The baby chicks have arrived this week. 3 out of the 7 hatched.....one yellow, one black and one stripey. They are not crowing....... yet, but are very noisy. At the moment they are living in a cardboard box with a brooder in the utility room. Eggs must get fertilised a good while before they are laid as the Buff Orpington cockerel (presumably father of the yellow one) was murdered by the Bull Mastiff about a week before these were laid. When I can find the lead that attaches my phone to my laptop I will upload some cute pics. Even eldest dd who is usually very disparaging about the whole "farm" thing has been in there cooing over them.
Not much else to report - chicken shed roof replaced and refelted after high winds and tree planting finished (12 in total) along with 11 Ramanas Roses and 2 Worcester Berries for the lower layer of the windbreak. The hot manure is being turned every 3 days at the moment in readiness for the hot bed and lambing should start tomorrow (officially)
A "hot bed" of intrigue or the rural equivalent of an electric blanket? :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds exciting doesn't it....well it gets very cold up here you know!!
ReplyDeleteIt actually involves an old wardrobe, an old shower door, some old bricks, straw insulation and a lot of fresh horse manure. The idea is that you can germinate seeds in the hot bed much earlier and grow things that you couldn't otherwise in this climate. The Victorians used to use them to grow things like pineapples!n It's just a big experiment for me :)