caught in the act

One of the ewes decided to give birth  in the field with a clear view outside a window  - so I managed to capture bits of the labour and delivery.

20.56  After the waters have gone,a  lots of wandering back and forth,  and finding a patch of grass to lie down on 

21.11    Starting to contract  as labour progresses 

21.25   The actual birth bit can be rapid in this breed of sheep - the lambs tend to be small .

Once born, the ewe licks the lamb and it starts to move 

 21.25 The lamb tries to get up and feed 

21.35 And getting up and trying to find the udder to feed. 

And this is the first of twins, but its to dark to  get pictures  - and going in a  this stage with torcjes and lights would just disturb the ewe. 

So the plan is to go out at first light and see what's what

May the 4th be with you

As its May the 4th , its the unofficial Star Wars day. And the quote comes from Star Wars 

So out May 4th started at 10.13 am as the waters  broke

followed a couple of hours later by  a head

And then a lamb . Which the mother will lick , to dry it and stimulate it  and break the umbilicial cord

And then it tries to stand

And once its got the hang of that , tries to find the udder and feed

And once the lamb has got the hang of things, the mother will eat the placenta once its delivered

 And welcome , Han Solo !

And its started

On scans and dates , due from the 4th May, but this morning one of the first-time ewes separated herself from the rest and restlessly looked for somewhere to lie down.
We had been warned from neighbours that sheep seem to be lambing earlier that expected dates this year -probably something to do with the  mild spring and there being ample grass , leading to large lambs. And large lambs  can precipitate things as they can  come to term .

 Between seeing the restlesness and 90 minutes later,  events had progressed

And a few hours later the  lamb ( male, we think) has started to venture out and explore.

RIP Gertie

We've 2 groups of geese. One of the the  three living in the Burn Field  has been sitting on some eggs.  The other pair hang round the drive and pond ( and house) . And the female (Gertie) has been laying eggs - but we think the ravens or hoodies have been taking them - we have found broken goose eggs in the fields.

For the last few days she has been sitting - on nothing-  in various places.
And today we found her on the  empty nest she had made previously.
Very strange - usually whne you approach  a goose they hiss at you , but she didnt. She was very limp and not reacting .

So something clearly was amiss.

And this afternoon on checking on her , we found that she had died. if the information we were given when we received her was accurate , she would be 7 years of age. And dometic geese and live up to the age of 30  so it was unlikely to be 'old age' .

RIP Gertie

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A sitting hen.

Someone local had  a broody hen   which was offered on loan  - perhaps thats easier  that trying to unbrood them , or putting up with pushing her off any eggs that are  laid.

As we've had limited luck with geese - because of the predators taking the eggs - the hen is sitting on some geese eggs.

Only a few - we started with 4 but on the first inspection , only 3 were under her so one was removed. Perhaps ot surprising as they are so much bigger

And the hen is in a broody box - its gives them the shade and privacy they need and means we need to be bothered a bit less about disurbances.

And the incubation period is 25-30 days .

A sitting turkey

and not only have we got a goose sitting on  ?7 eggs , we now have a broody turkey.

We knew there were some eggs there

and she manages to keep herself well hidden in the rushes

And the male is still standing gaurd, trying to frighten off any intruders

One goose a-sitting

The goose started making a nest as we discovered here . She continued to ignore the custom-made comfortable accommodation that we had made.
And continued to lay eggs in the nest she had made in the bushes.

And she is sitting on the eggs . We think there could be 7 eggs.

 And the other geese are hanging around making appropriate noises when approached.

Incubation time for geese is 4 weeks.

So another 3 weeks or so and we shall see what additions ( if any ) we have  to the menagerie