Best liner/ bedding for drop tray

[TheGirlsMum]

Fantastic posts again, thank you for letting us all live the dream through you.

 

Sorry to hear things are precarious but I hope it all pans out ok

[Lesley]

Some photos from the last few days..........

 

We made a run for Jemima Duck and her two ducklings - the drake will try to kill them otherwise. You can just see the two little ducklings on the ramp..... and the calves watching from the next paddock....

 

This weekend we took a new home in for Jemima and her one remaining duckling - she trampled the other one - and extended the run

 

 

Little duckling takes his/her first swim...

 

 

We've been lifting potatoes - 3 bags from one row - 5 more rows to go

 

[chickencam]

That duckling is so sweet

 

Those spuds look great too, loads of jacket potatoes this winter then

[Lesley]

I hope so - the variety we chose last year as bakers were all full of eelworm

[Helly Welly]

Those ducklings are gorgeous, want, want, want

[Staffordmum]

Look at those spuds!!

 

Unearthed ours at the w/e - grown in a stack of tyres and the foliage all gone (thanks to the slugs!).

 

Barely enuff for 2 - but how sweet they were ...

 

I just love that duckling

 

Rgds

 

Pat & Steve

[Mrs Frugal]

I need some ducklings . Lovely photos .

[Lesley]

Well, not from this duck Mummy you don't - she squashed the little duckling in her nest overnight

 

She's been a terrible mother - always walking all ove the babies. I'm not going to let her sit on eggs again.

 

I might pop some eggs in the incubator though.......and we're only going to keep the girls, the drake has done nothing but molest Jemima since she was let back into the main run She is absolutely worn out and if he doesn't stop then we'll separate him from the others.

[Snowy]

Oh no, what a shame! Daft duck Hope you have more luck with the next batch Lesley

[Egluntyne]

That's a shame.

[Jules.]

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh no .

[Trish]

Ouch poor ducklings, are ducks generally bad parents or do you have a couple of delinquents there Lesley?

[Lesley]

We have been told a few times that ducks make poor mothers - they frequently sit on eggs for 20+ days and then abandon the nest just before the hatch.

 

Mindy hatched two broods, we must have been lucky. The only problem we had was the drake trying to kill the ducklings.

[The Dogmother]

I remember that Lesley - daft ducks! You know what I think of drakes!

 

I'd have offered one of my broody hens to sit on your duck eggs - but I've just cured both of them

[Blackrocksrock]

We hatched ducks no problem under a broody hen - we had borrowed her from up the road and she tried to take the baby ducklings home and we were always after her until one day she took them too far and was killed on the road - the baby ducklings were fine but we had to pay for the broody hen She used to go mad when they went into the pond - this was years ago when we lived somewhere else and I miss them a lot.

[Valkyrie]

Oh poor duckies. Nice photos even so. That's a lovely row of spuds.

[Lewis]

Sorry about the ducklings

 

Looks like hard work earthing up all those potatoes!

[Lesley]

We didn't do any earthing up Lewis - we watched the market gardener at the rear of the house we lived in before - his tractor planted potatoes into mounded earth so that's what we did. We have only had a problem with part of one row when the heavy rain last week washed away some of the soil and potatoes are exposed and have gone green,

[Lewis]

Ahh, sounds easier

[The Dogmother]

Had an interesting visit to Lesley's yesterday - apart from being a while since I'd been over, I took a friend, who'd viewed the farm 2 weeks before Lesley and Carl, when it was still rubble and mess - I'd forgotten what a poor state it was originally in until I saw it through her eyes.

[moochoo]

Sorry to hear about the ducklings, silly girl! Hopefully you'll have more luck with the incubator.

[Lesley]

Had an interesting visit to Lesley's yesterday - apart from being a while since I'd been over, I took a friend, who'd viewed the farm 2 weeks before Lesley and Carl, when it was still rubble and mess - I'd forgotten what a poor state it was originally in until I saw it through her eyes.

 

It was great showing you both around - we sometimes lose track of just how much we've done! Nice to show round someone who remembers the inside of the house as well

[missuscluck]

What a shame about the ducklings

[Lesley]

Time for another update......

 

It's that time of the year again - the piggies went off to the abattoir on Thursday and tonight we will be loading the 3 ram lambs and the Kerry Hill who aborted her lambs in April We will be off at 6.30 for the second trip to the abattoir.

 

We feel quite lost without the pigs - they were the friendliest group of weaners that we've had so far They did have an extremely happy summer with us though - bumper harvests mean that they've had plenty of beans, squidgy tomatoes, windfall plums and apples, and a few cabbage and caterpillar combos

 

We hatched 6 ducklings in the incubator and they are doing well in a big brooder in one of the outbuildings - 17 days old now. There is a thread in the Ducks section with photos.

 

We have far more table birds than we planned to have due to a mix up in deliveries to Cotswold Chickens - we found ourselves saying 'yes' to another 20

 

The wheel fell off the tractor just as we were about to have all of the land under control for the first time since we moved here 3 years ago - we've managed quite well and it is about 90% under control. We planted 150 trees earlier in the year - mostly ash which will be for fuel eventually.

 

We've had bumper crops and the kitchen looks like a bomb has landed in the middle of Harvest Festival most of the time We still have carrots, turnips and beetroot in the ground which need lifting and storing.......haven't decided how yet but I'm trying not to put everything in the freezer this year......we only need one long power cut to lose everything

 

We're slowly working towards closing down a bit for the winter - we're having a few days off in October and going to Anglesey to visit my Mum.........we're staying in a cottage overlooking the sea so it will be very relaxing.

 

We have to decide whether to bring in a ram and have lambs next year - it's hard work, but selling the lamb does cover some of the cost of feed for all the flock