Month: December 2016

Monday: Made a few adjustment to a couple of the pens in order to make life a little easier for all of us, trying to give them something new each day so that they don’t get bored, hanging up a cabbage for them to peck or putting in a pile of hay for them to scratch through. The ducks are slightly different as they don’t eat much fresh stuff and are not bothered about scratching up but they do panic a fair amount when you go near them so I have put in a hurdle with a mat over for them to hide behind if they want to. The outside run covered in tarp is holding up but the chickens look decidedly fed up already, the netting still hasn’t arrived so I can’t even net the rest and let them have more space at the minute. Sam and I spent a couple of hours making bits for the Christmas feast table and then we did a mock up to see how it was going to look and I am quite pleased with the result, here is a sneak preview. 

After the afternoon feeding and egg collecting I had to give the quail a clean out poor things have been overlooked all week, then wash the dogs as they are getting filthy with this wet muddy weather. 

Tuesday: Another drizzly morning, at this point in the year I am hoping for more frosty days than not but the temps are staying quite high and so wet and muddy it is. We all seem to have settled into a new morning routine but as it’s slightly different I nearly forgot to let the geese out this morning and had to go back, they need to be kept in but the net I need still isn’t here I am beginning to think it will never arrive. 

Back indoors to sort out a bit of paperwork and some odd jobs including looking through presents I have got and what I still need to get, which thankfully is not much. 

Had Mia for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Wash the dogs again, I will be sick of doing that by the end of winter too 😖

Wednesday: I can’t believe how mild it is, I can easily walk around in a single layer and not feel cold at all. I probably shouldn’t though with this cough and sore throat malarkey, I will be glad to see the back of it and get a decent nights sleep instead of coughing all night. Did the morning rounds, most birds seem happy enough if a little over excited to see me, one or two are having a hard time in the laying flock, a couple are getting picked on, normally they would be able to keep well out of the way of any bullied but when confined it’s more difficult. I was thinking as I went round this morning that I can’t see the point of keeping them in really after all if the bird flu hits the area in wild birds there will be a cull anyway and you can’t stop the wild birds getting it. I feel sorry for the garden birds they are clearly used to feeding off my hens and ducks feed and now it’s not available to them, if the weather turns harsh there will be a natural cull of its own through starvation.

Got an early start on a stew for tea later and we plan to make mince pies this evening so I will be making pastry today. For the first time in a week I feel that normality, such as it is, has resumed and I can focus on the day to day stuff.

Went to get the Christmas tree, we always have a real one and in the old days the girls would go off with their Dad and bring back an enormous tree that we usually had to cut the top and bottom off of, in later years the girls did it between them and now everyone has left home I can at last pick a tree that fits nicely, does not take up half the sitting room and doesn’t need pruning before we can get it in 😜

I got the night wrong for mince pies but made the pastry anyway, ready for tomorrow night. 

Thursday: Went round and did the morning feeding, a bit of cleaning out etc and then take a battery to connect to the solar panel on the front chicken hut, as John has cleaned it out we decided to put some of the chickens back in there to relieve the crowded situation under the tarp area, it is a little on the dark side in there but with a light on it should be fine for around 15 chickens, and it’s got to be better than the muddy area they are in now. The netting finally arrived but although it’s very long it’s not really wide enough to cover the expanse I had in mind, if the ground becomes too unbearable I will move the last lot into a stable for the duration. A mornings work done outside, I am off indoors to do some ‘normal’ stuff and maybe catch up with The Walking Dead 😝

Did some sorting out of the spare room, my aim is to furnish and decor it for next to nothing, so far apart from new sheets and duvet covers for single beds I have blown a budget of 99p for a foldaway bed on eBay, everything else I have up-cycled, been given or had in storage somewhere, very pleasing. 

Made around 6 dozen mince pies in the evening with Shelley and trialled mince meat popcorn, I’m not such a fan of pop corn as the bits get stuck in my teeth and throat lol. 

Friday: Did the morning rounds, everyone seems fine and mostly happy, I have been giving them some butternut squash and apples to peck on to try and stop any boredom. Then indoors to tidy up and light the fire as I am off to Joshua’s little party for his friends for his birthday.

Came back and did the afternoon feeding and collected the eggs, I was worried at the beginning of the week that the customers were not coming but the eggs are going thick and fast towards the end of the week.

In between feeding and putting to bed, rumours began to emerge about a possible case of bird flu on a Turkey farm in Lincolnshire, as yet unconfirmed, time to prepare the geese for lock down, I cleaned them out quickly, put in new bedding and moved their water tubs inside, luckily both huts are big enough to house them albeit a little restricting. We will have to wait for the reports to be confirmed to see what happens next. 

Ordered some big bales of straw, we are going to need them, and the log delivery finally arrived, although we have cut plenty of logs from the felled trees they need to season for a year or more before they can be used. 

Saturday: I am not happy with the conditions the chooks under the tarp are living in, there are too many in there so after feeding and cleaning out we set about making a stable ready for 26 of the hens to move to, we moved 5 more to their original hut in the paddock making a total of 20 in there, it’s more spread out and more work but I feel it is better for their wellbeing in the long run. The geese were not too happy about being kept in but better safe than sorry I say, the delivery of straw arrived mid morning and after that I set about putting up the Christmas tree in the front room and decorating for the festivities. Commence the yearly battle to detangle the Christmas tree lights 😜 I really must put them away nicely next year to save me an hour or so! 

Early evening we went over to Charlie and Macca’s little cottage to sit by the fire and partake of some mulled cider, their first Christmas in their new home together and it is all looking very cosy indeed 😀

Sunday: I was up early and as some of the birds are indoors I can easily get started on the feeding and watering etc, again the geese were vocal about being kept in but they will get used to it eventually 😖 I have a poorly chicken, not bird flu though, but the one with the impacted crop that had it before, at the moment I have separated her and I will try and massage it free but to be honest it keeps happening so culling may be the only answer for her. 

Off to Sainsbury’s as early as possible so we don’t get trampled in the pre Christmas stampede to empty the shelves as if there is to be a holocaust!

Had a relaxing afternoon, then went to the pub for early evening drinks, great not to have to worry about shutting the birds away.

Monday Morning:

Busy morning, getting bits ready for Christmas, the home made tipples and goodies for presents, the sprouts picked, and the stock on the go for the big feast. 

I will take my leave now until the New Year and wish you all the very best for the festivities and luck and happiness for 2017, thank you for reading my blogs and being part of my life’s journey 😀

Monday: Cold and frosty again, on my rounds I notice that the orchard lot don’t have any water, John did them yesterday and obviously didn’t top up while the hose was defrosted, the nearest available water is in a water trough by the greenhouse so I break the ice and use that, it’s not the best as it’s been standing a while but the hens seems happy to have any kind of water, I will do fresh when the sun has thawed out the taps and hose. I lit the Rayburn straight away as the house got cold yesterday when we were not here to light it so I want to warm it thoroughly. While I am doing that I hear on the radio that it’s only just over two weeks till Christmas, WHAaaaT! I better get my schizzle on I haven’t even made any mince pies yet, normally I make them the first week of December so I am behind schedule 😜 All the while I am going about my daily stuff I keep looking to the front driveway just to make sure the little toe rags are not there, there is no money in there now mind you but still I will keep an eye out.

Roast shoulder of lamb for dinner tonight as I didn’t do any cooking over the weekend I better make up for it 😀 

Peering out the window all the times makes me realise just how much they need a clean 😝

Tuesday: Had Mia for the day so apart from the morning routine not much else got done! 

In the evening whilst catching up with Facebook I was concerned to see lots of posts about avian flu and DEFRA recommendations, I looked into it and it appears that poultry and caged birds are being put on a 30 day lockdown 😫 Sometimes life just keeps flicking bits of shit at you to make sure your getting a bumpy ride.

Wednesday: Guess what I will be doing today! After feeding and letting them out because there is no way I can keep them in this morning, I set about finding and ordering as much netting as possible. It seems we are required to house birds indoors or prevent wild birds from getting into the pens to access water and feed. The threat is serious, I have been monitoring the spread of the avian flu through Europe, mostly carried by migrating Geese and Swans, its spreading rapidly. So this morning I have managed to do the pen with the POL birds in which was easy, then half done the orchard birds but need to wait for netting to arrive before doing the top and after that god knows what I will be doing, I have stables I can use if I have to also a bay in the hay barn could be used, watch this space 🤔

The more I think about it, the more complicated it becomes as I have to fox proof everything too! 

By evening, we at least have a bit of a plan although it’s difficult to implement until the weekend as I need some muscle for some things, have to make do with John 😜. My hands hurt form using the staple gun to put up netting and my head is spinning from thinking about what to do and how to do it. Disinfectant is ordered for biosecurity measures and no one is allowed to go in with any poultry unless authorised to do so. We will be culling any ducks that are not necessary and if the enforcement carries on longer than 30 days some of the old ladies as well 😧 I need chocolate 😬and wine 😬 

At least I have Kirsties handmade Christmas to look forward to tonight 😀

Thursday: Oh my days another day of sorting out birds, Shelley came over first thing and with Josh in the pushchair watching we managed to round up the 20 ducks and herd them into the stable, it was a bit of a fiasco and certainly not something I could do alone due to the multiple escape routes available. Then we moved onto crating up and moving 20 hens from the front laying flock and moved them into the back pen, not easy as I had already let them out albeit into a smaller run. I had made a decision to mix them with the hens for sale and forgo the sales, not that there will be many sales now lol. Then Sam and Mia arrived and we set about making the orchard pen safe for the hens, we have a flimsy piece of wire one side but luckily some 4 ft fence panel, 5 in total, which we turned end up to make them taller and screws them together and fixed them in place. After that we began netting the sides of the run and the inside of the rabbit run which now has 15 hens in there plus Aaron the cockerel who thinks all his birthdays have come at once 😁 

Josh was still watching contentedly, Mia wasn’t lol, in between a sleep she was grizzly, probably wanted to be out helping or indoors playing. We then took up the electric fencing and made a channel between the hut and the orchard which I can hopefully herd the chickens through in the morning to their new abode. We stopped around 2 and Shelley went off for take out Costa while I lit the fire and Sam entertained the children, a good days work with plenty still left to do. 3pm feeding and egg collection time, by this time the disinfectant had arrived so I found enough tubs for foot baths and put those by the pens, put the birds to bed at 4.30 and then off to get a bit of shopping as I have not had time to make bread and visit an in law for his birthday. Tomorrow is another day and there is still much to do to stop the wild birds getting in. 

Friday: I can no longer say ‘the usual routine’ although the new routine will quickly become usual, John had a spare hour this morning to go and get the feed, that will enable us to start early on Saturday getting tarps up over the orchard area, we have a birthday lunch to go to right in the middle of the day so need to get a good start to the weekend. 

First job of the day was to move the front paddock laying flock into the orchard via our channel of fencing, this didn’t go as well as I had imagined it would lol, the chickens were very wary and although I managed to herd around 10 of them, the rest I had to catch, four escaped into the field and I had to leave them until they went to bed and then move them. Then I went round netting up any gaps that had been missed and finally used a replacement poly tunnel cover I had to put up over the small run with the fighting rabbit in as I have two chickens in there with it. The netting for the top of the orchard pen has still not arrived and any way we have decided to tarpaulin it instead although how long that will stay up I don’t know. The hens and ducks don’t seem to mind being moved in fact I think they are enjoying the change of scenery, for the time being at least. 

As everything has been condensed down into three basic pens, the feeding takes much less time than usual and eventually the bedtime routine will be very quick too, just need to sort out something for the geese, I think this will be netted pens attached to their hut until the danger is either over or more threatening. 

Saturday: Another round of trying to make the pens bird proof, this time John is here with power tools and tarps, so we spent a couple of hours sorting the orchard and got it half covered before having to dash of for Birthday lunch with the Mother in Law. Got back home and Shelley came with us to give me a hand doing some cleaning which I haven’t been able to get done all week while John lit the fire and fed the birds and collected the eggs. He reported that the tarps were not holding up to well so we may have to rethink the situation entirely, getting fed up with the whole thing now. Off to babysit Mia for the evening. 

Sunday: Getting bored with the whole thing now, first job for John was to clean out the Rayburn flue, we knew it needed doing as the fire was not burning properly, very lack lustre. Then guess what…………yep, onto the job of tarpaulin, it’s like trying to wrap a giant odd shaped Christmas present. The problem being the only ones the merchant had left were not big enough that coupled with two stinking great trees growing out of the area we are trying to cover, made life very difficult indeed. So in the end we decided to only cover half the area and if it blows down we will have to move them all indoors to the stables as a back up plan. We finished that around lunchtime and John went on to power wash and clean out the hut they are no longer using, at least we can do something positive in all this chaos, I went indoors to light the Rayburn which is now chuffing away well and get some proper dinner sorted for the first time in nearly a week, went the whole hog and did pudding as well, we certainly have earned it. Then after the animals got shut away for the night, off to visit the Mother In Law for her actual birthday.

All this and I have been suffering with a stupid cough and a throat that feels like razor blades, I’m pretty sure we are due some up lifting, good newsy stuff soon, pretty please.

Still have not managed to make any mince pies yet 😝

John went out to let the dogs out for a wee before bed and a fox was stood less than 10ft away, Patch looked at it, then he looked at John, then decided to chase it lol, needless to say he didn’t catch it although the dogs are fast, the fox is faster! 

Monday again! Dark this morning, did the animals then had to set about the paperwork I should have done Friday, it niggles in my head till it’s done, had the VAT quarter to do as well. Would have gone well except the bloody dogs were barking at fresh air and the occasional egg customer. Eventually after trying to tot up a column for the third time I shut them in the back until I had finished.We have started putting out large eggs for 1.40 a box, one of the reasons was that people were moving the eggs around to get the best deal, they were a mixed box at 1.20 but we have now changed them to small £1 medium £1.20 large £1.40 and any extra large will be £1.50 a box. You wouldn’t believe what customers do lol, not all, in fact not most of them just the odd one or two swapping them around, leaving IOU notes, making suggestions on how I should do things 😝 and rocking up at stupid hours, all in a days work I guess.

Now that the paperwork is out of the way I can concentrate on Christmas presents and we have a good few birthdays coming up as well, need to get myself organised. 

Topped up all the water in the afternoon feed session as it is predicted to freeze tonight and the taps won’t work in the morning. Also fell arse over tit while feeding, I usually cock my leg over the three foot electric fence but misjudged it slightly and my foot got tangled, this happens occasionally but I can normally right myself, not today, thump, down I went luckily nothing injured but pride 😜

Went over to Charlie’s in the evening to take a chair for them to sit on until their sofa arrived, came out to go home and the car windscreens were already frozen at 8.30, gonna be cold tonight! 

Tuesday: A cold, frozen morning but with the promise of sunshine on the horizon, the sun rising this morning actually looks as I imagine the Serengeti does, bathing the sky in a fiery orange glow. Thick socks today I think, I’m glad I did the water yesterday and I put in extra bedding for some of the ducks this morning. Also fed the geese some hard feed and apples as the grass, which is their staple diet, is frozen. 

Enjoying the Winter sun but it does show the dusty windows up 😜 I don’t know about you but I always think cleaning the windows in winter is a complete waste of time, however it will probably annoy me so much I will feel compelled to do it eventually. Meanwhile the kitchen needs a clean. 

Kitchen cleaned, bathroom given a wipe over, sitting room hoovered and polished, dinner prepped for tonight and organised tomorrow’s dinner too, and the Rayburn is lit waiting for the washing to finish to hang on the lazy Shelia. Now at this point I really should have thought, I’ll go outside and do some work in the garden, but to be honest my thought was to hell with it, I will catch up with the walking dead 😝 He who thinks that I obey him will have no complaints as there will be hot water, a warm, clean house, and dinner in the oven, jobs a good un 😘

Feeding this afternoon I discovered that the temps could not have risen much during the day, as parts of the ground where the sun didn’t reach are still frosted and my fingers got cold just handling the eggs. Another discovery on my return into the utility room was a mass (well 21 at a count) of dead flies on the floor! At least I know where they are coming from now, underneath a pipe, why, I have no idea, my best guess is the dogs have had a bone or some raw meat and it has got wedged underneath then flies have laid eggs ?? but I shall get the fly spray out forthwith and finish them off. 

Gonna be a cold one again tonight that’s for sure, we got a lovely flaming sunset though first

Wednesday: Fook its cold this morning! The girls coming up to do the horses said it was registering -7 on the car dash at 7.30am by my reckoning that means it went down to around -10 overnight possibly lower. No wonder then that when I let the ducks out in the front they immediately sat down on the grass and were shivering, a duck, shivering, never seen it before 😧 The chicken poo in the front hut floor was frozen, bear in mind there are about 90 chickens in there overnight all giving off a little heat, it was mightily cold indeed. By the time I finished scraping the floor the ducks had moved to the first ray of Sunshine coming through the trees, a tiny patch in the corner of their pen, I hope it warms up quickly these are the kind of temperatures that can kill older birds. Naturally I had to break all the water buckets this morning and it was quite thick ice, I need to get me a metal rod to break it instead of using my heel as that jars a bit especially by the time you get to the last bucket. 

Switching broadband providers today and Talk Talk decided to cut me off before BT had switched me on, thanks a bunch tossers, how the hell am I supposed to find out what’s happening in Faceland? I can’t even check the weather to see how much the temps are going to climb and decide when to light the Rayburn 😜

I decided to light it early, I can always shut it right down to tick over if it gets too warm, better to keep the house warm than have to start over later on I thought. Besides two rooms I needed to work in are cold rooms, the first the utility, the flies seem to have stopped crawling out ended up with around 40 of them, so a good Hoover in there might see and end to that little phenomena, then in the study to connect the broadband. To be honest I was expecting a rigmarole of plugging, unplugging, waiting, wondering when it will connect but nope, I plugged it in connected up and it was up and running, BT you get 10/10 so far 😀

Thursday: Uber cold overnight again, frozen water buckets etc, shan’t be doing much outside if I can help it lol.

My seed order arrived already, that was quick, I see I also ordered asparagus pea, my Mum has grown this before but I haven’t so it will be an interesting crop, I try to find recipes or information to print out for my customers and of course any tried and tested ones are a bonus, I also received a couple of free seed packets, Sunflowers, which I haven’t grown for a couple of years so I will definitely use them and some very long almost pink radish, hopefully they will be more successful than the black ones 😝

Spent a couple of hours doing some paperwork, tying up lose ends etc and then another couple of hours online Christmas shopping, in between that I was keeping the Rayburn stoked up to keep the chill off 😀

Had Mia for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then did then feed round and put more rat bait down the holes, I will get these bloody things, flies are still appearing, it’s a mystery! 

Friday: The temps have gone up thank goodness, I can get some fresh water to everything at last. Checked the rat bait, it’s still there so hoping I have managed to kill them off. Let the new ducks out and one of them is clearly not right, not standing up, flapping along the ground, when I picked her up she feels thin, no other obvious signs of anything wrong, bright eyed and nothing broken. Made up a pen for her inside the stable with good and water and hope she starts to pick up a bit. The yard reeks of fox this morning so we have a prowler, need to make sure I am on the ball at bedtime or we could have losses. After morning coffee out to put in fresh bedding and check on the duck, move a goose that somehow has flown over the fence into the next paddock and sort the utility room to see if I can find where these bloody flies are coming from! 

So events took a turn while I was out putting the bedding in, I was in the rabbit cage when I noticed what I thought were egg customers, then something about them make me think not, by the time I got out they had ridden away on their bikes with the egg money, little scrotes, I am bloody fuming and shaking with rage, only about a fiver but not the point. I reported it to the police and of course I have them on cctv, it’s the principle of the matter as far as I am concerned. Will have to have a rethink about the eggs now 🤔🤔🤔

Saturday: The usual stuff although the poorly duck didn’t make it through the night 😔

Then onto our favourite job, tree felling and chopping and splitting and shredding urgh I will be glad when they are all down. The cold got right through to my bones and it took me ages to warm up. I also spent the day keeping an eye on the egg shed and emptying the money every time someone came, the police called me back today just to get some details, I’m not expecting a prosecution lol but its the principle of the matter.

I ordered a nice new big shed for the duck enclosure, at the moment I have to bend down to get inside and collect any eggs, also cleaning out is difficult doubled over so a full height door and roof will be wonderful. The plan is to build a small platform inside with a ramp up to it, so they can get up to nest if they choose to. The older ducks have at least started laying again though the young ones are still to produce anything 😜

The rat bait blocks are still there so I’m guessing the rats are dead at last.

Sunday: Sooooo today after doing the morning feed routine we decided to go Christmas shopping, oh how I wish we hadn’t! The will to live began to fade whilst sat in the traffic on the approach to the car park, drivers trying to push their way in further up the queue, those who had got in the wrong lane and trying to get back out again. Finally getting into the car park, miles away from the shop cos that’s the only space left despite trying to tell hubby, who of course wants to park as close to the door as possible, that it ain’t gonna happen. First the toilet, guess what, another queue 😝 begin shopping, the first two shops I walked into, I walked straight back out again, rammed, the next was a little better so I dived in, overloaded shelves mean handbag hitting hazards all over the place. Honestly it’s like trying to take a trailer test, manoeuvring your way around various objects with the thinnest of aisles, your hazard perception has to be tip top to stop yourself bumping into people who have just stopped for no apparent reason, shufflers that you just can’t get past no matter which way you try to overtake them. Then there is the coffee break stop, the place looks like a refugee camp busting at the seams, with people and all their wordly goods clogging up the walkways, we opted for a table service option, quieter because you pay more, yep that’s fine by me. Hubby had a full English but was disappointed to find that a sausage was not included although it said on the menu it was, he becomes a dog that won’t let go of the raggy toy, excuse me, I thought I was supposed to have a sausage? I’m sorry sir I don’t know why you haven’t, by this time he has eaten most of the breakfast, it doesn’t matter he says. I finish my mocha and toast and we go to pay, I didn’t get a sausage he pipes up (I thought It didn’t matter?) I leave him to pay and wander off, he catches up with a broad smile as they have given him some compensation in the way of cake, personally if it was me, I would have given him a sausage! 

Carry on wandering and trying to fight through swathes of shoppers and in the end decide enough is enough, time to make our way home, the roads are nice and clear on the way out as we smile pityingly at the line of traffic still waiting to get in, should have got up earlier, hubby smirks. 

Did I get what I went for, not really, I ended up with stuff I didn’t even know I needed, by the time we get home, the dogs have their legs crossed and it’s as cold indoors as it is out because we weren’t there to light the Rayburn 😔 Make a cuppa, eat the free cake, at this point I’m glad it’s not a sausage, hubby lights the fire, feeds the animals and does the eggs while I make a sandwich and put stuff away. There ends my foray into the yearly crush and crunch that is Christmas Shopping, back to online shopping for me 😋