Tag: Fox

Posted in Friesland Farm

Rain, mud and rabbits and rats 🤪

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday December 3rd : Oh what a dismal morning, never mind, onwards and upwards. At some point last night the electric tripped on the sockets in the office, I can’t find the offending item as everything seems to be fine now?

After the epic family feast yesterday I don’t feel too bad considering, I thought I would hurt all over but only my left hand is a bit swollen and stiff so I will call that a win 😀

As John has a pile of leftovers for bubble and squeak tonight I don’t have to think about dinner so that will free up some of the day, I have yet to decide what I will do, there are plenty of jobs indoors and considering the weather I think that’s where I will stay until feeding time.

The sun came out a bit later, I’m not keen on sun this time of year though as it’s low and shows up all the dust 🤣 no matter how much dusting it always comes back with a vengeance!

In the end I did go outside for about an hour until it started raining again, I did a few jobs that needed doing, replenishing the straw in a duck hut and a chicken hut, filling up the rat traps with peanut butter. I moved one of the traps to the greenhouse as I can see that there is activity around there, also rabbits have dug in under it 😝 We have a chap coming with ferrets soon to reduce the rabbit numbers but the rats are a different problem. I went out to the back pen which we cleaned out in the summer and I have put traps in there as you can see where they have ‘front doors’ under the concrete and I am hoping to put the hens that are in the front paddock in there over Winter, it’s the one used for selling hens but we have not got any at the moment and although I did say we wouldn’t do them anymore we may decide differently come spring. I want to move the ducks out of the big pen as well, into a stable probably, they will all be let out during the day but the pens just get really messy at this time of year so the less of a mess we can make the better and it gives the paddocks and pens a rest. The light Sussex are living in mud also, this was never the plan and we have a spare kennel out the front that I have my eye on to move them to, not sure how well it will work but it’s got to be better than what they are in now. Roll on the frozen weather (hush my mouth, did I really say that 🥴) seriously though it’s a lot easier when the ground is frozen.

The ducks in the veg garden will stay there, they are doing a sterling job of eating insects and weeds whilst manuring it all for me 😀 I just need to move their hut around a bit I think to stop the ground getting poached in certain areas. I ordered a sack truck to move the hut with, we have a really old one, and I mean really old, with cast iron wheels and all but it’s also extremely heavy before you start even loading stuff onto it lol.

I went out again to make secure one of the stables and take a broken hinge off of the kennel door, Sam and Mia arrived while I was out there and literally just as we were coming in the heavens opened with a vengeance lol, three sopping wet people 😝

Sam did the feeding and got the eggs in when she went out to check on Jack, and I managed to singlehandedly herd the ducks from their pen into the stable before putting everything else to bed for the night. That is quite a task because once ducks know where they are supposed to be going they are easy to move but when you want them to go somewhere new it’s panic stations lol. They will go into the stable overnight and be let out during the day to wander, the idea is that they can play in the mud and the rain, which they love, but they can go to a dry stable at night which is easier for me. The wet mud is slippery and quite frankly it’s depressing sliding around in it day after day! I have another stable to clear out and get ready for one lot of hens and the back enclosure for the other lot, they will all be allowed to free range during the daytime but again will come in off the mud for bedtime, as these are all under cover it should make life easier all round plus if we need to keep them shut up for the odd day we can meaning that probably Christmas this year we won’t have to leave anywhere early to go home 😀 that’s the plan anyhow 🤪

Johns Mum is still in hospital and he has gone straight from work to visit her tonight.

I’m am LOVING the bone broth I made, not so much the chicken one but the beef one is fabulous, I will definitely be making this on a regular basis, I didn’t think I would like it so it a bonus that I love it as it’s nice and warming on a cold day, as well as doing my gut good. I didn’t waste what meat was on the bones either, that goes into casseroles or stews for John.

Tuesday: Had Mia today

Wednesday: Up early because there are a few things I want to get done and I have an appointment at hospital this afternoon. First on the agenda is to get the kennel ready for the light Sussex, put a new hinge on the door, put down bedding and put in a perch, get some food and water in there and move the birds over. It all went well, although I nearly lost the first two as they made a bid for freedom towards the door I had just come in lol good job my reactions were quick! I have given them a pumpkin as an extra treat and it’s 100% improvement on the run they were in 😀

We lost a cockerel to the fox the night before last, it had scaled the 6ft fence again and got into the orchard where this lone cockerel perched up in the tree, it’s a shame as he was a lovely little fella.

I planted 60 broad bean plants in the polytunnel, hoping I have got rid of all the mice now otherwise they will be munched! They could go outside but there are too many beaks around that will eat them not to mention the rabbit that has set up in the greenhouse and I have spotted roaming the garden lol, also the weather here is pretty harsh at times so I figured they would have the best chance in the tunnel really. I’m still waiting for pea plants to arrive.

Then I went to clear out one of the stables, this one was made secure from the fox last winter and hopefully we can put at least 30/40 hens in there as their overnight accommodation. You can see by the picture of the other pen just how muddy it gets over winter and if we can eliminate some of that it’s better for all of us 😀

Great news at the hospital, all my bloods are bang on and looking very boring as the consultant said, which is a good thing😀 excellent, I must admit this week I have felt ‘normal’ so I knew it was all going in the right direction at last, onwards and upwards 😀

Thursday: As I am feeling pretty good now it’s time to start helping John in the mornings again, so he does the two lots of laying hens and I do the ducks, quail, light Sussex etc, I will probably be back to do all of it soon but just at the moment the feed buckets are a bit heavy, I need to build up to it lol. I checked the rat traps, nothing but def signs of activity still, I haven’t caught a single one in these traps and may have to go back to poison which is not what I want but then nor do I want to be overrun with them. The light Sussex seem happy, a little bemused at their new lodgings, but it’s so much cleaner and therefore better for their health. I did discover yesterday, not sure if I mentioned it but the fox also had one lot of quail, it has broken through the wire in the cage and had the lot so I only have one lot left now ☹️ I burnt some cardboard/feedbag rubbish, checked that my broad beans hadn’t been munched overnight and checked the daffodil bulbs and trees I planted. The small leaved lime tree has been eaten down to the ground 😫 I think I will grow the others in pots until they are bigger then plant them out. The wind must have blown the tree guard off and it’s got eaten as the other three trees are fine so far, there is still root in the ground though so maybe if I cover it, it will still grow, I can but try. No sign of the bulbs pushing up yet but it is a tad early for that, the ground does not look like it has been disturbed at all so that’s good.

Friday: I went out with Shelley to do a bit of Christmas shopping 😀 we both got annoyed by 11.30 when it started to get busy so went for lunch lol.

Saturday: A dry start to the day which makes a bit of a change, honestly it doesn’t seem to have stopped raining over the last few days and water is sitting on the surface everywhere 😜 As it was dry the job of the day was the flue and fire, both needed a good clean, so John got the sweep brush out and did the main flue, I had intended to do the rest but was busy doing a few other things so John did it. Now I’m very grateful for the help, no really I am 🤪, BUT….. when I do it I have dust limitation damage in mind so I’m very careful with everything, the first thing I see when I come into the kitchen is a big black soot mark on the wall where he has got his sleeve dirty then lent on the wall while cleaning out the back flue FFS, I cleaned it off and bugger me if he didn’t go and do it again when replacing the cover!!!!! And breathe……😀 He wasn’t having a very good morning to be fair because the outside light wasn’t working, he changed the bulb, nope, changed fuse, nope, tested the power to the unit, nope no power the cable is knackered, still no light after all that and the back door has moved again meaning it’s not shutting properly so he had to fix that, he only did it last weekend but the winds were quite strong and they shift the whole building slightly at times, roll on the day when we maybe get solid concrete foundations and these jobs don’t have to be done anymore. He has gone off to visit his Mum in hospital now so I get a couple of quiet hours to myself 😀

Sunday: It’s definitely getting a bit colder day by day, still rain most days though. Did all the usual jobs this morning, John got a few barrows of wood in and stacked, I cleaned out the duck hut in the orchard. Then we decided to go out for breakfast 😀 which was a nice treat, we went and got the Christmas tree at the same time though it won’t go up until next weekend, I managed to get a few little Christmas presents too. When we got back we lit the fire and sat down for the afternoon, John watching the snooker final and I did some online Christmas shopping and a bit of scrabble 😜

We have decided to move the hens in the front paddock to the back pen and will have to do this later at dusk as that will be the easiest time to catch them all up and transport them over.

Tomorrow I am off out on a Christmas pressie day that the girls bought me so you will find out all about that next week.

I thought I would just add this photo it’s not great but if you look carefully enough you can make out the buzzard on the gate post, it didn’t let me get near enough to take a great shot but it is around most days so I will try again another time.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Daffodils planted ✔️ trees planted ✔️ and a bucket of twigs.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday November 12th: A pleasant November morning, sunshine, not too cold, a little bit of mist hanging low over the fields.

John did the animals and birds and I did a bit of early morning tidying up, we had coffee then he went off to work and I sat down to order some lightbulbs for the kitchen light fittings. You would think that would be a straightforward fairly easy task wouldn’t you, it used to be, years ago, can I have a 40 or 60 w light bulb please with bayonet fitting, not any more. Bayonet, skinny screw in, fat screw in, LED, halogen, Edison filament, 5, 7, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60w (I’m making these up 😝) candle shape, vintage, globe, spiral, warm white, winter white, coloured, colour changing, dimming, non dimming, WiFi smart, I JUST WANT A BLOODY LIGHT BULB THAT LIGHTS UP THE KITCHEN WHEN I FLICK THE SWITCH, life has become far too complicated, I blame interior designers 🤪it’s as complicated as ordering a coffee these days!

Light bulbs now ordered, they look a bit like the one I took out with practically the same numbers so fingers crossed 🤞

I made another coffee, milk, one sugar, hot water, simple 😀

I prepped Johns dinner for later, he is having braised beef, I fancy beef and broccoli stir fry, then I got the Rayburn lit, a bit temperamental today so had to have two goes at it, then I went outside to feed the rabbits etc and check the traps. The rats traps have not caught anything yet but the mouse trap in the poly tunnel has its first victim, I do feel sorry for it but I need to grow peas and beans in there and not have them feasted on by mice 🐭 there are plenty of other places it could have set up home but no, it chose my raised beds in the tunnel, I guess it though it would be safe and warm in there 😝 I didn’t come out of resetting the traps without pain mind you so a bit of karma maybe, not that the trap got me but they are very sensitive and go off easily, while I was trying to place it, keeping my fingers firmly out of the way, it sprung, flipped up and smacked my little finger. This is one of the fingers I had trouble with back in the summer when I had a flare and it is still highly sensitive to cold and pain! It took about twenty minutes of deep breathing until the sensation died down, I am going to have to be very aware of it in the Winter months when the extremities get cold, I might need an extra ‘finger jumper’ under my gloves 😛

I need to start sorting out the ducks, well drakes to be precise, we have far too many, 5 Welsh Harlequinns and about 4 Khaki Campbell’s, I have put them up for sale on various duck sites but if they don’t go then I will have to process them for the freezer. We have the rescue ducks which are doing a great job in the garden, they are safe from ‘any further action’ and I have decided to invest in 12 new point of lay Campbell’s next spring as ours are getting past their prime laying age now and so we are only getting 5 eggs a day at a push from about 20 females.

Tuesday: I signed a letter today and emailed it to my local MP, it is to ask them to look at Agroecology in the upcoming Agriculture Bill, for the life of me I can’t see why local, sustainable, is not at the top of the list anyway but it’s hasn’t even been included.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agroecology

Each Winter I usually make up a spice mix to add to the chicken feed for a few weeks, previously I followed the ingredients that are in a poultry spice ready mix, buy them individually and mix it myself as it’s much cheaper that way. This year I am going to try a few different components, kelp and brewers yeast as well as the usual stuff like garlic, turmeric, and fenugreek just to see if it makes any difference. I don’t think it boosts the egg numbers but I do think it helps with their overall health in the colder months.

You will have noticed that we didn’t mention the red mite very much this year and that is down to the using the cardboard traps and regularly cleaning them out weekly and burning all the bedding and cardboard, it really is working a treat as we have not had the ‘boom’ that the warm weather causes, really pleased with this method.

We have plans to move the hens but John wants to increase the enclosed area first just in case they need to be kept in for any reason, the back muck heap is in the way at the moment so that needs all shifting first. One day we might just get it right lol. On days like today, when I feel ‘normal’ I really want to make plans to increase what we grow, but then on other days, when I am not much good for any work, I give up thinking about it as it all seems like too much work. I would like a few ‘normal’ days in a row really then I could make a bit of a difference, maybe eventually this disease will go back into remission and it will be full steam ahead again 🤔

Wednesday: What a fabulous day, sunny, mild and made all the better for getting all the daffodil bulbs planted. Mum and Ken came over, Ken on the tractor with the back actor digging the trench, about 100ft of it and Mum and I putting the bulbs in and covering the, back over. It really was the most pleasant few hours work I have done in a long time, glorious, I look forward to seeing all the little yellow heads next spring 😀

Thursday: Another half decent day and more planting to be done, this time trees, the ground is just about perfect, although it seems a little late, the weather we have had and are having has made the conditions just right for planting. I have planted a cherry tree (Stella) in the front paddock corner, a pear tree (concord) and an apple tree (Braeburn) in the veg beds and then a plum tree, a brambly apple, a sweet chestnut and a small leaved lime tree in the small back paddock that we planted the daffodils in yesterday. The trees at the back have tree guards on the trunks so the rabbits don’t eat them, the trees in the front areas have mesh around the base so the chickens don’t dig, the easy bit is digging the holes, it’s keeping everything off them that is hard work. I am not too worried about getting fruit from the two at the back they are more for the birds and the bees and to create a little copse, eventually of course the lime and the chestnut trees will be huge but that is very many years away and I probably won’t be around then lol. It will be nice to leave trees behind though for future generations to climb and forage on.

I divided two of the rhubarb crowns, one I will leave and do that next year, now, I can’t decide wether to plant them and have even more rhubarb or not, I think I will definitely plant at least one.

Set some more mouse traps, so far I have caught two in the tunnel and two in the pallet stack out the back, they definitely like peanut butter!

John has chicken casserole tonight and I have korma, rice and peshwari nann, I used to make the korma from scratch when the girls were all living at home but this one is a 1,2,3 packet, I think I will go back to making it and try freezing some of the sauce. Shelley made homemade nann bread the other day and said it was easy to do so I would like to give it a try and as my favourite is peshwari I will def be making the filling 😀

Friday: Mild again, I let the dogs out before it got light and stood outside in my PJs thinking, I’m not even cold!

John did the birds before going off to work and I ended up doing the housework, I hadn’t intended to but I got a bit tired of noticing the dust 🤪 so now I have a sparkly house, well clean enough anyhow.

Saturday: Turned into a lovely day, bit chilly first thing but the sun came out eventually. John did the birds while I put some washing on etc then we went into the garden to move some of the muck mountain onto the veg beds.

I also cut all the tops off of the broccoli plants and fed them to the rabbits, I am going to leave the stalks and see exactly what happens, they may rot away or they may sprout again who knows but there is nothing to lose by trying. They have already been good value because first came the broccoli heads, then after they were cut came the sprouting stalks which went on for ages, now greenery for the rabbits 😀 After that I went on to prune out the gooseberry bushes and the blackcurrants, just thin them all out so that I can pick the fruits more easily next year. I also lifted the canopy of the Mulberry tree, I found it difficult to get into and pick the berries this year as there were a lot of foliage and branches in the way, hopefully I will be able to get under and work upwards next year. All of the woody cuttings from the blackcurrants, mulberry and a few apple branches, I have cut up into smaller pieces for the rabbits, it may look like a bucket of twigs but it’s actually good fodder for them over the winter months.

Sunday: Definitely getting chiller by the day, Josh stayed over last night and so John did the animals this morning while entertained and breakfasted him 😀

Due to various reasons we didn’t get much else done apart from the usual, in the evening Charlie came to pick me up to go to the cinema, just as we walked out the back door she shouted FOX. It was in the front paddock so we sent the dogs off round to chase it away, John had said that a hen had been got inside the electric fence in the side paddock ☹️ that is hooked up to the mains and supposed to keep it out, the battles are never ending. We seem to have a lot of undesirables at the moment both animal and human, theft in the village is rife at the moment with a notification every other day coming in about sheds broken into or number plates nicked or car windows smashed to get at belongings, what’s wrong with people, I despair 😩