welcome to hencam.co.uk!
This year the chickens have laid 103 eggs so far!
latest news: building work progresses...
posted by Neil, 24 August 2010, 11:51am [more]
Don't be negative - think positive!!
I'm here too! :)
Haha, it'd be irreversible! It's really good actually, Animal Care pay for her to be spayed, and to have her second vaccinations done. I thought that was brilliant, especially because they only asked for a £60 'donation' for her.
Pfft, I doubt that very much :)
Haha! Yeah, I rarely meet people online at the same time as me :)
Ah yes, hadn't thought of that! Shame we can't use the same logic on our kids ...! (Only joking! I wouldn't have my wonderful grandkids if I'd done that!)
She needs to be spayed first, and has to be 16 weeks old before there's a chance that can happen, although the vet said if she was still on the small side they might have to wait longer.
I hope he does. We could all say we knew a famous author then!
Good news all round then Red! When are you going to let her out?
Posted By: KatebA story about what Red? Is it Uni work? No it's just another story I'm writing. I've written stories all my life, but the ones I finish I'm always too chicken to send them off to try and get them published! Lyle is the first ever person I've let read my stories even! If I get this one finished, I might try and get Lyle to persuade me to send it off
I do sympathise with them Red and hope its all over soon. Its rare to see anyone else on the forum at this time of night Red, nice to have some company!!
A story about what Red? Is it Uni work? Maybe the kids round your parts just can't read Ollie ... ! (seems none of them can spell nowadays!) Wish I'd thought of that CC - much quicker solution!
Feel like I am stalking you around the forum Kate ;) Mum says it's especially annoying because they have to go out the front door, down the outdoor steps to the bottom door, in through the kitchen to make tea and, when the food's ready, carry all the food and drinks out the bottom door, up the steps and through the front!!
Haha! She can't wait to get outside, Nelly. She sits on the windowsill and watches the trees blow in the wind, and tries to catch flies and stuff that fly past the window. She's such a changed cat now, such a brave and friendly little thing :) Her mum has finally got a new home, too, which is sweet.
I really feel for them - I think the builders do it deliberately so that you appreciate their final efforts that bit more!
Haha, I have no idea! All I know is the house is apparently a right mess, so I am glad I'm not living there!
I bet her personality will more than make up for it! I used to work with a lady who's cat was the size of a 4 or 5 month old kitten. Never grew any bigger. She said it was unbelievable to watch it try to drag a huge fat pigeon it had caught (that was bigger than she was) through the cat flap!
three bests: Was fab to see my parents in Settle the other day, and my dad's knees are a lot better now and he can actually walk again! Lyle's mum baked me some awesome vegan buns for when me and Lyle got back from camping :) And I typed so much of a story this evening, and think it's back on track! I got a bit of a writers' block and had to delete half a page or so, but it's there again now! Twenty-seven A4 pages long so far, so it's getting there
She is gorgeous. She's gonna be a small cat though we think; her mum was small, and compared to other kittens at Animal Care who are the same age, she is tiny!
Must be bloomin' big to take this long - or is it one poor lone builder with no one to help?!!
Everything deserves a forever home Lee! She's grown a lot Red! She'll be a cat soon!!
It will work Kate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes Kate it does have a forever we love it!!!!!
Lovely Pictures Red she is very cute!!!
Poxy technology; it can't be trusted...and now we won't see the pics. :( Ah well, you'll just have to go again!
God waited until I was halfway round the market, a long way from my car, then emptied his paddling pool all over me...:(
Posted By: KatebDon't want to say too much as the messages are open to all to read, but my boss has put me on course for a solution to the football fears. Fingers crossed it will work HOORAY! LANDMINES!!!
She's already grown!
Couldn't resist taking some more
They're getting two rooms done (one big one) and the hallway & stairs...
I missed my baby kitten whilst camping, so here are some pics of her snuggling next to me :)
All the small grassed verge areas on my estate have "No Ball Games" signs. They don't make much difference though. Maybe 'cos no one complains...
Thanks to Ollie I am now much more gnome-egable about gnomes. Brian hates them and I keep threatening to buy him one for Christmas.
Kate mixed families can sure be difficult, it is so hard to find balance, someone always seems to miss out.
How long is your building work going to take Neil? Are you sure you're not having a whole new house built?!
Oh that's awful, I'm so sorry Red. You'll have to go back and do it all over again to get the photos back. (Good excuse for another camping trip!) You will have to talk about it a lot so that you can keep the memories alive.
Don't want to say too much as the messages are open to all to read, but my boss has put me on course for a solution to the football fears. Fingers crossed it will work!
Thanks everyone, I'm sure their worries will fade with time. I see the train of thought there Ollie. I am surprised that the midwife didn't suggest propping him on his side as an alternative, but maybe she thought keeping him in a chair would help. That is also something I was told to do when mine were babies. The old suggestions are always the best!!
It'll be fascinating to see it when you've finished it Lee. I assume it has a 'forever' home with you - can't see there being much market for it ... or am I wrong?! (no offence!!)
LIkewise here NN. I think its having a break now, but hubby reckons they've forecast heavy rain all night.
Perhaps they were trying to hatch it!!!!! Another one to add for the winter - a good film on the TV.
Oh No Red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats horrific!!!!!!
oh it is alright now they must have been right on top of it before.
Posted By: chief chickenA man hears a knock at the door and answers it to find a snail on his doorstep. He picks it up and throws it down the garden. A year later there's another knock on the door. It's the snail. 'What did you do that for?' he asked. My dad used to tell me that when I was a little chiddler...
So did you have a good time camping Red?
A small page which will hopefully help you view the site with ease!
I want to help show my support for hencam!
By all means feel free to donate and help support the hens (more information here). You can also help spread the good word of hencam by looking at our wonderful (and weird!) chicken merchandise!
I can't see the streaming video - HELP!
First of all, try waiting a few moments - the streaming audio and video has to buffer a few seconds ahead to provide the best experience, so be patient! If you still don't see video, then some browsers will automatically try and install the correct plugin if you click on the area where the cam image should be, yet others will ask if you want to install an ActiveX plugin for video - click yes if it does!
If it still won't play, try installing Windows Media Player 11. There are versions for Windows and Mac.
- If you are using Firefox, install the Firefox Windows Media Plugin
- If you are using Opera, unzip this file into your opera/progra/plugins/ folder
- If you are using a Mac, then download and run / install this file - it should enable your quicktime to play the hencam stream - thanks to Penelope for the info!
If the streaming was working, but suddenly goes black and you get a "This Camstream is offline" message, then don't panic! It could be something as simple as me rebooting the PC - wait a minute and then refresh the page. Note that it may take anything up to a few minutes as the encoder has to start sending the stream to the server and then that has to in turn start broadcasting it to you, so you may get the "offline" message for a minute or two before the video starts playing - just keep refreshing the page!
The only time the streams will be down is if there is a power cut or I have connection problems, I'll do my best to ensure it's always up for your viewing pleasure!
As a last resort, contact me and let me know what browser, operating system and any errors you are getting (it's a last resort as I'm not too knowledgable in this area!)
Also, sometimes after installing the correct plugin the stream still won't play - this could be something as simple as your browser needing to be restarted! Try rebooting the PC and then visit hencam, and if all goes well and with a favourable wind, you should see the hens in all their video and audio glory!
Have you any information on the live streaming webcam?The live streaming images are possible thanks to the kind people at Streaming Solutions (www.camstreams.com). The sound you can hear is thanks to Pinklefish who bought the camera and donated it to hencam!
The streaming works by my PC capturing the video and audio from the camera, which is then encoded using Windows Media Encoder, which in turn is pulled from my PC to the servers at www.camstreams.com and they then send the stream to anybody wanting to view the video! It all means I can save my lowly bandwidth as I only stream to their server, they do all the hard work streaming to all the visitors!
There is more info on setting up your own webcam in the howto pages - have a read! If it's useful to you, please consider helping us by donating!
I have had quite a few people ask for help and for details on hencam's setup, so I have created a special page and document to hopefully give you all the help you need... Why not have a read! If it's useful to you, please consider helping us by donating!
Will my browser work with hencam?The site should work with the vast majority of web-browsers. It's been tested in Internet Explorer, Opera and Firefox, and on Mac OSX too, so you should be ok.
Why can't I see the webcam images?If you just see a blue screen where the webcam should be, or a "no stream" message, then the likeliest problem is that you don't have an upto-date Flash plugin installed. Try the following:
- go to http://www.macromedia.com/ and find the Download -> download Free Player page
- click the 'download now' button, and select 'open from this location'
- after the download finishes, it will ask you some standard questions, just click 'next' through them
- where it asks if you want to install the 'yahoo toolbar' - UNTICK this - you don't need it
Once it's finished, your Flash plugin should be upto-date and a whole world of wasting time watching hencam awaits!
If it looks empty, then the hens might have gone out of camera shot - they have a dust bathing area under the main coop which is quite hard to capture on camera. It's also possible they might have escaped too - if you see them running around outside the coop then let me know!
why isn't the cam updating / why are the hens not moving?Very rarely there will be a problem with the cam - either the webcam itself has crashed, or there is a problem with my wifi network, or my pc has crashed, or my Internet connection is down. I will do all I can to get things going again as soon as possible. If ever you suspect there is a problem, email me to let me know!
Why is the webcam image black?During winter it gets dark before I get home from work, so unfortunately the image might be black for a short while until I arrive to move the cam.
Is the cam really live 24/7?YES! We've put an awful lot of work into this (quite silly!) site, and it is continously live 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Unless we are experiencing major problems, you should be able to watch what's happening in the coop right *now*.
Doesn't the night-vision annoy the hens while they are trying to sleep?The night-vision is all possible due to an infra-red lamp in the nesting boxes. This doesn't actually give out any light - it's still pitch-black in the coop, it's just that the cam is sensitive to infra-red so it can record images as bright as day even in the dark!
Is there a way I can watch the cam on a small window without the rest of the site showing?Yes! Under the main cam is an "office friendly" link to open the hencam in a smaller popup window!