I slept late and I had to nip to Aldi for bread (with gluten) on my way to Garth Hall. Rascal reprimanded me for not feeding him last night. But I was aware that Jordan fed him so I wasn’t having any of it 😂 I fed the ram and found one measly egg. I strolled out of the barn and Neil was there, hitching up a trailer. He left with the trailer and I let the Peckys out. No more eggs 🤬
Off to the alpacas and plenty of work. I fed the podfield girls and then picked poo. Or at least I tried. Josh is tyring to sort the incompetents out and he rang and messaged me loads. I can’t remember how many times or what the conversations were about but at one point, he told me that he was advised that we didn’t need an access code. He then bought software to send the return and tried it. As I suspected, it did not work. Great advice as useful from the incompetents. I get on with the poo picking. There was loads of poo and I happily got on with it. It’s a nice calming job. Wilma followed me for a while, wondering why I was stealing poo 😂 I finished in there at around 11.30 and loaded those bags into the jeep.
I then put a bag of alpaca mix into the bin and loaded the bucket for the boys and girls. I shut them in the pen so Ghost could eat in peace. I drove over to the girls field. I took them their food and the poo collecting equipment. I fed them and then started collecting in there. Josh rang me again then for a code. Things still weren’t working. Imagine that 🙄 I was getting tired by then. I had collected and packed 5 bags of poo. I was shattered. It was something past 12 at that point.
I then had to put some buckets of water in the trough for the girls in the podfield. I remembered to let the boys out at that point. Impressed myself with that 😂 I drove up and into the wellfield. I reversed up to the railway carriages and unloaded the bags. I was officially shattered. I had intended to load the hay bag but I’ve left that for tomorrow morning now. Still no eggs. I went home exhausted, got the kettle and my dinner on. Josh continued to ring me. I sent him copies of the proof of postage for the partnership return that was sent in, on time, that they LOST, that’s causing some of the current problems. I sent him more information that he needed. I have no faith in this ever, ever, getting fixed.
Jordan offered to close, depending on Riley. I was still knackered so I messaged for confirmation so I could get my PJs on and relax. It was probably about 2.30 at that point. Unfortunately she said he wasn’t having a good day because he was cutting his last tooth so the close was down to me. I left at about 5.15 and speed reversed down the drive before the Peckys volunteered to get run over. I got to the gate and there was no sign of any of the feathered fiends, not even the much better behave ducks 🤔 I got out of the truck, unlocked the padlock and rushed in. I was not a good sign. They only hide away when there’s something wrong. Predators are they only thing that frightens them. If a buzzard had come back and killed one of them, the others would be in hiding. There were 5 perched on the ledge at the entrance to Barry. They were eerily quiet. Even more unusual! I hesitantly looked for the pile of feathers which denotes a killing. I didn’t see any. I pushed the gate open and there was squawking from Cai and a load more ran and flapped their way over to me. The two brown ones and the ducks were missing 😔
No I do like the chickens, half the time and I really like their eggs but the other half of the time they are really annoying. The ducks are just lush. Cute, chubby and much better behaved than the Peckys. I was gutted that I couldn’t see them. As me and the Peckys walked towards Cai, the ducks suddenly shot out from round the side, followed by one brown hen. I was sooo relieved. I was down one hen but I hadn’t seen any feathers as yet. I got the food and we all traipsed back to Barry. I threw the food in and suddenly there were two brown hens 👏 I have no idea where she came from but she must have had a good hiding place. None of them had been killed but they were spooked. I still don’t know what it was. I told the ducks I was feeding Rascal first and I would see to them on the way back.
I fed him but the ram didn’t need any more hay. I found two eggs though where the other 6 regular layers are hiding their eggs from me, I have no bloody idea. And if they’ve had a scare, they won’t lay tomorrow anyway 🤦♀️ I left then and lost the flaming ducks again 🙄 I opened Cai, knowing they would hear that and come waddling and quacking. They didn’t. I called them and put their food in the tub. No ducks. Oh bugger. I decided to drop the eggs off and then start my search party. And there they were, fast asleep, heads tucked under their wings, outside Barry 😂 I took them home and tucked them into bed.
When I went home I had a message from Jordan to say they had taken Riley to Porthcawl because he was really miserable. “I hope you took him into Beales. He loves their fruity curry! That would cheer him up. ” She replied to say that they did and he just kept repeating ” Mmmmmm. Mmmmmm!” As he scooped handfuls of curry into his mouth 😂
There’s a walk tomorrow so I’m having an early night. Lots to do in the morning.
Helen x
