Surprise, surprise there was heavy rain forecast for Wednesday morning. I put my full waterproof kit on to walk Skye. I let her in and went straight to Garth Hall to let the chickens out and feed Rascal. As usual the hens hurtled out and by the time I was over by the barn, 4 of them were already there. I checked the railway carriages to find Munchie and Blossom reclining in comfort while the other sheep were out in the rain. There is plenty of room for all the wellfield twin mothers in there though. It was way too wet to feed the alpacas and because it was set to dry up later, I would feed them in the afternoon.
I rushed home for breakfast and then went to get my B12 injection. My father came along because we were going to Mole Valley Farmers. I went through Llanharan to show him where all the new houses were. We had a good look around Mole. I was hoping for waterproof walking boots but that didn’t have any so it was a Lamb Boost, some ram food and layers pellets. I gave them my membership number to be told it had run out. Bugger! “You’re in luck. It’s free to renew in February.” I’ll take that. £8.33 saved is better than £8.33 spent. Next stop was the doughnut shop where I had a pink glazed doughnut called the Homer. I had half of it as we drove. I’d save the other half for later. I went to Tesco in Bridgend but their diesel is dearer than in Talbot Green so I didn’t stop. We came back on the motorway. It seemed that almost every field had a flooded area. Is it bad to admit that I took some comfort in knowing that it’s not just my fields that are flooded?
While dinner was cooking I typed up a reply to our solicitor and did some VAT receipts. After dinner I walked Skye then went for diesel and the click and collect. I put the shopping away quickly in order to go to Garth Hall up Stinkpot way. I’d seen a video of a flood through Smilog so I’d have to go the slow, traffic jam route. It wasn’t too bad and the weather dried up as I arrived. It’s usually the other way around. I checked if there were any more eggs and in doing so decided I would have to muck the chickens out there and then. All I had was a shovel with an 8 inch bit of wood as a handle. Less than ideal.
The floor was so wet that the sawdust /straw mix came up very easily. The issue was that I was bent over cleaning a whole floor of it. It didn’t take long to be a back breaking job but I’d started so I chose to clear the worst half that was by the entrance. In all honesty the back half was fairly clean. The chickens enjoyed scratching around in the piles I made, spreading them back out again. So I had to rethink and get a bucket. I filled the bucket and spread the manure in the paddock. I repeated this about 4 times and I was done. I was done in too! I spread some of the fresh sawdust/straw mix but they were enjoying kicking that about so I didn’t spread it too much. Time to feed the alpacas.
I’d just got through the airlock when I thought I heard beeping. I looked behind and saw the ewes looking too. That meant Neil was on his way. He drove in and loaded the 3 sacks onto his quad and drove to Cai by the time I got there. There were hens everywhere underfoot. It was like there were 49 not 9 of them. I tried to man the doors but they are determined little buggers. There were at least 5 in there. Two came to the door and I tried to open it but the wind was making it heavy. I pushed and there was a kerfuffle outside. Molly had slipped and got her leg trapped in the slats of the pallet. It was like a comedy sketch. She limped off and the chickens hurtled out because I had a bucket of ewe rolls. The 8 ewes were all standing in my way making movement impossible. I threw a few handfuls one way and then I was able to tip out a proper stream of food. I don’t know who was tucking in more enthusiastically – the ewes carrying twins or the flaming hens 🤦🏻♀
I walked down to feed the alpacas while Neil drove off on his quad to do his rounds and gather the main flock to be fed. Once he did that he brought hay for the alpacas and put it out. Bramble was very excited to be having food and she was running up and down and skipping about. I wasn’t able to video her unfortunately because I couldn’t get my gloves off in time. I fed the main lot then, followed by the rams. The last stop was feeding the chickens and putting them to bed. I was shattered after mucking the hens out but, still happy that I’d saved that £8.33 in Mole and I had the half a Homer left to eat!
Helen x
