Winding down for winter

Monday 13th November 2017
A birdy day
The gorgeous, crisp weather continues.
I spent the day cleaning the chicken houses and liberally applying diatomaceous earth to keep spider mite and lice at bay.
After that I topped up the bird feeders. They've been empty for a while as I didn't want to be feeding the rats, but now that the annual incursion seems to be under control I can revert to feeding the needy birds.

Tuesday 14th November 2017
Thank god for Kevlar gloves!
Most of my day was spent pruning gooseberry bushes and I didn't even get the job finished. I was on my hands and knees clearing under the bushes and clearing the lower branches, many of which had drooped and started to root in the ground.
Last year we got very few gooseberries. Let's hope my efforts are rewarded this coming year. The rather messy looking cardboard you see on the ground is how I keep the grass down between the soft fruit bushes. It doesn't look too pretty but it is very effective and the soil underneath is kept in excellent condition. I mulch on top of the cardboard and it just disappears.
I had plenty of help from the chickens who enjoyed scratching about in the newly disturbed earth and litter. They do an important job clearing away bug eggs and larvae from under the bushes.

Rambo goes into action
For the first time today I actually saw Rambo getting it on with one of the ewes. Number 3 it was. We should really use a raddle, which I swear is a made up word from ram and saddle. It is basically a coloured marker so you can see when the ram has done his job. We don't bother with this as we are fairly laissez faire about it, but I have to admit it would be nice to know more precisely what to expect in 145 days time. Note for next year.

Welcome return of the Tree Sparrow

With the recent cold weather, winter bird numbers are starting to build up on the smallholding. There were 6 Reed Buntings today and 14 Meadow Pipits.

I was delighted to see a Tree Sparrow back and a Greenfinch (both sadly scarce birds now). Presumable they have already been lured by the freshly topped up feeders.

Wednesday 15th November 2017

Fog

Not much to see.

This was about as good as visibility got today.

Friday 17th November 2017

Fire in the sky

These days I have to dash home from work to take the dogs for a walk and give the chickens their afternoon feed. Today there was an amazing sunset, gone as quickly as it came. Unfortunately the phone battery went dead just as it was developing, but you get the idea.

Saturday 18th November
A New Dust BathHere's the special dust bath which I built the chickens. The paddling pool is full of dry sand with diatomaceous earth mixed in, so that when the poultry decide to use it for dust bathing it will kill any lice and creepy crawlies hiding in their feathers. Unfortunately the chickens don't quite know how to use it yet. In fact, Arthur is showing more interest.

Sheep moving day
Main job for the day was sheep worming which went very smoothly. After this we separated the ram lambs from the ewe lambs as the paddock up here is not large enough to keep five sheep going in winter time.

Maybe some good news for the turkeys

With this completed so easily, there was time to move the chicken pen. I thought this would be a four person job, but it was surprisingly easy (once I'd removed the ground pegs!).

This gives the Ixworth chicken trio some new ground to go on, but more importantly makes space for a new turkey enclosure. The turkeys will appreciate the nettle growth. They are about the only livestock which effectively deals with these.

My hope is that I might be able to let a couple outside the cage each day and that they will hang about because the other birds are still there. I can't do this at the moment as their housing is too close to the boundary fence and next door's dogs. It would be lovely to let them free-range again, at least in a limited manner.