The Dogmother Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 Lovely photos Lesley Got to laugh at Tali with her nose in the bag of milk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 14, 2010 Author Share Posted April 14, 2010 We noticed last week that 4 of the grown-up ducklings were boys - and it is Spring - and ..........they had to be despatched - far too many erm..........'intimate moments' and the girls were hiding in their house all the time to get away from the unwanted attention. They were despatched this morning and partially plucked. This evening I cut off the breast meat for us and the legs for the dogs. The dogs ran around with ducks feet hanging out of their mouths but turned their noses up at actually eating them - they're used to eating chicken wings but didn't like the duck legs for some reason. They've left them on the lawn We moved the three little chicks out into the spare Eglu and they've really enjoyed the extra space and the sunshine. The rabbits staged a Colditz style breakout and have spent the day sunning themselves in the duck's run and then broke into the neighbouring hen's run Little Cassidy is walking well now and is as adventurous as the others but he's now got a bald area round his mouth and under his chin - looks like we may have to take him to the Vet tomorrow. I've caught up with sowing all the seeds and planted the onions and first early potatoes - just the rest of the potatoes to go in now. I found 20 little freebies in the polytunnel - lettuce seedlings growing in the gravel and also about 50 self sown pea plants in the main bed which I've transplanted around a wigwam. We left the side down slightly in the polytunnel last week and managed to kill off a lot of the tiny tomato seedlings so I've had to start again with some of them - hope they catch up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 Norty boys! The bunnies made me laugh - you'll have trouble catching them when they've had a taste of freedom! Ruby loves chicken hocks, but won't eat the feet either.... mad dogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 The rabbits have been roaming for a few days now Clare - they've chewed through the netting - luckily, the holes are small enough to keep the poultry where they should be. They don't chew where it is an outer fence which has the electric wire by it so they must be able to hear that it is electrified, as the dogs (and fox) do. They come home at feeding time and odd times during the day. The dogs wouldn't even eat the meat from the duck legs - not sure why - we had duck breast for dinner last night and they were delicious so nowt wrong with the meat. Daft dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 Mmmmm delicious, lovely duck meat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 Mmmmm delicious, lovely duck meat. Not a lot of meat on them - Campbell X Indian Runner - but they were nice, not too much fat either. It's a bit like the Cream Legbar cockerels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 16, 2010 Author Share Posted April 16, 2010 We were making up dog food last night so we minced the rest of the legs and offered some to the dogs before mixing it with the rest of the meat and the dogs still wouldn't touch it The cats liked it though - and the dogs just watched them eat it, they usually can't wait to eat anything in the cats bowl Little Cassidy has been to the Vet - the lump was bigger and we thought it was an abcess - which it was. He was taken into the surgery and it was lanced straight away - very different to taking a dog to the Vet There was a work experience Vet from another practice and so Cassidy was the centre of attention......and lots of questions (for the trainee Vet) They squeezed all the gunk out, flushed out the wound and gave him shots of antibiotic and painkiller. It's been left open for it to drain. That may be why he always went to look at the bottle rack but wouldn't open his mouth. The fur loss is probably where he's been rubbing it because it was sore. The Vet didn't turn a hair when we said we thought he'd had Joint Ill and so we gave him penicillin for a week We hung a plastic decoy hawk near to the ducks last week - we haven't seen any magpies since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 16, 2010 Share Posted April 16, 2010 I'm glad that you've got to the bottom of it, poor wee chap. Give him a hug from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted April 25, 2010 Author Share Posted April 25, 2010 Little Cassidy is doing really well and all 4 lambs are being weaned off milk now. Buster was a bit off his milk on Friday but is fine now - he had a shot of penicillin as well. Last year the Vet told us that if any sheep is unwell to just try a dose of penicillin. While we'd got all the meds out we gave them their first Heptavac Vaccination - that one is subcutaneous.....not very easy to do on small lambs The fruit trees are all starting to blossom - pear, plum, damson and cherry are all out and today there was the first apple blossom..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 Aww, bless them, they are so big now My plum tree is in blossom and the apple and crab apple will be out today if it stays sunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 Lovely photos. I love apple blossom it is so pretty both in bud and in flower. We have plum (just going over) cherry, pear and apple in blossom at the moment. Should be a good tree fruit year hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted April 26, 2010 Share Posted April 26, 2010 Beautiful photos Lesley! Not a sign of blossom here yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 They look good A lot chunkier now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGirlsMum Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Fantastic photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 15, 2010 Author Share Posted May 15, 2010 We've just picked up 4 little weaner piglets - 2 boys, 2 girls They are 9 weeks old. It's a lovely day for them to acclimatise to their new home It really feels like a farm once we have pigs again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Lovely. Looking for ward to the pics. Do you give them names? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 15, 2010 Author Share Posted May 15, 2010 Yes, we always give them names - these aren't named yet........ They've found their home already..... .....and, we found an imposter in the hens...... She's found out how to get feed out of the feeder - it's obviously tastier than her hay (sorry - Photobucket won't let me resize this one) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 Aww cutes! What breed are they? at the rabbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 15, 2010 Author Share Posted May 15, 2010 The rabbit thinks she's a duck today - they have their food in a dish so even easier for her to steal it. The piglets are Berkshires - the breeder lives just 15 minutes away and she's the person who supplied Gordon Ramsey with his pigs. She also gave Gavin the ram lamb a home when he was poorly on the day Gordon should have taken him to slaughter and she also has the Mangalitzas that appeared on his last series. Berkshire pork is superb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted May 15, 2010 Share Posted May 15, 2010 The piglets are Berkshires - the breeder lives just 15 minutes away and she's the person who supplied Gordon Ramsey with his pigs. She also gave Gavin the ram lamb a home when he was poorly on the day Gordon should have taken him to slaughter and she also has the Mangalitzas that appeared on his last series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Lovely piglets Lesley. *gets in car to go and scratch their ears* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheilaz Posted May 16, 2010 Share Posted May 16, 2010 Lovely news & pics, Lesley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Great news, not even a little bit That rabbit is huge, and obviously has a good apetite My cat Ziggy thinks she is a fish, and loves their food, not enough to get her paws wet though, she is a really fussy eater too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted May 17, 2010 Author Share Posted May 17, 2010 That rabbit is in my bad books - she's made her holes bigger so now we have hens in the duck run.......it's easier for them to eat the ducks feed than to peck the dispenser for theirs. I'll have to repair the fences I think. We've let her have the run of all the runs as the other rabbit died last week and we thought she'd like the company. The lambs are out in the small paddock now - they were boinging all over the place when we let them in, just like Tigger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Sorry to hear about the other bunny, Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
