So today is the 28th day and we've been watching her for a month. She laid 13 eggs total. Checked on her this afternoon and she was still sitting there. Went food shopping and 2 hours later the nest was scattered, mom was dead, and only 9 eggs remained. One of the remaining had a peck hole in the side that didn't go all the way through, so I'm thinking she was attacked by a flock of seagulls. She had been spreading the eggs out so they weren't all under her at once (previously they were piled in a mound and she sat on top). I am guessing the gulls saw the eggs and attacked her. There were no cat tracks in the sand, but many webbed bird tracks. As soon as we realized what happened, we grabbed them all (most were hot still, especially underneath where they were on the nest, but a few were warm and one was a foot or so away from the nest and was cool) and we warmed them back up with a hairdryer (we were desperate to raise the temp quickly!) and now have them in a foam/fleece cuddle cup from my old guinea pig with a heat lamp over them. The temp got to 100 and I had to pull it back. I have a thermometer you use when you get sick in there to monitor the temperature. I candled them and see the air pocket and laid the eggs with the pocket up, but don't know what else to look for. There's no movement and no peeping. Praying these babies make it with a clueless unprepared human!

Oh, takadi, I see you have been sucked in by those idyllic photos of bug-eating, ground-tilling, fertilizing, weed-picking chickens in the gardening magazines. Sunset, English Garden, Martha Stewart- they all have this cute fantasy about chickens in the garden. I got sucked in too. I got chickens. They do not eat the slugs, or the earwigs, or the pillbugs, but they eat my garden. They till alright, they dig up every new plant and scratch the older ones to death. They fertilize alright, all over the patio and their manure burns the plants. They leave the weeds alone. If you want to get Silkies for pets, get two hens, build a strong, well-ventilated coop with a run, and go out there and pet them every day as you feed them their layer ration, clean their coop, check them for lice and mites, change their water, and collect the occasional egg. Take a look at this site to get more info on chicken-keeping, or buy "Raising Chickens for Dummies". It will give you the straight dope on chickens in the garden. Renee Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Chickens

It's not just salt water they want. We have a fresh water pool and it's not so much the water, but the white pipe around the return from the pool filter. My husband made valves where the water returns to the pool with 2 different shut offs. Depending how you adjust them one pipe returns the water directly in the pool. One has a spray head that sprays the water into the air over the pool to keep the water cooler in the summer because it gets way too warm if not. We live in South Texas, enough said and with adjustment it also makes water run down the slide.. The honey bees congregate all around the center of that pipe and more and more keep coming. Last year it was the white stair rail going into the pool, however we've been blessed so far, they are not aggressive at all. When I hook up the pool vacuum, I have to have my face ,hands and arms right in the middle of them swarming around me to get it hooked up and they haven't even attempted to bother me, Thank God!! I was a little concerned at first, but so far so good. Anyway, just saying, it's not the salt.

It does get wet, when the kids are jumping into the deep end.....normal play it doesnt get wet. I remember the salesman said splashing wasnt a problem, he just wanted to make sure we werent using it on a spillover spa, where it would be in constant contact with the water. We have no white deposits, really do not expect any...ever... but it was only finished the end of August. One day I did hose it down after the kids were doing constant cannon balls. No negative experiences, we love it. The b-bque installer did not suggest we use the stack stone on the other side of the island....he said you dont want to splatter grease while you are cooking onto it. If we did want to stone the inner side of the island, he suggested we seal it but he was hesitant to suggest that because he said it was a pain to do, it could change the color and then would require doing it every year. We also had the pillars stacked stoned and they look great. Here is a photo from when it was completed this summer. I will try to take another picture tomorrow.