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| << January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 >> |
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1st: Wet It's safe to say, February has begun as January finished!   |
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2nd: A promise Today promised to be light rain showers. It all began well: we had a stunning rainbow, the alpacas looked so pleased to be out, two hours later the heavens opened big time and the sheep said 'thanks, but no thanks, and headed back in! Thank goodness we have the inside space we do and everything can be strawed out, topped up with hay, comfy and dry!    |
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3rd: Friend of Foe? Friend or foe? The alpacas still haven't quite decided... Sparrow on the other hand is very sure about she wants...  |
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4th: Green egg Mega chuffed and slightly amazed. The chicken pictured, Queenie's granddaughter and affectionately known as Barn Chicken for reasons that are possibly obvious, has just laid her first egg. Her mum (Queenie Blue) is a blue egg laying Legbar/Queenie (Pekin Bantam) cross and her dad is an Indian Game so, she is in effect, 1/4 Legbar. Her egg is on the right, Queenie Blue's on the left. Her egg is the most delicious pale green colour and we have no idea why. We thought blue was recessive and we also thought only Blue x Dark Brown gave Green. Indian Game eggs are a very pale brown. Whatever, we are very proud of her and her contribution means we now have five blue/ green egg layers in our little flock of 18.   |
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5th: The Incubator is on Two days ago, we set our first goose eggs of the year: 16 in total although we are fairly sure the first week's worth (8) won't be fertile as we saw no gander activity at all at that time. We have hopes for the second lot though!! In previous years we have had the incubators in the spare bedroom but this year we have everything set up in the old shower unit in the utility room. It will hopefully be easier to monitor and less messy too. Fingers crossed the incubator can keep consistent temperature and humidity levels.   |
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6th: A beautiful Day Today we had wall to wall sunshine till mid pm and the sense of hope for the Spring was delicious. The sheep and alpacas certainly appreciated the time outside, although probably wished their field was a green as our neighbours!!!  |
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7th: Just so cute Our goats are just so adorable. We are getting very excited about kidding, a mere month away now - although we are slightly panicking that Garlic may not be pregnant again. She seems to be quite rotund but there is no sign of a growing udder yet!! Time will of course, tell. She didn't get into kid last year which we put down to us miss-handling her time with the billy but.... maybe there is a problem. Be sad if there is, especially as we want to sell her with kids in tow!   |
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8th: Drying in the sun A very proud sight: David's spun and washed alpaca skeins drying in the sun, all set to be rug number three in due course.  |
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9th: And here she is.. So this is Madam Garlic who may or may not be in kid and who we may or may not end up selling. She is basically her mum: a madam, bossy and a bit of a loner. We are so hoping she does have kids and we can them sell them as a full family unit, ready bonded and hopefully destined to stay together. All will be revealed (or not) in 5-6 weeks!!!  |
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10th: Mini Beast from the East This week is cold, very cold and the land is frozen and it's a sign of how bitter the temperatures are that they rhea have been using their shelter to lie down in - and, rather interestingly, the lee side of their feeder too, where this morning we caught all 4 greys lying down in a row on the westerly side. We haven't had the snow that was forecast but we are getting the winds and the cold. It's a joy to no longer have mud and a massive comfort to know that everything can take shelter and avoid the plummeting temperatures.  |
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11th: Such beauty We aren't biased but seriously, setters are just the most beautiful dogs!!!   |
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12th: Bitterly cold still As the cold continues, everything is nonetheless outside in the sunshine because it is dry. We are thankful for our IBCS as this is our only water source now due to taps and hosepipes all being frozen. Every morning we break the ice on all the troughs and drinkers, much to the delight of the dogs and then when we head back inside, how grateful we are to change into trousers that have been hanging over the radiators and are deliciously warm!!!   |
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13th: Fingers crossed for goslings We have now set 17 geese eggs in the incubator and are mega excited about hatching - fertility rate in the first set wasn't great, only 3 out of 9, but we are at the start of the season and this year our females began laying very early indeed.. but time will tell and we know that hatching geese is no where near as successfully as chickens, turkeys and ducks!!  |
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14th: Heartbreak There can be no smallholding sound more pitiful and heart-breaking than a new mum, calling for its new-born baby, the same new-born baby that you have just helped her give birth to, premature, still-born and (almost) perfectly formed.
Sorrel, on the right (Coriander, her daughter from three years ago on the left), went into labour this morning. It was day 129 and so we knew from the outset this was almost definitely 'not' going to be a happy outcome. The chances of survival at that stage (goats usually give birth between day 145 and day 155) are massively slim as the lungs just aren't sufficiently developed to do their job. Dear Sorrel made the situation a little easier for herself and for us by doing a great deal of the hard work herself. The kid presented ear first (a new one for us) and she managed to virtually push the head out. No sign of any feet though so we intervened, pushed back a bit and then pulled and out she came: a beautiful girl, with a dark brown head, a few patches of white and a not quite formed vulva (not sure if this was normal or not!). A quick check convinced us there probably wasn't a second kid (thank goodness) - as well as checking internally, the vet also advised us to do the 'fist' check where we pushed our fist as hard as we could in the area immediately behind her udder and to both sides. If we felt a hard lump, that would probably have been indicative of a second kid. If the whole area was soft and squidgy, then not! We have no idea why Sorrel aborted and without tests, never will do. There are countless reasons why goats abort. Something as 'simple' as being stressed by the weather changing can do it. Our only other experience was our very first ever kidding 12 years ago where we lost twins at a similar age thanks to tick-borne fever, which itself covers a multitude of sins. We are keeping a very close eye on our other 3 nannies as if we get a second abortion, then we are in trouble and will have something unpleasant on our holding that will need dealing with!! Sorrel is still crying this evening. When we go to her she cries even louder, comes over for a cuddle, stops crying and then as soon as we leave her, she starts again. Our hope is that when the others give birth in three/ four weeks time that she will become a surrogate mum to one of more of those kids. It's not uncommon in a goat herd, especially if there are sets of triplets and/or the goats are very closed bonded, as is the case here with Sorrel and Coriander. Two years ago when Coriander kidded, she had triplets. It was her first time and she was, to put it mildly, rather shell-shocked. Sorrel helped then by feeding the smaller of the three, as well as her own two. It's all very horrid and not the best of starts to our lambing and kidding this year. BUT physically Sorrel seems fine; touch wood, the rest also seem fine at the moment; and life will go on - just not for Sorrel's offspring this year!!!  |
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15th: Colours We kept two of our own home grown cockerels from last year's hatching in order to introduce more colours and genes into our flock. This chap and his brother (who is darker) were from eggs we bought in so aren't related to our females. We still have a Jubilee Indian Game who is now four years old. We won't hatch many (we say this now..) but as usual aim to have a few youngsters to keep us in eggs in the autumn as the older birds slow down - any cockerels will end up as dog food!!!  |
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16th: Compost Play Area We set up a mini compost heap in the poultry barn today: it is just inside the entrance so we can keep it moist and let it pile up, and with a bale or two to keep it contained, it hopefully won't get spread around too much. All part of the plan to keep the birds entertained and active as they continue to spend winter under lock and key.  |
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17th: Feeding time The routine with the sheep and alpacas works so well: they spend the nights inside, are let outside in the mornings and then a quick call sees them heading back inside later afternoon for supper and settling down in the straw!!  |
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18th: Beautiful day We are getting a lot of sky for our money here in North Devon today.. a sign of things to come.  |
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19th: Teething problems Sparrow had to have one of her baby canines out today as it was refusing to give way to the adult version. On the other side of her upper jaw, the baby one has gone but the adult one is small and discoloured which the vet put down to Enamel Hypoplasia - caused possibly by a knock or trauma. Essentially the tooth is damaged in the gum area and the enamel doesn't form properly. It can be genetic but as only one tooth is affected, this is most unlikely on Sparrow's case. The vet wanted us to take it out but our policy will be to wait and see - if it doesn't bother her or become infected, we will leave it be... for now!!  |
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20th: Spring? We have frogspawn and snowdrops!!   |
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21st: Trying to smile This is a face that is trying to smile but when you are 3 weeks off kidding and it's your first time and your mum isn't here anymore, it's not easy.  |
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22nd: Bit by bit Slowly but surely we are getting the veg plot sorted so all is ready for when things start growing and/or can be planted out. We have been concentrating on the fruit area, getting the posts in so we then string wires across to support the raspberries and blackberries. All the beds for the veg are covered in old dog mats so that the grass is well and truly killed ready for rotavating and planting. Here's to a good spring and keeping in top.  |
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23rd: Foot trimming We trimmed all the alpaca hooves today - it is not a long job but they don't enjoy being held and having to be handled. As usual the white ones were worse than the brown, Ceres in particular. For some reason the keratin is more vigorous in the paler animals and often nails and teeth grow faster. Hopefully they won't need doing now till shearing, sometime end of May/ June!  |
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24th: Alpaca Rug Number Three This one is being sent off as a gift!  |
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25th: Sunny Day |
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26th: Making the most of it The ducks are doing okay despite the poultry lockdown and lack of outside access - as Muscovies are flyers, it helps that they have 'flying' room and perches in the barn so they can still have a fair bit of exercise. Here are three of the girls discussing all the things they will be doing once freedom is allowed.  |
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27th: Beautiful day Today was warm, dry and sunny and just perfect.   |
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28th: More on the Allotment Another stage in getting the allotment sorted. We have now removed the fence between the main beds and Lynda and Andrew's area so we are now all as one. In due course we need to get a new fence up further down by the machinery (old cow) shed so we still have a smaller plot for collecting stock if needs be.  |
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