I was up early so I could go to the farm before my hairdressers appointment at 10am. The weather hadn’t been great overnight with all the rain. I was eager to check if the sheared alpacas were OK. I fed Rascal quickly and went straight down. Luckily they were OK. I had to empty a lot of water out of the weanlings buckets. The boys buckets were under their shelter. Everyone ate eagerly. Although they were all damp, somehow, McQueen looked lovely and fluffy. Like he’d been blow dried! It was me with a hair appointment not him. 😂
Lastly, I went to Barry. The Peckys were waiting eagerly and shot out as usual. Bryn and Maldwyn lurked in the middle of the shed as normal. I went in for eggs and the boys went out. The three ‘blue’ hens, were still in the corner. Beryl (I’m probably going to call her Feral Beryl) has a few feathers missing. Hens do this to each other to get the pecking order, well, in order really. So one of the Pecky’s has put Feral Beryl in her place. Feral Beryl did that to the other two blue ones so it’s a bit of karma really. I’m doing some research into managing it. Feral Beryl can’t be too bothered though, I have had two eggs off her already. After collecting the eggs, I went back home for my breakfast. On the journey back, Jordan and I had a chat to try to organise things for next week.
My hair appointment went on a bit. I went for rissole and chops after. My father wanted a fish bite so that meant another 15 minute wait. When I finally got back to Garth Hall, Maldwyn and 2 of the Peckys were half way up the drive. They ran like the clappers when they saw me reversing. Like naughty children. The 3 blue ones were once again back in Barry. I was 1 hen short though. I assumed she was out in the main field. There was absolutely no sign of her. There was no sign of the boys either. They were at the top of their field. I grabbed the quadling and little red trailer and went up to Cai. I loaded a bag of ewe rolls. Bloody hell, I’d forgotten how heavy those bags are. 25kg is heavy when you’re only 5 foot 1. Ish. I managed it then had to shoo several Peckys out of Cai 🤦♀️ Off to the barn next. I loaded the trailer with hay and took it all down.
I put the hay in the boys hay feeder, dropped a bit off for the weanlings and then had to lift the flaming bag back up. Once that was in the bin, I strolled over to check the girls. I tried to look up underneath Possum to see what her udder was like. I did not get a good look unfortunately. The ones in the far field came over to the fence to see me. It is so difficult to look up under Ebony. She is black and its obviously dark under there so I couldn’t clearly make anything out. Alexa waddled over. So once again I convinced myself that Ebony is pregnant even though she’s nowhere near as large as Alexa. She is as short tempered around the trough though 🤞
Back at the barn, I fed Rascal and had a hunt around for the missing Pecky. She wasn’t about or she would have appeared to steal his food. There were 2 Peckys and Bryn in the walled garden. They started following me. As we neared the gateway, Peckys started appearing. Still only 10. Then one appeared from over by Barry. Good news, I had everybody. I filled the water a d found another egg! The three blue hens Feral Beryl. Bluebell and BR were in there. Today they came for food. Food is always a great way to get an animal or bird to do what you want. For the record bribery with food works with me too 😉
Helen x
