Wow, what a day! A full days work, a trip to the farm supply store (for chick food!), the grocery store (for human food!), and I came home to babies... babies, babies, BABIES!
Brown Manetta has hatched 9 babies so far. One little white guy didn't make it, and it's looking iffy for another. It kind of looks like Brown Manetta may have had a visitor in her dog house while I was gone, which may have caused the casualty. But, the rest are doing remarkably well.
I ended up taking 6 of the babies from Brown Manetta tonight (3 white ones and 3 black ones). We tend to have a higher survival rate when the babies aren't raised out with mama and wild predators, stray cats, etc. So, until I can get them set up out in the barn in their chick digs, they're in our bathroom in a tub under a heat lamp enjoying a bit of faux sunshine.
Tomorrow, I'll probably take the other two chicks from her, depending on how they're doing, and if she's hatched any more babies. She's still sitting on 7 more eggs. I left two babies with her so she would still have little ones with her while she continues to sit on her nest. And, the peeping from the babies that have already hatched are kind of like alarm clocks for the babies still in their eggs. Phwew! This is a LOTTA babies for a mama to hatch at one time (even with 1 casualty!)
Tonight is also the night I drew the winner for the Crafty Secrets Blog Candy that I posted about on Tuesday. I asked about your favorite technique, and it was fun to hear all of the things you're doing lately! There are lots of you watercoloring, using Copic markers, sewing, using a brayer, and even distressing! It all sounds absolutely FUN!
I used the random number generator and selected one winner to receive the loot. Congrats to Beth B (tired mommy to a busy 4.5 yr old)! Beth, get in touch with me and I'll get your goodies out to you right away!
Thank you to everyone who played along! Now, I must tend to the critters...
PS: The card I posted was made using one of the images from the new Crafty Secrets booklet called Childhood. What a cutie, eh?
CONGRATULATIONS Beth B. and enjoy your goodies!!
Cute card! TFS.
Posted by: Juanita | May 03, 2008 at 10:16 AM
CONGRATULATIONS Beth B. and enjoy your goodies!!
Cute card! TFS.
Posted by: Juanita | May 03, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Uuuugghhh back at ya, Anna! The shadow around this little guy is masterful. I just kept looking and looking at it. (The rest of the watercoloring is amazing too--it's just that a beautifully done shadow is a wowser to me!)
Posted by: Debbie Olson | May 02, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Congrats to Beth, congrats to Brown Manetta (Holy Hatched eggs, Batman!)and congrats to you too Anna. You're running a marathon with all these babies and still finding time to take pictures, make cards and post everything to your blog. I know this will probably give my age away, but I remember reading books with similar images as your card when I was young -er! How very sweet your card is...
Posted by: Barb Hardeman | May 02, 2008 at 08:38 AM
Congrats Beth!
You are gonna need a whole lot more chicken feed!!! Wowser, I would keep Brown Manetta around and happy cuz that Momma knows how to deliver! HA... no pun intended. Love the card and I think I am going to go over and treat myself to some of these!
Posted by: Michelle Oatman | May 02, 2008 at 07:45 AM
Congrats Beth!!
Such a sweet card!!! You'll have to show us pics of all those chickies!!!!
Posted by: Diane Lapointe | May 02, 2008 at 07:03 AM
She is one busy little hen! I bet they are just so cute right now. Congrats to Beth on her win! Love your card. I must get my hands on these Crafty Secrets treasures!
Posted by: Viv (VivLyn) | May 02, 2008 at 03:23 AM
"Congrats to Beth B."
*Another Cute Card...
Looks like a classic!!
Posted by: Dee | May 01, 2008 at 09:23 PM
Baby chicks- how sweet! Quick story about chicks in the bathroom- when I was about 4-years-old (yes, a long time ago) my father was in undergraduate school and was one of the biology lab assistants. One weekend, after everyone left, the chicken incubator fizzled out leaving it full of eggs unattended. Dad knew he was the last one left in the lab, so he packed ALL of the eggs in a carton (can't remember how many but a bunch) and brought them home and set them up with a heater in our bathroom. Being poor college students with a child, my parents had a small single bathroom home! Needless to say, it was quite a mess in the bathroom with chicks popping out everywhere. We were able to save quite a few but mom didn't let him live down the fact that he ruined her bathroom rug for many years to follow!
Posted by: Beth | May 01, 2008 at 09:23 PM