The Big Shake and Feathery Bumblebees

I think everyone is still pretty shaken from the large earthquake we had here Thursday night. Although it was downsized to 6.6 on the Richter scale it still packed a punch and created so much devastation in Gisborne. Mishka ran around barking while it shook while I watched in horror as the television shook and wobbled and looked like it was going to fall off the bookshelf it sits on. However nothing fell or broke although it took me a while to settle down for the night.

My main concern though were for the newest arrivals here. A bantam hen had gone broody a month ago. She had become prone to lurking around the front lawn on occasion yelling abuse at me. Thursday 13th December I went outside at 6.30am and heard her clucking and then some answering cheeps. In a panic I grabbed Kit and yelled at the dog, bundling them inside before I went to find a wire cage to put the new family in. Of course the grass had grown throught the one I wanted to use and it took another 15 minutes to pull all this out. I threw in some old hay for bedding and took it round to the lavender bush the hen had laid her eggs under. I counted five small bumblebees sheltering under her wings. Knowing I could tempt her out with mash I mixed some with warm water and put it in the cage. She was starving so rushed in while I collected the chicks and put them in with her. They weren't hungry so I assume they'd only hatched a couple of hours before.

I put the cage under the carport at the front of the house as i figured this was sheltered from the elements. They did well there until it began to rain this past week and began to flood in there so I placed the cage onto the front step where they were out of danger. A week later they've thrived and are beginning to get their wing feathers. At this stage I've sexed four pullets and one rooster.


Also happened to spy the first monarch butterfly I've seen up here. It was trying to find the swan plant I'd planted beside the garage so I assume that's now covered with eggs. Not great news as it's only about two feet high!