marshmallowed

Lambs can use up an awful lot of time, if you are not checking and worrying over them, then you are laughing at their antics.

The two lambs, now a week old are beginning to charge about playing, and Sharona has hoof marks on her back the same colour and shape as those found in the lick…

The difference between these two and last years is really noticeable, although they are not out of the woods of course.. it’s a dangerous business being a lamb.  Sharona has moved on now from allowing constant all the time sip feeding to making some sort of signal I can not pick up, and they rush over and feed for a long time.

Communication between ewe and lambs is  subtle thing.. as is their sense of telepathy with humans.. we only thought of trimming her hooves, and she went from ewe standing wanting a scratch to refusing to be near us.  Two rugby tackles later (perhaps we should have got smaller sheep), and I was able to do the first pedicure.

Himself did do some digging, I did do some seed sowing.. he cut lots of logs, I stacked lots of logs.. we all watched lambs a lot.

Then a treat, but also necessary to getting rid of some of the massive pile of hedge trimmings from the past few months; we had  bonfire. Pyromaniacs in this household, we do love a bonfire. and when it had died back a bit the embers were just calling out to do some toasting.. so we toasted marshmallows, until we were too hot and too cold at the same time, and too smokey and very marshmallowed - lovely.

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seed sowing

With the snowy weather, then lambing, somehow seed sowing has not been happening.  Nor has veg patch digging, but we must get serious and move on.. it’s nearly March (how did that happen? I haven’t played with my Christmas presents yet…!)

So far, the potatoes are chitting,  I have sown broad beans in pots and they lurk in the greenhouse. Calabrese, cabbage and cauliflower are germinating, parsnips chitting on kitchen towel and I have just started to sow my tomatoes.. (two varieties; fantasio and sweet olive done so far). Each year I like to experiment with something new, and this year it is lemongrass and physalis (cape gooseberry). This is just the beginning, soon there will be much seed sowing and going on for several months… luckily for us, himself prefers to dig, and I prefer to sow and prick out seeds.  Ideal.

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27

I have worked out that there are twenty seven of us living here. That’s three people, one cat, three ewes, two lambs, ten hens, one cockerel, one big chick, and six little chicks. I guess if I really want the population to increase, we should look into keeping bees….

But in the meantime we have bought some more hatching eggs. Whilst we have a cockerel, it would imply we don’t need to buy in eggs, but our son has been wanting his own personal light Sussex hen for ages. We promised him one, bought one and then it was ill and had to be culled. So, we said we would try and raise some in the incubator.

We found someone locally who has light Sussex hatching eggs, and himself nipped out after work to buy some.  I am a little dubious now, as they are not all the exact same shade… but we shall see. So the incubator has been cleaned out and is warming up, and we shall hope for an increase in the colour it green population.

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shirley

This is one of my favourite pictures, taken only a couple of days ago.  Shirley is a real sweetheart, she likes attention, and not just for food, but likes a chat and a scratch; she is so easy to handle.  Always I feel the bump of her head as she arrives at my side, pushing her way under my hand, and her fleece is so deep and lovely, as you can see from the way my hand is lost in there..

Shirley and Sheila, the two ewes who have no intention of lambing, are now a bit put out.  They were getting treats.. and now that has all stopped.  The reason is Sharona is now elsewhere.  Sharona being the one who did feed a lamb all summer, and then was in lamb with twins, had comparatively poor condition, whereas the other two don’t need extra food.  However, we found Sharona was just upset at being separated from the flock , and would not eat until back with her friends.. so we just tried to make sure she got the larger portion, and accepted the other two fatties got some goodies too.  Part of the downside of having so few sheep.

Now Sharona has her lambs, and has made her own flock, and no longer feels the need of company, she is now in the orchard, where the grass is good, and she has a regular supply of ewe nuts and lick.  The way the lambs pop their heads up from her sides with milk around their faces, I would say the feeding regime is working out.

But not from the point of view of the other two, who complain loudly from the diet area.

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pancake day

What can you do – too many eggs, and it’s pancake day. Lovely – ate far too many.

Seems illogical that now, when the eggs have started to really come in (eight today), that we are supposed to use up all the eggs (hence the pancakes) and not eat any until Easter! Luckily we don’t *do* lent.

My theory is that it’s one of those rules that help out simple folk in the olden days.. don’t eat eggs for a few weeks every spring, so what do you do with them? might as well stick them under a broody hen.. and so people who obey the rules always have new chickens. 

Well it’s just a theory…

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big chick, little chicks

At the weekend we decided to let the brooding hen and her charge out of the grower coup.  If we had had more chicks, we may have kept them apart from the older hens, but with just one, seems better to mix them up, besides it won’t be long before we need the grower coup for the next batch. The chick is nearly seven weeks and  now about a third the size of the other hens is a determined little wossit, and rushing in to snatch any titbits, and he seems quite funny roosting in the hen house with the big girls.  No idea what sex it is yet. He/she has grown redish feathers like a necklace around the neck.  Obviously, just scratching in the run and  on layers pellets with the others will mean it will grow slower, but it’s not a bad life.

Meanwhile we are weening the younger chicks – now three weeks old – off the heat, with a view to going outside.  They have grown lots, are almost feathered up, and like to have a bit of a fly about whenever we open the box.  As you can see happy to perch on me…

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twin lambs

Finally the lambs have come – last night.  I must remember that next time I start to really worry that she is going to peg it… that’s a sign that lambing is very imminent!  Mind you she was not giving away many signs – she had not separated herself off particularly, but did not show much interest in an offering of ewe nuts.  But at the six o’clock check, nothing doing, at the nine o’clock check, she had a lamb standing next to her, a fairly sprightly girl, stomping after her mum.  We trimmed and sprayed the cord, then Sharona started straining again, wandering about, feeding her lamb and then straining. 

We kept back and let her get on with it, but after an hour, decided to intervene. – particularly conscious that she was letting the first lamb feed, and that the time difference between the first one and the smaller two last year, and the theory that the first had all the colostrum, leading to the deaths of the other two – it’s difficult to know when to let nature take its course and when to jump in.

So we waited until she lay down again then held her for a look. The lamb was presenting nicely, just not coming out, so we pulled him out, a nice sturdy looking ram lamb.  Yay no triplets this year! Fears over Sharona’s lopsided udder seem unfounded as she has milk in both sides.  Clever girl for holding off during the snow weeks and choosing this mild one.

We snuggled them down in the field shelter with lots of bedding, and let them out this afternoon. I’m fairly paranoid about losing some again as we did last year.. but the difference from last year’s lambs is noticeable. By this morning the girl was bounding about the shelter, and later  they were both bouncing around the field in the sun.

Hope they do ok…

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my sharona

Poor Sharona, she is just fed up, struggling with it all. We feel she must lamb soon. Her sides stick out, her belly is full, as is her udder.

Waiting, without knowing the outcome, for her or any offspring…

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