Chicken update

Bad news first:  An otter got into the chicken house night before last and took one of the black hens and one of the chicks that hatched at the end of July....  So this led to us taking the decision to move Hedge Hen and her chicks into the polytunnel to keep them safe...

...and so the Good News is that she's got 10 healthy happy chicks!  There were two chicks in the process of being born plus six more eggs as well that I did move with her but I think the whole moving process sufficiently disturbed her that once we got into the polytunnel she ignored the eggs and just focused on the live chicks -- which is fine because really, I think 10 is plenty for her to look after, particularly at this time of year!

Current total number of chickens at Sparrowhall:  23!!!!!

Hedge CHICKS!

And more to come -- still a pile of eggs that are visibly hatching right before my eyes -- poor hen having to keep tabs on these little critters AND the ones still in progress!

Hedge Hen

Couple of weeks ago, we "lost" a hen.  Danny searched everywhere to no avail.  And then he searched again and again and again -- and finally he found her -- sitting on eggs in a hedge.  We took the decision to leave her to it and see what happens.

Today when Danny was bringing her some food and water she very briefly got up and Danny managed to get this picture -- HOW MANY EGGS?????  I will be amazed if these all hatch but we will see.  We think she has about a week to go...

New carpet!

Getting some work done in the house.  We removed numerous overlapping bits of carpet remnants to reveal this very poor condition linoleum tiled floor -- I suspect these tiles predate me!  :)

And now we have a lovely 100% British wool carpet, with nice thick underlay underneath as well -- so lovely to walk on and should help keep the room much warmer this winter...

Animal Update

Cats and their silly poses -- here is Cookie giving me a hand with the sheep -- if she doesn't fall off the window ledge first!

Post-weaning, here are the ewe lambs.  The three clustered together are all friendly and come to the bucket and let me handle them at will -- the one in front is Shy Lamb, and just like her mother, Shy Ewe, will having nothing to do with me, and isn't even interested in treats!

Here are the ewes -- I tried to get a photo of them all together close up but Greedy kept getting in my face, so I kept walking further away -- and she kept following me!  True to her name, she always wants something, even if my hands are empty!

Our latest new (to us) cockerel -- he's only just figuring out his crowing now, but that's not stopping him from being very busy with the ladies!

These are the last lot of chicks out of the big black cockerel (now in our tummies) -- they were born on 30th July.  There were originally four but one didn't make it past day 2.

There is another hen who we thought went missing the other week -- and then Danny found her sitting in a hedge on eggs -- we don't know how many -- so watch this space -- we may have a load more chicks in about 10 days or so!

And last but not least, this lovely little man -- my first lamb at Sparrowhall -- is now for sale if anybody's interested.  He is quite friendly and will come to the bucket even if nothing's in it.  Lovely solid black Shetland tup.

And I'm back...

Have finally acquired another camera thanks to eBay and St Michael's Hospice (North Hants).  (No thanks to Evri who, as per usual, provide the worst delivery service and worst tracking information out of all the delivery companies out there...)

Will try to do a big catch up post of everything that's happened in the last few weeks but for now here's a photo of some glorious sunshine!  We may not be having the heat wave that my friends down in England/Wales are experiencing, but it is indeed T-shirt weather today in Orkney!