Cutest chicks in the world, EVER!

Our lavender Araucana chicks hatched on Jan 22 and 23. Nine of the 12 eggs hatched- two were duds, and a Pukeko got one of them when the hens and eggs were still at Barb and Eric's home. The hens that hatched them are taking great care of them. They're confined in the coop until the chicks get a little older. We still have neighborhood cats roaming into our yard, and would hate to lose any of our darling chicks.

Rescue Chickens

While awaiting the hatch of our Araucana chicken eggs (Tues!), we arranged to adopt 2 former egg-battery hens. A couple north of Auckland operate "the Sanctuary", where they buy 12 month old hens that have stopped producing eggs because they need to molt their feathers. They recover once the feathers re-grow, but the battery farms don't want to feed them during this time- usually they slaughter them. The hens from the Sanctuary get a second chance, and it's like being reborn because their environment is totally different. While I lend absolutely no support to animal liberation groups, I do think the battery egg farms are cruel and the practice shold be ended. See for yourself, here. Though this video is from California, battery farming a world-wide practice. One look at our rescue hens and you know these birds suffered. If you click on the photo you can enlarge it. One way to minimize the impact of battery farming is to raise awareness, which I support. Also, though they cost a bit more, you can buy cage-free eggs. Our personal solution is to keep our own hens in our yard. They're fairly easy to care for, are entertaining, and provide fresher eggs than you could buy at the grocery.
As you can see in the photos, Thelma and Louise look pretty sad- bare skin, burned-off beak ends, bare feathers. The beak will never regrow, but with time the feathers will. Also with time, they can learn to scratch and peck for food in the yard. Yes this natural behavior has been supressed so long, this behavior and others, like perching, have to be re-learned. I threw a cooked cob of corn and some spinach into the yard, and they haven't eaten it. They are so accustomed to eating a food pellet, they don't realize there is a variety of food to eat. They had been at the Sanctuary about 4 weeks before we got them. Within 24 hours of moving them to their new home, one of them laid a huge egg, and the next day we got 2 eggs!

Here's a photo of their new home, which Darin built using nearly all recycled wood left at our house (under it). Comming soon (we hope), pictures of baby chicks!

Northland NZ visit

Darin turned 38 on Jan 5, and Barb, Eric, and I took him out for really good sushi, at Blowfish (sushi to die for). The restaurant has anime playing on big tvs, no sound, but a very cool interior and vibe. The sushi is YUM. As a birthday gift/entertainment, I arranged for him to go tuna fishing out of the Bay of Islands, a gorgeous coastal destination up north about 3.5 hours drive from Auckland. BIL Eric joined him in fishing, and I went along for the ride. Since we wouldn't arrive until evening of Sat, I booked us into a backpackers/hostel. This was a first for all of us. We each had a bed in one of two attached rooms, which had two bunkbeds in each room. The Pipi Patch was full of attractive young people, but there were a few oldsters. After checking in, there was still enough light for us to walk on the beach. There we found about 10-15 sand castles, some were really well done, with stick, leaf, seaweed, shell, and rock embelishments. We guessed there had been a competition. We checked out the town and ate gelato as we checked out the town of Paihia. As we had an early start in the morning, we had a couple shots at the bar before bed. The accomodations were adequate, and the price is great ($25 pp), but it's not my top choice.

In the morning, we got on the boat, Major Tom II. I forgot to ask what happened to the first Major Tom. Anyway, it was a nice boat, and we had a lovely day cruising around, watching the dolphins, eating, and napping. Though there were 8 poles out trolling for predatory fish the whole day, Darin and Eric caught 1 skipjack each. They are beautiful to look at, but not good to eat. Fortunately, we have a dog and two cats happy to eat them. Apparently, the water wasn't warm enough yet to bring tuna to the area. December was, after all, one of the coldest on record. So, they'll have to go back, darn it all.

What a beautiful place, it reminded me of Avalon on Catalina Island (California).