Well its been a hectic couple of weeks here, so a bit late in posting. We have had some friends staying up here for a long weekend, it was lovely to see them, but it also make you realise how much you miss seeing them, so was a bit down when they went back down to Sussex.
We did, however, re-fenced the paddock, after finding out that Penny is an escapologist and that she seemed to enjoy the farmers field more than her own, although it could of been just her telling the others that she could get out but they couldn't! Anyway, thankfully she hasn't found her way out of the new fencing yet!
The Poly tunnel is now up properly and my partner is chuffed to bits, Ahh yes, friends come up for a break, don't always realise they have to work when they get up here! My Partner on the other hand, is so pleased to have the tunnel up again that he has already got some seeds in there!
We have eggs galore! and a broody hen! not necessary in that order hahahha......we don't want any more hens just yet, so we will make use of our eggs in some way i am sure, as for the Broody hen........well she is sitting on half a dozen Cochin eggs, given to us from another friend of ours, who wanted to hatch some eggs without having to use the incubator this year, so it works out both ways.
The rescue hens have also started laying, so among the lovely white eggs we get the odd dark brown egg too, its nice to see that they have finally settled in.
I have also fixed the fencing for them this week...so hopefully we will be able to grow some vegetable seeds that wont be eaten before they have a chance to grow...blooming hens though....they realised they couldn't get out the side i altered...but found a new way to escape ..... back to the drawing board i guess!
Now i seem to remember i left you all hanging as to whether Rita is Pregnant or not....the out come is...YES Rita is pregnant and has about three and a half weeks to go...But... we are not sure if there is a kid in her or not.
I know that sounds daft, but goats can have "fluid babies"....which means, she will have all the fluid in the sack, but no kid....bit like a phantom pregnancy...I thought i felt a kick, when i held her side, but at the time she was barking at the dogs,(my friend brought her dog with her) so it could of been that i felt...but later on...I am sure i felt a couple of kicks, and Rita wasn't barking at that time...will just have to wait and see i guess
Which brings me on to the next frustrating bit!....the chicks, the ducklings(that we have in an incubator) and the kid are all due the week i am in hospital for surgery on my back...its also the week my parents arrive, typical! i will miss it all!
Mum and dad are coming up for two weeks in all, although the second week they are up to Thurso, so the week they are with me, is the week i am in hospital, and my partner will be at work! so if the birds hatch and the goat kids, you can bet your bottom dollar it will be when no-one is around to help them! so just in case i will have to leave them a list of things to do as well as a list of numbers to ring....in case they need help. I am sure they will be ok though.
well off to make a cuppa...anyone want me to make them one at the same time?? ..... no? Ok well i offered!
Wednesday 29 April 2009
Friday 17 April 2009
Life after easter
Well Easter came...along with my sister, 21yr old nephew, and two nieces 13 and 15ish i think.
We only have a two bedroom ed house, so it was full to the brim, and a whole weekend of chaos...but it was lovely as a lot of jobs got done.
My nephew helped my partner with cleaning the goat pens out, he surprised me as he really enjoyed it! but hey everyone one has strange tastes hahaha, the dog Ghillie really took to my nephew, so much so that he wanted to 'love' his arm, leg etc...yes you know what i mean ;-)
One day Penny had got into next doors field...had my partner one side of her, nephew other side, and me holding the barbed fence up to get her back in....was entertaining i can tell you, that goat ran rings round the two men ..... my sister nearly fell over in the paddock because she though the billy was going to butt her, when all he was doing was lowering his head to nibble the grass hahaha again i did chuckle, but not till they were all out of ear shot.
but now they have gone and the house seems empty and very quiet.
Its overcast today, so i should put the goats out, but I am keeping them inside, I can get the girls out no problem, but Sunny...well he is a different matter....and i cant put them out with out him, it just wouldn't be fair.
We did find Penny out of her pen in the barn yesterday, eating as much hay as she could....i think i am going to have fun with Penny, she seems to like escapology!
We have 8 duck eggs in the incubator at the moment, this will be our first time hatching ducks, so will be interesting to see if they hatch and how we cope with them...they are from our own flock of ducks so will be good to see if they are indeed fertile!
Well the Onions and peas are growing nicely along with the garlic and strawberries. not sure about how the carrots will do, as the bleeding cockerel and one of his hens keep escaping and i always find them scratching the carrot bed! sure he does it to wind me up!
But on a good note we have Rhubarb, and now the melon,corn on cob, and pumpkin shoots have started to grow....the poly tunnel looks nice and sturdy, just needs the covering on it now.
The duck pond will then need fixing, and so will the gate and fencing....but otherwise we seem to be on top of everything so far this year.
Only thing left is one question, still to be answered, Rita....is she or isn't she pregnant??
well the answer is...................watch this space ! that will keep you all guessing for now anyway hahaha
We only have a two bedroom ed house, so it was full to the brim, and a whole weekend of chaos...but it was lovely as a lot of jobs got done.
My nephew helped my partner with cleaning the goat pens out, he surprised me as he really enjoyed it! but hey everyone one has strange tastes hahaha, the dog Ghillie really took to my nephew, so much so that he wanted to 'love' his arm, leg etc...yes you know what i mean ;-)
One day Penny had got into next doors field...had my partner one side of her, nephew other side, and me holding the barbed fence up to get her back in....was entertaining i can tell you, that goat ran rings round the two men ..... my sister nearly fell over in the paddock because she though the billy was going to butt her, when all he was doing was lowering his head to nibble the grass hahaha again i did chuckle, but not till they were all out of ear shot.
but now they have gone and the house seems empty and very quiet.
Its overcast today, so i should put the goats out, but I am keeping them inside, I can get the girls out no problem, but Sunny...well he is a different matter....and i cant put them out with out him, it just wouldn't be fair.
We did find Penny out of her pen in the barn yesterday, eating as much hay as she could....i think i am going to have fun with Penny, she seems to like escapology!
We have 8 duck eggs in the incubator at the moment, this will be our first time hatching ducks, so will be interesting to see if they hatch and how we cope with them...they are from our own flock of ducks so will be good to see if they are indeed fertile!
Well the Onions and peas are growing nicely along with the garlic and strawberries. not sure about how the carrots will do, as the bleeding cockerel and one of his hens keep escaping and i always find them scratching the carrot bed! sure he does it to wind me up!
But on a good note we have Rhubarb, and now the melon,corn on cob, and pumpkin shoots have started to grow....the poly tunnel looks nice and sturdy, just needs the covering on it now.
The duck pond will then need fixing, and so will the gate and fencing....but otherwise we seem to be on top of everything so far this year.
Only thing left is one question, still to be answered, Rita....is she or isn't she pregnant??
well the answer is...................watch this space ! that will keep you all guessing for now anyway hahaha
Friday 3 April 2009
whos idea was it!?
Who's idea was it to have goats!
Had a terrible couple of days with them....yesterday it was sunny, who for some reason didn't was to go into the paddock with the girls. He decided to go to where the chickens are kept....so i went to guide him to where he belongs and he promptly butted me in the stomach and lifted me clean off my feet.....it all then happened in slow motion....i saw myself, flying through the air....then landing on my back on a pile of stones, which is painful enough, but even more so when you are waiting for a back operation....i think they probably heard me scream 10 miles away, the pain shot down my legs, and the tears did roll.
But he wasn't getting away with that no matter how much pain i was in....isn't it funny how much strength suddenly appears when you are stressed, hurt or angry....
Anyway he was going into the paddock, whether he wanted to or not... i grabbed his collar and his horns and promptly dragged him in the pen, shut the gate a walked away.....as i limped back to the house, i took a look back at the goats and at sunny....who promptly raised his top lip and did a raspberry at me! the Sod was laughing at me! I could see then, that i was going to have trouble with him after all!
Well that was all yesterday....today was a different day...or so i thought....
Do you wonder if animals chat and plot against humans during the night? I believe they do now as i am sure that's what happened last night, i am sure that Sunny plotted with the other goats on how they would wind me up today!
Today's events.
I put Rita in the paddock, as i always do and looked back to see sunny standing in the veg bed and the twins not out...normally they all follow Rita into the paddock without a problem.
So I shut the gate and and went to collected tuppence, as I put tuppence in the paddock, Rita shot out!
So I got Rita back in and tuppence shot out! Grrrr
So i tried a different tactic....if I got penny in then tuppence usually follows her....so after much chasing I got Penny in....not only did tuppence not follow her in but Rita got out!....still only one goat in the bleeding paddock....the air at this point was getting a little blue....especially when i looked over to see Sunny standing in the raised beds eating the veg seedlings!
So i ignored him for the time being...wanted to get the girls sorted first .... so on we go
...I got penny and Rita in and chased tuppence for what seemed an age, before catching her
opened gate to get tuppence in and yes you guessed it.....penny shot out....followed by Rita....now i was back to square one!
meanwhile sunny was eating all the plants he could find....grrrrrrr
I finally got Rita back in, tuppence to stay in and went to get a little feed in a bucket....this is what i should of done at the start! ... but you don't think of things like that when you haven't had this bother before!
This also was a bit of an escapade though!
As I dropped bucket on the barn floor and lost most of the feed!...I wasn't going back for more so I scooped back up what i could, back into the bucket...left the barn shaking the bucket to make a noise......while penny and sunny were eating what ever they could, the noise of the bucket which had very little in it attracted them both but i still only managed to get sunny in ... and still had to chase penny!
When i eventually caught penny I couldn't open gate with all the goats pressing against it...trying to get at the very nearly empty bucket.......eventually I got her in and put the feed on the floor for them to scuffle over!
and again as i walked away .... I got that same Raspberry as I got yesterday from Sunny!! I am sure he planned the whole thing!
He has been warned that he will be castrated if he plays up again!....although i cant do that as we need his seed....but don't tell him that eh...he is bad enough as it is!
and now i am off for a cuppa, a sit down maybe i should have a shot of something strong in my cuppa...for medicinal purposes only ....of course ;-)
Had a terrible couple of days with them....yesterday it was sunny, who for some reason didn't was to go into the paddock with the girls. He decided to go to where the chickens are kept....so i went to guide him to where he belongs and he promptly butted me in the stomach and lifted me clean off my feet.....it all then happened in slow motion....i saw myself, flying through the air....then landing on my back on a pile of stones, which is painful enough, but even more so when you are waiting for a back operation....i think they probably heard me scream 10 miles away, the pain shot down my legs, and the tears did roll.
But he wasn't getting away with that no matter how much pain i was in....isn't it funny how much strength suddenly appears when you are stressed, hurt or angry....
Anyway he was going into the paddock, whether he wanted to or not... i grabbed his collar and his horns and promptly dragged him in the pen, shut the gate a walked away.....as i limped back to the house, i took a look back at the goats and at sunny....who promptly raised his top lip and did a raspberry at me! the Sod was laughing at me! I could see then, that i was going to have trouble with him after all!
Well that was all yesterday....today was a different day...or so i thought....
Do you wonder if animals chat and plot against humans during the night? I believe they do now as i am sure that's what happened last night, i am sure that Sunny plotted with the other goats on how they would wind me up today!
Today's events.
I put Rita in the paddock, as i always do and looked back to see sunny standing in the veg bed and the twins not out...normally they all follow Rita into the paddock without a problem.
So I shut the gate and and went to collected tuppence, as I put tuppence in the paddock, Rita shot out!
So I got Rita back in and tuppence shot out! Grrrr
So i tried a different tactic....if I got penny in then tuppence usually follows her....so after much chasing I got Penny in....not only did tuppence not follow her in but Rita got out!....still only one goat in the bleeding paddock....the air at this point was getting a little blue....especially when i looked over to see Sunny standing in the raised beds eating the veg seedlings!
So i ignored him for the time being...wanted to get the girls sorted first .... so on we go
...I got penny and Rita in and chased tuppence for what seemed an age, before catching her
opened gate to get tuppence in and yes you guessed it.....penny shot out....followed by Rita....now i was back to square one!
meanwhile sunny was eating all the plants he could find....grrrrrrr
I finally got Rita back in, tuppence to stay in and went to get a little feed in a bucket....this is what i should of done at the start! ... but you don't think of things like that when you haven't had this bother before!
This also was a bit of an escapade though!
As I dropped bucket on the barn floor and lost most of the feed!...I wasn't going back for more so I scooped back up what i could, back into the bucket...left the barn shaking the bucket to make a noise......while penny and sunny were eating what ever they could, the noise of the bucket which had very little in it attracted them both but i still only managed to get sunny in ... and still had to chase penny!
When i eventually caught penny I couldn't open gate with all the goats pressing against it...trying to get at the very nearly empty bucket.......eventually I got her in and put the feed on the floor for them to scuffle over!
and again as i walked away .... I got that same Raspberry as I got yesterday from Sunny!! I am sure he planned the whole thing!
He has been warned that he will be castrated if he plays up again!....although i cant do that as we need his seed....but don't tell him that eh...he is bad enough as it is!
and now i am off for a cuppa, a sit down maybe i should have a shot of something strong in my cuppa...for medicinal purposes only ....of course ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)