Making Waves

They were so utterly happy when we opened their pen, yesterday morning.

It took them about three minutes before they ventured out, but found the pond straight away.

 Look at his wingspan.

Loads of fun and I could have stood there all day, just watching them. Unfortunately the sitting room called me to start painting. Pffft. 😓

Have a fab weekend !

Patricia xxx...x 😸

PS Did you notice ? Blogger has emoji 🙌

Ducky Business

Here we are. Ready for business. 

Adding to our livestock. 

It's a boy ! And 3 girls. 

They are Muscovy ducks.

Cyril, is his name, with his ladies, safely tucked in the pen for the next few days. 

After that, they can make use of their larger enclosure which also contains the pond.

Their wings won't be clipped and they might well end up back at their former home at Maggie & Richard's (our friends and neighbours). At least they will be able to escape predators and that's all that matters in the end.

Patricia xxx...x

Oink Oink

It's been a while since I posted something about these girls.
They just go about their daily business of eating, sleeping,  rooting, playing and .....
escaping.

Well, it is not a daily business, the escaping, but often enough. Little bastards.

Each time we repair and reinforce the fence some more. Next step. Rolls of barbed wire. That'll teach'em.

These little madams  have about half an acre to roam on, but oh no, they prefer rooting in this piece of stony ground.

This lot doesn't seem to grow as fast as our previous pigs. In my opinion that is probably because we don't feed these ones 'finisher'. They are fed with fermented oats and barley, barley meal and whey (to which they are addicted) We also give vegetables and fruit from time to time, but it's not their favourite. You'll get their full attention when you come with a bucket of fresh grass clippings. Nom nom nom.

At this rate they'll be here for a while yet. That's fine by me.

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Irma La Douce (the white chicken in the front). She was not well and we had to bite the bullet and relieve her from suffering. RIP, lovely girl.

Patricia xxx...x

Hilarious !

Well, I think it is funny. But then, I'm easily amused...

Remember we had just the one chick ?

The chick has grown considerably and they have joined the rest of the flock in the 'big house' a while ago.

When the sun sets the chooks go in for the night and perch high up, on the rafters of the hen house, waiting for one of us to come and close up for the night.

And this is what we witness every night.

Mammy's boy or Mammy's girl is not yet clear, but every night the 'little one' nestles itself underneath mother. Sometimes facing the same way, other times like in the picture above.

How long this is going to last for, I don't know.

Hilarious.

Patricia xxx...x

The Survivors ...

are safe for now.
But not before that dastardly mink paid a second visit in broad daylight. We were just on our way to get the survivors to a safe place when we heard the commotion. It ran off, after some serious chasing by Bert, Nil and me.

The dogs had to move out of the garage to make room for these two.  

The Wendy house for chooks was easily moved.

They have gotten over their initial shock and it is obvious in their behaviour that they feel secure now.

The boot room has been emptied (of destructible-by-dogs-things) and the dog beds placed underneath the stairs. Xena, the cat, likes this setup.


A mink trap has been placed in the chicken coop at the suspected entrance. Fingers and toes crossed.
Now we'll have to put our thinking caps on, how to secure the chooks in future, which will involve a lot of  hard labour.

Patricia xxx...x



Edited at 9 am to add. We trapped it !!!!

An Eerie Silence...

....has come over the hen house and run. But I  am inwardly screaming, pinking away a few tears.

We always say goodnight to the girls and Arthur the 3rd, when they are settled high up in the rafters of their home, before we close the door. We didn't clip their wings, just so they could find higher ground in case of an emergency.

This morning when Bert went to say good morning he thought to himself that it was so quiet. Normally there is a lot of racket going on while Arthur is chasing the girls for a bit of nooky.

When he opened the door he was in for a shock. 

Two hens have escaped the carnage that happened during the night or early morning. A consequence of the tiniest hole that would accommodate a mink !

This is the least offensive photo of the carnage.

Mammy hen and baby where safe in the Wendy house. The question is for how long ?

And what about the two survivors ? I can't possibly let them sleep there again tonight.

I am quietly screaming !

Who Lives in a House Like This ?

Nope ! It's not the volunteer Nil. Lol @ Jules.

Broody Hen Number One has finally squeezed a chick out of an egg !

And we moved them into the Wendy house. They were making themselves vulnerable to foxes, crows, magpies, mink and whatever else, by fleeing the chicken run and wild camping.

The turquoise arrows are for your benefit or you possibly wouldn't spot the chick.

Thank goodness the broodiness is over for another year (or so we hope)

The other chooks are thinking what tasty bits did they get ?  The same as you, but you wolfed everything down in no time. Tssk.

Finally the Chicken Wendy House is in use.

Have a great week.

Patricia xxx...x

Meanwhile on the Farm.

How about this, eh ?  The broilers have a new feeder, fabricated by Bert (after I had shown him this on Pinterest). 

Nevertheless, he had taken me by surprise because I din't know he was doing this. They now have two such feeders and it is mucho better than the one on the floor, which is always full of wood shavings.

And this is how you fill the feeder. They get a mixture of chick crumb (which they prefer), mixed grains and an organic complete chicken feed, which comes in pellets.

We bought a spring cabbage and hung it on a piece of string in their enclosure. Oh boy, do they love this.

Now about the piggies. I uploaded 4 short clips of  the little rascals. Be sure to turn up the volume and start with the first one.

Piggies, working away outside. Bert walks by and into the barn.

They have to come around the bank and the corner and then they wait to hear Bert in the barn.

They go in and ..... I leave you to see (and hear) for yourself.

That's better !

They are addicted to milk whey. 

The first time we got some from our friends Sophie and Ruud, they weren't convinced. Now, all has changed. They 'demand' or pester us for it.

Talk about conditioning. The pigs ? Or us ?

Have a pleasant week ahead !

Patricia xxx...x

Broiler Chickens

Ahem.

Yes, we eat meat.

No, I don't have to justify myself.

I prefer to know where my meat comes from and reared as freely and natural as possible. If we can raise the animals ourselves, all the better.

So here we are. Fifteen broilers, now just over two weeks old. Friends of ours also raise their own and when they got theirs we asked to bring us some too.

The little chicks were only one day old when our friends bought them. They kept these and their own 35 under a heat lamp for a good week.

The chicks have been here now since Friday or Saturday ( I can't keep up with the days) and they are doing well.  

They run after  flies, midges, buzzing things..., they eat a lot of food and drink copious amounts of water.

They love to stretch one leg and one wing at the same time, which I find funny.

In short, they are healthy and content as far as we can see. We keep a watchful eye to make sure that it stays that way.

I have added a very short video clip just to see if this malarkey works.

Patricia xxx...x

We Still Have Time for the Dogs

The weather has been glorious and we've been spending a lot of our time outside. The garden, lots of weeding, planting, sowing. The chickens who have been giving us the runaround and not forgetting the piglets who need a watchful eye.

The dogs still need attention and love and cuddles. Which we give aplenty whenever we're passing. 

With this heatwave (yes, heatwave) they are happy to just lay somewhere cool with the gentle breeze washing over them.

Blackie and Millie. Millie is the beige one ;)  

I love our dogs.

Over at the chooks, not all is what it should have been.

Broody Number One, who came from the barn back home first, sat herself down on a nest in the main coop - without any eggs.

Broody Number Two went back home and was so over being broody.

Broody Number Three was still on a nest in the barn till we moved her over to the Wendy house.

But not before I laid fresh straw with a sprinkling of, wait for it...

Sprigs of Thyme, rosemary, oregano, cat'flippin'nip, mint, lavender, rose petals... Got the recipe off Pinterest. It is supposed to calm and relax broody hens. Bert thought I was totally losing it. 

He took Number Three and I took the egg (one - 1) she was sitting on.

I placed the one egg in the nest of the Wendy house and Bert place Number Three on top.  Closed the lid.

Fifteen minutes later when I checked on her the egg had rolled into the wood shavings and she was sitting next to it. Thank you, Pinterest.

We decided to leave her to it for a while and provided her with food and water.

The next morning she wanted out ! Out ! Out ! 

We opened the door into the large run and she happily joined the rest of the gang.

About Number One. She's not giving up. She stole 2 eggs the other hens had laid and she's content.

We'll leave her be.

Patricia xxx...x

A Wendy House for Chooks

Broody hen Number Two has left the barn and her eggs behind for home. She really has had enough ! Scratching away with the others and no sign of broodiness anymore.

Broody hen Number One who came home a few days ago is still sitting on the nest, but in the coop, trying to hatch straw.

That leaves us with broody hen Number Three. She is still in the barn. But soon we will need that enclosure for 15 broilers, so madam will have to move again.

On Wednesday, I surfed the internet to see what's available in hen houses. We need something for broody blummin' hens and hopefully a chick or two.

Found something and ordered it. Today it was delivered, in flat pack.

Fragile, indeed. I don't think it would stand up to one winter storm. But...we can easily bring it into the barn once everything returns back to normal in the hen household.

We started assembling the Wendy house straight away. It looks like a doll's house next to the other one. 

Saturday evening, Number Three will have a new home near her other family. Fingers crossed it'll stand up to scrutiny.

  

Flappy is thinking of moving in.

Patricia xxx...x