Happier Ducks

In October  we moved the ducks to their new home. We gave them access to some of the pond. Ducks are very messy eaters, and need access to  water when eating ,  and emptying  and refilling buckets was a real hassle. giving them access to water . We  took  pictures of Previous their previous home  and the mess they managed to produce.

They and we are much happier with their new home ( well apart from some of the mud, but we shall wee how it dries out this spring) .  And now we think we can give them access to more of the pond. And we haven't had a lot of rain over the last few days  so it as the opportunity to move things around a bit .

 How it was

So we've move the railings and they have access to the whole pond. By now they are good at going into the run at night. They lay their eggs in the morning  and hopefully they’ve got the idea of laying them in the house. First attempt at moving them and they were laid all over the place. In the intelligence stakes ducks come a bit behind carrots.

 So their new home, with access to all the pond. And if they  dont go walkabout from here , the railings will be replaced by a drystone wall in the spring ( or summer) , or when I get round to it  

Christmas Birds

Back in July we hatched 5 ducks.
Unfortunately 3 of the 5 are males.
There is a problem with this.
Drakes dont lay eggs.
And they have a voracious sexual appetite.
If we kept all the males , the female dusk we have wouldn't have a minutes'  peace.  And we have had  females drowned in the pond as they have been held underwater by the enthousiastic males


So there is sadly  really only one solution to this

Raddled and ready

So we have caught the lucky lad and brought him down from the field. he didn't co-operate -  he clearly didn't know what was expected of him, from the move . And liberally applied raddle to his front.

And we have also separated out the ewes and moved them to a convenient field. They were given some additional minerals ( a drench, as Orkney soil is low in Cobalt and Selenium). A FEC( faecal egg count) showed they didnt need worming.


And the next step is to put the ram in with the ewes. Ewes come to season about every 13-19 days with an average of 17. So the ram will go round sniffing the ewes to recognise when they are fertile



If the ewe isn't fertile, and therefore not interested she will walk  (run) away , so there is a bit of chasing going on initially and the ram tries his luck

And if the ewe is in season, or she isn't quick enough, the signs are there for all to see. 

Once the ewe is pregnant , she will ignore the 'approaches' of the ram.  We change the colour of the raddle in a couple of weeks . If one of them wasn't successfully impregnated first time round  and the ram had to try again , we can spot it. 

And if the ram does the business first time round and with a 147 day gestation the calculators mean we are lambing on 8th May 2016 ( with a range from 29th April to 20th May) 

Not a quad bike

So we have been thinking of doing something about having to move stuff (sheep hurdles, feed etc) and and down the hill. We've thought about a quad bike , or perhaps even a small tractor. Or perhaps I could replace the lawnmower with something a bit more powerful and with a tow hook on the back for a small trailer.

But we didnt do that.

Instead we have got a Shetland Pony.  She was born at the beginning of May. I'm told they can live off fresh air and am assured she wont be any trouble whatsoever. With a bit of training and a little bit more growing  she may carry small amount of stuff.

At the moment she lives in what we call the sheepshed and goes out during to day to graze on grassy bits.

 I think we may still need a quad bike/tractor/new lawnmower

Empty Shelves

We got Storm Desmond at the moment.
Its a bit windy .

the weather station at Orkney harbour keeps a days-worth of data and I've  got the tail-end of the BBC weather site for here

And boats are delayed and the places are off .
- the last flight to Edinburgh didnt go this evening

 And the newspapers don't arrive.

So there are empty shelves.

But its Ok because tomorrow will be better  ( according to the Newsagent)

Orkney Wool

 It has been a while coming  but the

 Orkney Wool website

 is up and running .

Details are on the Orkney Wool website about the processes that went into making the yarn.

It starts with the sheep

Before

 that need to be shorn

After

And then it needs to be collected up to be sent away to the Natural Fibre Company
to be processed  ( as outlined on the Orkney Wool website )

And then it comes back  in boxes .
The inspiration for the colours is described on the Orkney Wool  website

























And now its for sale , to be made into suitable knitted goods













There is more information about this on the Orkney Wool website Wovember website

 Oh, And i have I mentioned

the Orkney Wool  website

Not quite

BEFORE

The storm and the wind came and went .
Most stuff was OK.

But the chick houses weren't where they started

AFTER

AFTER

Must do better next time .

Getting ready

 On the Beaufort Scale greater than 55 mph is Force 10, greater than 64 mph is Force 11 .  So it will be Force10.5 !


its going to get a bit windy, so they say. Its really the first decent storm of the winter - 40mph gusts don't   count.
So we have to get ready.
We've gone round and tied down the sheep trailer

And cleared away or immobilised  a number of loose items that  might get blown about

I reckon the chick houses  will be OK - the wind will go through them. And if it does move them , they will end up in the hedge.  We shall see

And Im not alone  in getting ready

Ducks in their new home

So after a bit of tree-cutting and hurdle-moving the ducks have a new home . 

They have been locked in at night. Ducks usually lay their eggs first thing in the morning so locked in , we have a chance of collecting the eggs.








Still muddy -  18  hours of rain yesterday - but everywhere is muddy.

A bit of the pond has been fenced in so they have access to water whilst locked up and we don't have to lug buckets and it will (hopefully) be a bit less sloppy everywhere.

And then the duckhouses moved in .