Sound of silence

by putting ply wood over the windows of the chicken shed, we make their home dark, which makes them sleep which means that Kevin and Simon (and Mr Silkie) don’t feel the need to crow from 3.30 onwards. Bliss! They had managed to smash a window to their shed which meant that they were able to fly out in the morning to crow outside the house. Unfortunately we are left with the problem though, of the fact that they do not go to bed until it is getting dark – which is still after 10.00. So if we get an early night they are still up in the early hours crowing loudly. However if we are now able to stay up later than them and shut them away in their newly darkened house, then nights should get quieter.

Went back to the vet with Bob, whose white blood cell count is still high. He has more antibiotics though and the vet doesn’t want to see him for another couple of weeks which is probably good news. Bob seems quite happy though and is back to his normal self, a bit sloth like, but able to move at the speed of lightening when he wants to (ie towards food or bed).

One of the sheep has got scour, which is probably a result of her being out in the field and eating fresh grass. We have wormed her and will worm the others tonight.

One of our Herdie lambs managed to knock his horn off. It was really quite unpleasant, you could see the little bud underneath. It bled but not too much, and poor little chap must have been in quite some pain. On closer inspection it looks as though he has knocked his other one off earlier too. I wonder if Herdwick lambs have flimsy horns, or whether this is a trait of all young lambs, or whether this is due to Horrace who has one horn and a stump, suggesting that he had a similar accident as a youngster. Or maybe they have baby horns like we have baby teeth! I have been surprised that Genghis has not knocked his horns off when he gets his head stuck.

Crumpet should be hearing the pitter and patter of little bunny feet today. But as yet nothing. I just remember how the angora goats were kept on extra rations because they were ‘pregnant’, only to find out later that they were actually just getting fat because of the extra rations.

The ducklings have been moved in with the rabbits – in a run, not literally in with them. We have lost 4 from the 9 that we had now, and they don’t seem to be waterproof. They dive into the water when we put it in, clambering all over each other until they are wet through, and then appear to die of hypothermia. Of course the weather has been warm up until now so they have not got overly cold. They are in the stable so they don’t get the rain consistently on them, and we’ve put in a water container that they can’t jump in. We’ll have to watch this with the little ones when they are big enough to go outside (soon I hope – they are stinky. You would not believe how something so small and cute could smell so! And nine of them together…) So, non waterproof ducklings. You really do wonder how they survive in the wild. I suppose the answer to that is that they don’t.