Well, I am not going to talk about quails again as it does appear that I am getting a little fixated. However, I will mention the fact that we are getting about 6 eggs a day now (however I have read that they can lay more than one a day so could just be a couple laying), and I think that the ones with the pecked necks are male, as they have not been laying eggs in their bird cage. I have mentioned how noisy quails are – to put this into perspective, I can hear the noisy quails trilling when I am in the kitchen and they are in the second stable from the end. Not suprising really that they had been attacked – by the other quails wanting a quiet time I reckon…..
I have incubated some quails eggs, I don’t know if they will hatch, but if they do then they will be hatching a couple of days after christmas.
The sheep are now getting quite blase about waiting for us in the morning and are waiting until they hear the door open before they stampede up the field. And stampeding Herdies is a sight to behold, the ground shakes. Freckles calls out now when she hears us.
We had a busy day on Sunday, Ian was digging the drain out at the back of the house, and I was grooming rabbits. Hard work cuddling those little buns I can tell you – don’t think Ian appreciated the division of labour! I put the buns into their runs whilst I cleaned them out. It was the first time we had let them out since the rat attack. I would like to keep them out, but I think we would be constently worried about them.
We let the two ram lambs out into the field with the H’s this weekend as Debbie said that most of her sheep have been tupped now. I think the two ram lambs were Tiny’s brother and Genghis. Last time we let Genghis back out he went straight to Moulty, his mum. However this time he ignored her so I guess he must be getting fully mature now. We keep saying this, however our sheep are very good looking sheep and quite frankly – given that Debbies tup is about the most ugly animal I have ever seen (the face that only a mother could love becuase she would be scared not to) then I think that she should have been pleased if there were any crosses. I noted today, however that one of the rams was over with Debbies sheep again. Must be one of the two we let out at the weekend, I don’t know how he is getting through, btu we’ll leave him there now and hope that he doesn’t get into a fight with the ugly ram.
I had a good look at the sheep on Sunday, and they all seem to be in excellent condition. They should be, and this is the time when they should be putting on condition and in the next month or so, when there is less grass they start to lose condition prior to lambing. We need to supliment their feeding in the last month or so. The one sheep that is concerning me is Loofy, who was the sheep that had the premature twins last year which we lost. She is looking rather large, very large infact. I am wondering whether, as she did not have lambs to wean, whether she would have come into season or what ever the sheep equivelent is earlier in the year? Sheep gestation is five months, so if she was tupped in September then she could be lambing in February…? I’ll keep an eye on her and bring her into a stable if she looks close, so I can keep a close watch on her.
Evie is now sleeping with the other angoras. Today is day three, and I am sure she will be bullied as this is obviously her place in the herd, however she is now fit enough to cope and I’ll make sure that she gets some food on her own, as I think part of the problem before was that the others bullied her away from food. She had been out in the day with them for a week or so, and I think she was getting lonely when she was shut up on her own, so hopefully this will work out.
When Ian was at the vet last week, the vet said that he wondered if the angoras that we lost died of Pasturella. This is a virilent virus and there are many strains. He said it was not unusual for a farmer to lose a few sheep to pasturella, even if they had vacinated. We will never know, but something else to keep a look out for. We know that we have to vacinate the sheep a month before they are due lambing against it.
I had a good look at Bluebell, she is fully fit again now, and I was wondering if she looked like she was in kid. I know that this is unlikely as we lost Hadrian before breeding season, however she does seem to have a bit of a bulge (goats bulge on one side as they have all their stomachs on the other). However I remember last year when I was convinced they were in kid and therefore was feeding them up, so they got fatter, making me more and more convinced – and wrong. Of course with angoras their fleece grows about an inch a month, therefore Bluebell is going to look fatter too as she has some fleece growth around her now. I won’t get my hopes up – but it would be nice….
We’ve not had anyone come to look at the house yet, and guess we won’t until after the festive period is passed. So I reckon we will be here in spring, but who can tell….