate of the sun on either side, and each duplicate had a rainbow bit by it too! Did anyone else see it?? It was really pretty!
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February 2010 News
Sadly Milly our beautiful chicken passed away on the morning of 26th February 2010. You can read about this extraordinary little hen and see a snapshot of her life in pictures here. She will be sadly missed...
Hencam is very proud to have been chosen as BBC Radio 2's webcam of the day! Thank you Steve Wright for broadcasting our happy hencam to millions! The hens, rabbits and humans send their thanks! You can read (and hear) about it on the news page!
about the cam:Hopefully you can see Milly, Tilly and Penny going about their chicken life in the coop! (Milly is the big fat white hen - sadly no longer with us, Penny is the cowardly chicken and Tilly is the ruler of the roost!)
history:I first had the idea for a live streaming online webcam in our chicken coop sometime around the summer of 2005. I did a bit of research and after some failed attempts with a USB webcam (too many wires in the chicken pen!) I saved up and bought an indoor wireless IP cam from ebay for around £100. It was cheap and quite basic, but it did more or less what I wanted, and formed the basis of the early days of the webcam. Unfortunately, as it was an indoor camera, it started playing up after a few weeks outside - I couldn't really complain as it had been out in wind rain and snow! With the help of my wonderful new henpals I was able to purchase a whole new cam system - a proper outdoor CCD camera which was even submersible in water! The upgrade was originally suggested by the Vasalini (of Vasalini's chickens fame) and took place on 12/03/06
The new camera provides a much clearer picture, and the new images are extremely high quality. The system is also running much faster and is a lot closer to the true streaming that I originally envisaged. Of course if you want faster streaming, you have to sacrifice picture size and quality, but hopefully I have struck a happy medium.
The original hencam was an IP cam which connected wirelessly to my wifi network which gave it access via ftp to the webserver serving these pages via my adsl connection. Thankfully the new camera is much more stable and gives a much nicer view.
My bandwidth limit and PC use can slow the hens upload speed sometimes but hopefully this should get better as I upgrade various components of the system. Hencam is very thankful for the help and support of Exa Networks - thanks to them you can see these pages, and their technology has enabled our fastest, smoothest and best high-quality webcam images yet - I hope you notice the improvement! The streaming technology used is cutting-edge, and made possible by those great people at www.camstreams.com - if you need to stream anything, they are the guys to talk to!
The first upgrade I was able to carry out was a large IR lamp in the coop, so you can still see the hens even in pitch blackness! You can watch them sleep, it's amazing how they seem to grab the odd forty winks in little naps through the night.
If you have any technical questions regarding the setup, please feel free to email me and I'll provide you with as much info as possible. I've already helped several would-be webcam users get started which has been great fun!
Thank you to earthcam who made hencam one of their top ten webcams of the week, they are (in their own words) "chosen by EarthCam based on quality of image, uniqueness of content and overall technical achievements in webcam technology" - whoo many thanks for the award! We were listed just below the Olympics!!! :)
