The Ex-Drake

The ducks get locked into their run of an evening. They are a bit haphazard about where they lay eggs - they usually lay in the morning - so we keep them locked up until mid-morning to stand a chance of knowing where they have laid eggs. 

But the drake didn't appear with them one evening . he had been limping a bit for  a couple of days.

And a couple of days later we eventually found him .

 

 

And we think its was probably a hungry otter - the otter has got into the chest and eaten the contents ( heart and lungs)

 

And it was our only drake. So we are on the lookout for a replacement. If we wnat to try and hatch some ducklings we will need a drake to do the business. 

31 days later

 

 

 

 

 I spotted a fragment of shell when checking on the feed  for the sitting hen.  One of the eggs was very sloshy  so it was removed . And we have 2 goslings 

 So we will move them on and put them into a bigger run out on the grass. 

RoadKill

 Went along the drive ( to topup the eggs-for-sale box) 

And saw this 

 

 

Lots of feathers on the road...........................

And looking more closely 

Blood on the road 

And hunting around 

So someone came round the bend and the cockerels was out exploring  at just the wrong moment. 

 

It's usual to knock on the door and say "I'm really sorry , but ......."

Bit this driver didnt . 

 

The sitting Hen

 At the moment we dont want any more chickens.

And we have a broody hen. 

And we have a goose that is laying eggs but at the moment isnt incubating them.

 

So 

 

Weve taken some eggs from the nest that the goose has made 

 

And introduced the hen to them .,And she is incubating them 

  Goose egg incubation time is about a month.  So wait and see what ( if anything ) comes of this.

Repaired.

 

Some repairs are necessary

 We've not had a lot of rain  recently . 

So there hasnt been an obvious  precipitating cause . 

But 

A bit of the perimeter stone wall has collapsed. 

And removing the loose stones leaves a slightly bigger gap.

And I found this in the wall as i removed the loose stones 

And cleaned up a bit........

 I wonder if its possible to date the can ?  . Which could give an indication of when the wall was last worked on . 

One goose a-laying

 We have restricted the geese to a lawn as part of the Bird flu restrictions.  

Weve found a nest 

And it has some eggs in it . 

 Previous attempts at hatching geese  have been unsuccessful

So weve  created  a pen and some netting to stop predators getting at the eggs whne the goose is not sitting. 

5 eggs so far . Once she starts sitting on them , incubation period is 30 days.