It was a lovely clear morning which always makes me feel more energetic. I didn’t feed the alpacas because there was a walk in the afternoon. I went straight to the poover. There was another line of poo in the ‘poo corridor ‘ so I set about it with great gusto. I always do this and wear myself out too quickly. The wind was cold so a good work rate did help me warm up though. After an hour I was shattered and the quadling was struggling to oull the poover. It couldn’t be full already could it? I wasn’t going to risk it so I drove to the board where I empty the poo out. It wasn’t full but there was plenty in there. I had some Camelibra bags – the most difficult to fill because they are small. In the end it wasn’t enough so I went all the way over to the other side of the brook for more bags. They had been tied in 10s. I carried them back and used the bayler twine to triple shut the side gate. That should stop the girls escaping. I had almost finished, which was good as my back and shoulders were aching, when Jordan rang. She was popping in to visit with Riley so I had to get a move on. I filled 5 bags. Thats 10 buckets but its a good amount. I walked up and the chickens came to meet me. There were 10 of them. Was there a new contender for ‘hide and seek champion’? I would have to look later.
When I got back to Garth Hall after dinner I started counting chickens immediately. Nine. Then one strolled towards me across the paddock. That made 10, not enough. I called but the hide and seek chicken wasn’t falling for it. As I started off across the field, she did appear, without a care in the world. I met my visitors and we had a great time. On the way back Neil was feeding the sheep. We had a long talk about sheep then. As we were talking, I turned around and saw two ewes come through the wellfield gate. “Sheep!” There was nothing we could do, they were all coming out. We would have to try and ‘encourage’ them back at some point. Rounding them up is not an option when they’re heavily pregnant. Baarbaara strode across and tucked into the food with enthusiasm, despite already been fed in the wellfield. When we left she was shoulder deep in the ring feeder eating too. She isn’t greedy though, she’s eating for three 😉
Munchie hadn’t made it out of the wellfiled. SHOCK! To be honest she is so heavily pregnant she isn’t getting around very well. But her not being the ring leader in a break out is unheard of. Lastly the chickens were put to bed and I saw the visitors off while Neil went to get the mule. We put a new bag of chicken feed in their shed then took Camelibra and Alapca Mix down to the livestock trailer. I left at 5.35 and it wasn’t fully dark.
We are now officially on Munchie watch. Her udder has started developing and I don’t think she will be long. The earliest official due date is February 25th but with twins it could be earlier. I will keep you updated.
Helen x
