Night shift......

My shift began at 11.30pm tonight, having gone to bed at 6.30 pm. The Hubby had been on shift for the early part of the evening but needs to sleep now, as he's got a real job! Yesterday's shift of almost 17 hours had taken it out of me purely because it had begun at 2am. Wimp! I can only imagine how sheep farmers with 500+ sheep feel at lambing time.

It's now almost 1am on Monday morning and I've already birthed 3 chicks! Ok, ok.... I s'pose technically I just noticed them through the glass top of the incubator but hey, I've been caring for them for the last 21 days. There are 16 eggs in the bator, all Salmon Faverolle, so just another 13 to go. Hope we make 100% but it's unlikely.

In the barn the sheep are settled. It really doesn't look as if we'll be lambing tonight. Saturday evening's arrival, a healthy, beautiful, grey, boy, is growing steadily with regular feeds from mum Moon. He's even started doing those funny little lamb jumps. I can't wait till we turn him and mum out and he gets to frolic in the field. That's a day or so away yet and reminds me that I really must check the weather for the next few days.

Tonight the evening is as calm and warm as it was last night. A blessing.

Note to self: In the next hour when I toddle up to the barn to see the maternity ward, I must set up the brooder and turn on the heat lamp. The chicks will need to be turned out of the incubator quite quickly as there's really not enough room for 16 in there. In the brooder, a converted glass cabinet, set on its side, where the glass panes act as a viewing gallery for we custodians, these new arrivals can lash about and grow strong.

By the way, my apologies for the typos, incorrect use of words etc in any of my recent blog posts, particularly the Mother 's Day Thank Ewe blog post..... I can only offer the excuse of mega-tiredness..... Bear with! At least it is the Easter holidays already, so no need for school run....

I realised I ate very badly yesterday AND I missed out on the fab pub meal with my children and the MIL because I wanted to stay with the sheep, but a tin of Foxes biscuits and an authentic Korean pot noodle came a close 2nd!!!!! Right now (at 1.10am) I realise I'm starving and so have set a pot of last season's, home-made, frozen ratatouille to simmer on the stove. It's full of tomatoes, courgettes, onions, garlic, chilli and other goodness and should do the trick nicely. I might even have crusty bread and salted butter... steady!

Sleep tight and I'll update you tomorrow.

Lou x

Mother Hen and chocolate cake....

We had a lovely weekend and friends came for Sunday lunch. The 9yo and I designed a couple of naughty cakes for dessert: The Kit-Kat Cake proved the most popular though I had at least 1 fan of my rhubarb, apple and blackberry oat-topped crumble, (all from the garden/fields.)

Also, to add to the weekend's fun, our new, (well, eBay-new,) incubator proved a good purchase; as we hatched 5 chicks from 12 eggs.

It's Monday morning now and I'm back inside after completing my outdoor jobs. I'm sitting in the warm kitchen, log burner glowing and the cats stretched across the sofa - fast asleep. Outside the snow is pouring onto our fields, (poor alpaca and sheep!) Here in the warmth, the peace is periodically pierced by the peeping of the chicks! They call out, then eat something, then go back to sleep. In exactly 21 days they turned from eggs to the cutest chicks. A miracle really. They are already eating and drinking; amazing.

We're confident that two are Salmon Faverolles, (the yellow ones,) though we still don't know yet if they are male or female. We should know in a couple of weeks due to their wing colour. The other three babies may be a combination of Salmon Faverolle rooster and Black Rock hen. Hope they're girls!

In a day or so they'll move to the larger brooder but for now they are toasty in their incubator.

All-in-all a jolly good weekend. Though after the Kit-Kat Cake, (not easy to say, cut or eat,) I may need a couple of days of fasting..... 

 

[If you are reading this on an iPad or you cannot see the photos, please click the title of the post to be magically transported to my blog where all may be revealed. Lou x]

Tales of a thermometer......

You may have thought I was dead, so quiet my blogging has been, (non-existent actually.) In my head a stream of blog posts have made me laugh, made me cry, educated and cogitated... sad none of them made it to t'internet........

Still, it's January; time for resolution and revolution. I vowed to write every day in January, BT had other ideas. Humph! But I'm here now, with lots to tell of hot holidays and a growing herd of alpaca. First on my list is our plans for growing some chicks.

The 11yo requested funding from a poorly heeled venture capitalist (The Hubby) and after submitting a very interesting business plan for selling Salmon Faverolle chickens, (enormous profits though with no mention of deductions for feed, heat, bedding or medicinal supplies,) we began a joint venture and bought a second-hand egg incubator.

Realising our game plan, the chickens stopped laying. Grrrr. They have since revised this tactic and are now laying again but only in secret locations...

In any case we are ready: The Hubby has made a brooder where the chicks can live for their 1st month after which time they will be out in the protection of the hen pens in the garden. Sorted. The only thing we seemed to be missing was a thermometer to check the temperature inside the incubator. We ordered one of these from our erratically functioning Internet and the day before yesterday a box arrived for The Hubby. He poured over it's little booket that evening, as only a man can.

'Could you take a look at the thermometer today, see if you're happy with it?' Hubby asked yesterday morning at the crack of sparrows, before departing into the dark for his office an hour away.

Of course I can, thought I. I can do it after I feed and clean the hens, see to the lovely alpaca, try to contain the sheep in their mud patch, make sourdough and set to work on a web-based catalogue.... of course I can check a silly little thermometer. Easy peasy.

By 10am I had power-walked up a mountain, (my new butt-busting routine after drop-off,) all creatures were sorted, I'd put a wash on, the dishwasher was humming and the sourdough was being bashed up by the bread-maker - what a cheater! I checked the thermometer and it read 28°C, not bad for January really. The sun was shining and there was a hint of Spring in the air, lovely. A big NO! to lighting the log burner in the kitchen, I'm a country-girl now. I settled down to my web work.

An hour or so later I fancied a coffee and a stretch: Time to check the thermometer. Fabulously it was still 28°C and though I felt a little chilly, I put this down to my sitting still for so long. The coffee would warm me, so still no need for the log burner. #SaveThatWood.

A couple of hours later and I was proper cold. The sun was leaving the kitchen, off on its way to lend its weak rays to the west of the house and the light was fading at the table where I was working. I guesstimated the temperature was approximately 10°C and dragged my hypothermic body over to the thermometer to verify this.

It was still 28°C. It was only then that I realised my mistake. Peeling the printed film from the front of the gadget, I realised that the flaming thing didn't even have a battery in it... Sob!

Bring on the dogs with the brandy....

Oh, 18°C, not that bad actually, just indoor coat and hat weather......