Update, at last!

OK so I have been a little absent recently. Seems to be a common apology, but I do mean it. I have loved writing this, so would hate for anyone (if I am vain enough to presume anyone is reading this) to lose interest. As I have loved sharing our experiences... no matter how minor, inexperienced or some times graphic, but this is the reality.

I shouldn't make excuses, however I have been away for work for a few days. So Matt was left looking after everything solo.  So I guess you would think I would have little to report, but you would be wrong.

We are yet again a few more birds down. Since we stated around Christmas we wanted to down size our flock, the numbers have been tumbling! Something we need to rectify.

Unfortunately we had to have our resident drake, Patta-duck put down on 7^th; after he had been 'not himself' for a few days. It sounds strange to complain a duck was waddling, but he was not standing up right, but shuffling. He was eating and drinking, as I was making sure he did (and his appetite was still good) so we made a last ditch attempt to save our pet drake. Unfortunately he was not well at all. He had definitely lost weight, as well as being lethargic and not walking properly. The vet also said he was dehydrated and had limited strength in his lower limbs and even his tail. She believed it was a bacterial toxic poisoning; probably something he had ate, as ducks are natural foragers, and with the wet weather we have had he could easily had found something that had begun to rot. So Pat, being a very sick duck didn't come back home. I stayed with him, as I didn't want him to be alone. Might sound strange from someone who raises birds as livestock, however Pat was very much a pet, and could win anyone over with his personality.

Whilst I was away, our remaining hybrid hen; who had earned herself a reprieve, by laying whenever the freezer threat was spoken. Became dog food whilst I was away... and Ffion was very pleased with herself. An expression I witnessed again yesterday, after I went out for an early morning run. Only this time it was one of our your pullets, who we have been waiting to start laying. So for future reference they will be staying in bed, if I head out early and not helping herself to breakfast.

On the subject or our young pullets, we are still waiting for them to begin lay... Only the one (of the two remaining) Old English Game cross has laid, and had done so for a few weeks, prior to the last batch of rain.  Though they are a few weeks older than the others. Our Rhode Island Red crosses and Light Sussex and Sussex cross should have all begun by now, as they are over 6 months old. So I am hopeful it has just been the heat and rain that has postponed their starting. As we have had to buy eggs for the first time in years- free range, of course. I know patience is key, but I would be grateful if anyone had any suggestions.

In more happy poultry news, our Indian game and OEG x Indian game chicks are doing really well. And are in that awkward, not quite cute stage now, where they are developing their adult feathers... I think it safe to say the older 3 are all roosters! And Lucky-Lu (Lucy) is doing really well. She responds to us, and comes (generally) when called. As, as only surviving Light Sussex from the chicks hatched over Christmas, where the others surcome to the wet. She battled on and survived! So is still housed in the shed, claiming the one side of the brooder box as her own. Something that will have to change once the turkeys hatch I guess. But we take her out and place her in the run every day, and bring her in at night, or poor weather.  She actually looks for us in the evenings and happily sits on our hand or shoulder... although this has resulted in a few clothes changes! She even managed to aim for the Madog's head one evening too.

This evening I planted out a few herbs, zucchinis and cucumbers to fast track my garden. As, as you may have noticed we have been a little busy and I am so far behind with starting this year's garden! I also sown my first batch of seeds... so fingers crossed for a good start. I do not tend to have a great history with propagating from seeds. I think I get too enthusiastic and plant them out too early. Ironically one of my best propagation strategies has been separating off section of the pig pen. So if I collect seeds; from garden or claimed from veg from the grocers, I generally feed some to the pigs, particularly if I am planning on allowing part of the pen some recovery time. As they appear to have a higher success rate than I do!  -

So gardening tip, should you wish to start some veg for minimum cost. If you buy your vegetables from a grocer, local produce store or farmers market, they are less likely to be produce from hybrid plant- unlike most supermarket stuff. So if you collect the seeds, they should propagate. Also if you can buy them locally, they are more likely to be successful in your environment. So stuff like tomatoes (you just need one from a punnet), seeds from a capsicum/pepper, chillies, eggplant/aubergines, pumpkins, melons, avocado (though these can be tricky, and be aware the tree and avocado skins are poisonous to almost everything, animal wise). Pretty much anything that would have seeds that you generally discard. I am also told you can place the stems of herbs (such as basil) in water and they will develop roots- this is something I plan on trying shortly... so will document and share. Also celery ends (the root bit) can be placed in water and should begin to grow again- but this is useless in the tropics. Another one that I am planning this winter is potatoes and sweet potatoes that are 'over' in the eating sense. So have eyes on them. Plant that in a barrel and 1 kg should produce up to 7kg! So again, this is another one I will keep you up to date on.  

Smallholders ideal table bird- Stage 2

The weekend saw the arrival of our second ‘set’ of hatchlings. From the eggs we candled when we got back from Perth. 9 we due this week, the rest are younger than that so still have time to go.

I have discussed candling before. This is a process we use to determine whether the eggs are fertile, and/or progressing. Sometimes fertile eggs will stop developing, so we siphon these out too.

Basically by using a bright torch and carefully placing it against the egg, in a darkened room you will be able to see the silhouette (or lack of).  

So as I was saying from this ‘sets’ eggs we had 2 that didn’t make it- 1 non-starter and 1 that was just too weak. To be honest I would rather have a non starter than a chick that doesn’t make it because its too weak, so hasn’t developed properly... but I guess that’s why the saying goes “don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched”. And I think any bird breeder (not sure I think of myself as one, but guess that’s right) would agree with that statement.

So we have 7, fit and healthy chicks. These guys will be staying indoors until the rain has definitely gone.  I guess we learned a lesson this year, not to hatch any eggs over Christmas- New Year (or generally up til the wet season).

I am hoping to continue to photograph these guys regularly, and document them; in the hope that we can learn about their progress and potentially even sex them. And use that for future hatchlings too.

3 of these guys are pure Indian games, the others are a cross between Lavender, our Old English game/layer cross and Ronnie our Indian Game rooster. So potentially stage 2 in our long term experiment for the small holders ideal ‘table’ bird.

As a smallholder, we breed and rear chickens, both for egg production and meat consumption. It’s not for everyone, but this is the lifestyle we have chosen. Now many years of mass production has developed ‘hybrids’ designed for one or the other, but not both. Many of the traditional breeds are considered ‘dual purpose’ as they would have been more for the average family... though most would probably have had ‘mongrels’ or crosses too.

So the ultimate goal is to produce offspring, from which the roosters provide a good eating bird and the females fair egg production... minimising waste and flock numbers.

I am hopeful that these Old English Game x layer crossed Indian Game may produce an interesting ‘table bird’ line. Though so far none of our, well for want to of a better word- expectations (no that definitely the wrong word) have eventuated. Well any way, anything we suspected may result from this cross so far has been in correct. As I had, had an incling (I wouldn’t call it an expectation) that the Old English Game cross chicks may  differ in appearance from the other, as I suggested they would inherit the grey legs of the Old English Games, as the entire first cross did. And I have seen photographs of Indian Games crossed with Australorps- another grey legged chicken, inherit grey legs. As opposed to the dark yellow of the Indian Game. All the chicks have yellow legs!

Well here the background to our experiment, for those who don’t know.

Following my unintentional purchase of an Old English Game rooster last year. We did incubate 1 ‘set’ of eggs. The result of which was a poor fertility rate, but produced 9 crosses- mostly roosters, but a few hens.

All inherited varying levels of Dads colourful plumage... even the hens. 2 of the hens we still have- Lavender and Welly2, both are beautiful golden coloured birds; Lavender with a purple-y tail feathers and Welly2, was clearly the result of a cross with our Welsummer hen- if her markings are anything to go by.

Now whilst as a breed we found the Old English Games to be quite ‘wild’, in terms of their natural survival instincts. Dad, more so than our OEG cross hens, but even these practice these instincts...strange when compared to our experience with other domestic chicken breeds. They usually roost off the ground (usually in trees or on top of high fence posts/ wire) and are more than happy to forage for their own food. Also found the roosters to be quite aggressive, but then we only usually had contact with them whilst they were confined- so guess it could be that flight or flight instinct. But I could definitely see why they were used for cock fighting!

Anyway back on track, this cross produced a few roosters, all of which had fair meat quantity and quality for their size. Whereas the hens were smaller in size and smaller than our general laying flock, they have delivered a fair number of eggs, or at least so far.   Therefore we were hopeful that experimenting with this offspring and the Indian Game may produce a fair (or at least improved) laying, table bird... every small holders dream.

Well this is stage 2, guess we will keep documenting our progress.

Back home, update

Well we had a wonderful time in Perth. And have to admit, we would seriously consider a future move to WA... though not yet. I would definitely have to see what the winters were like. As it was very dry (at the moment, as they have a Mediterranean climate), so cooler, wet winters do not seem appealing; though would be necessary for growing and pastures. Guess any move would be complex, but in the right ‘thing’, I think we would be very tempted.

Back to Queensland, and our absence saw a few ups and downs. Our poor house/ animal sitter had his hands full. And we are very grateful for his help, though I think over all he enjoyed his “farm stay”.

Anyone eho owns 'property' will know, going away is a little more complex... anyone with a pet can appreciate the planning and worry that goes into taking holidays. So finding someone willing to take on a larger property with a variety of animals is rare- so we really are grateful.

The night before our house sitter came to stay- as he stayed from the Sunday, though we didn’t leave until Tuesday morning, so we could show him the ropes and the dogs could get used to him being there, and being the one who fed them. Any way Saturday night, we lost the first of our Christmas hatchlings; think the wet weather just got to it- found it lying in an undercover corner in the wet. Though we are always sad to lose a bird, it was one of the 2 Sussex hens, we had hoped to keep.  So we moved them to higher ground- although they still had an upstairs area to their hutch/run to be high and dry. We even put them all inside in the evening, only for them to wander straight back out and huddle in the rain!

Unfortunately our house sitter had to deal with finding them one, by one. We agreed with fewer numbers, in the larger side of brooder box; whilst not ideal, would be the best place for them... sadly we came home to one little sussex hen. So “Lucky” will hopefully have a long and happy life with us. We just have to wait for this rain to stop so she can be let outside! I have been handling her often (since we’ve been home) and taking her for a “walk”, morning and evening- where she happily sits on my arm or shoulder and has a good nose around, spreads her wings and even met Madog- much to his confusion.

 I still hope to desensitise them to birds (or at least Madog), but don’t think I will ever trust them, with them... as our recently purchased Mammoth Muscovys were testament to. Although we’re upset to lose them, neither of us can bring ourselves to be mad with the dogs. Especially as the birds made it into their run, so I guess its instinct... I guess if they were left to fend for themselves they wouldn’t starve; Ffion especially.

On a happier note; before we left, we had purchased a few new Indian Game additions. One of which had begun showing signs of an eye infection. Unfortunately this and respiratory infections seem to be common- though we had been told to treat them with ‘Breath-easi’ and had previously picked up an antibacterial eye ointment that appears effective.

But as we were leaving, we had separated her into a cage in the shed and asked our house/animal sitter to spray her morning and night (and feed/water her obviously). To be honest, we hadn’t expected her to survive. But to our surprise she had, and although the tissue in the eye lid is still swollen and her eye was watering, she appears healthy in herself. So I am currently bathing her eye morning and night with warm salt water, then applying ointment to the eye and misting her with regularly with the breath-easi. This appears to be helping, but I did catch her scratching the eye yesterday, so I may need to fashion a cone for her. As she seems strong and we want her eye to clear up ASAP, so we can have her free ranging with the others; as although I know she has “enough space”, we hate seeing any animal confined.

On the plus side we did have 3 new arrivals whilst we were away- 1 Indian game chick, 1 Indian game- Old English Game cross chick and an Old English Game cross Rhode Island Red chick. So we will see what comes, in terms of sex etc. As I missed the opportunity to sex them by their wings (again)- which apparently you can do from day old to 2-3 days. But I have a feeling the more distinctly marked bird (which is surprisingly the first to have hatched, the Rhodie Red, OEG cross) would be a male... purely as males tend to be more colourful, and as chicks would be more marked... guess we’ll see.

The pigs and cows were fine- guess their relatively self sufficient and resilient. I have to admit I can not wait for the rains to ease, so we can look at separating part of the pigs paddock off to let it grow! At the moment it is just a mud bath... Not that the pigs seem to mind.

As for Streaky, I am afraid our plan to separate her and Smokey was not successful. The 3 weeks came and went (pigs estrous cycle is an average of 3 weeks- 18-24 days) and we left her out- partially as she was getting frustrated and the pen’s ground was becoming very muddy, as she was tearing up such a small area. But also as the others needed access to the permanent shed for shelter from the rain. So on the Friday we left her out, only for her to come into season on the Sunday! So I really don’t know whether I will be able to get another chance. I hope so, else she will be for the freezer and we will have to source another gilt/sow.

Pigs, Roosters, Chicken day... what a weekend

What a busy weekend! Highs, lows and everything in between.

From the intended downsizing of our flock, resulting in a tasty chicken dinner Sunday night, but I will come back to “Chicken Day” separately.   We did also have a few unintended losses, but on the whole the weekend was productive.

Firstly, on the piggy front. Our “Berky” is doing really well. So Friday we separated him from Mum, to the relief of Mum. Berky has been reasonably calm during the process, though he has been following Mum from inside the pen as best he can. I am looking forward to being able to reunite them next week. I am hoping this is long enough and that he is big enough. As we intend to swap the bore over- so Smokey is to be penned for a few days, so Berky can settle a bit. And hopefully his separation will increase his interest in our other girl, who is due for season in the following few days.



Berky



Absencemakes the heart grow fonder...

as the case may be. I just think the familiarity between the two and her dominance over him appears to be interfering with our Berkshire breeding. So I guess this is my last attempt to save Streaky’s bacon! As after this, I (or she) is running out of options.

Mum enjoying her freedom

Given the success of our first litter I have updated our Pig page. I have also updated our bird related pages. So whilst I have left a ‘Poultry’ page, it is mainly in reference to how our flock expanded and generally how to get started. You may notice that there is now a Chicken, Duck, Goose and Turkey page. This seemed a little more appropriate to address the individual bird species, as our flock has

now expanded... again. Somehow, poultry seemed a little general, and the page would have gone on and on, if I had discussed our progression into each species and our intentions/ aspirations for each.

So back to  the past weekend, Friday was also the day we lost our resident Sussex rooster “Rocky”. Now in the grand scheme, Rocky was not in the list or downsizing; but vital to retain for future restocking and production... and he was more of a pet.

Unfortunately we don’t know what was wrong with him as such. He hadn’t really been himself for a few weeks; looking dirty and a little soggy. Pretty much since our first round of rain a few weeks back. But we mostly put this down to the lack of dry areas for him to dust bath. Though the girls all looked perfectly clean, though they sleep inside the hutches and sheds where Rocky roosts outside the door- almost like a guard, but asleep on duty!

Then in the week although he was still first to the gate and eating well, but he looked a little unsteady on his feet, and not quite his assertive self. So we separated him. Tried worming, just in case; though the flock had, had their water treated not that long ago. We tried sprays for respiratory infections, anything and everything we could. But he deteriorated and finally gave up, with us there Friday afternoon.

So Sunday afternoon; against the trend, we collected a young bird from another bloodline that we had enquired about over the weekend. A little quick I guess, but at the moment he is a nice looking bird. Not “working” as yet, but appears to be settling in with the hens far easier than Rocky did- at least they are letting him eat! So I haven’t had to stand guard and protect this one. So hopefully by the time he is ready, so will we be.

Sunday was also a tidy up day and rearranging of a few things.  

The reduced size Indian games and honorary member (our Old English Game cross hen- thinking a cross may produce meat birds? Either way she’s a better layer) moved into the small poultry shed, with the addition of the enclosed run (more for the OEG cross). This we placed on the currently empty (well weed ridden) raised garden bed.... this is my idea of weeding and fertilising!

This freed up the small hutch, so our young chicks that we incubated and hatched for my nephew moved from the brooder box to the small hutch outside.

So with the brooder box vacant we tidied the shed and yard... Which any shed owner would understand is not a small task.

As well as making headway with the garden, pruning the various fruit trees that we had planted last year- the surviving ones are flourishing. As is the grass, so we mowed- yet again! And made a start by clearing the veg patch, ready for replanting.

Well its been a busy 2 weeks! My family have now been here 10 days, and yes we’re even still talking ;)

But in the time they have been here we have seen 7 new arrivals.  Which I was so excited to share with them, especially my six year old nephew. His favourites so far are the  2 chicks; Wellsumer-Sussex crosses, so gorgous fluffy yellow balls. From our stint of changing over of our roosters, for our not so successful meat bird program. Ronnie just is not quick enough, or have the dominance over the laying flock. He impatiently watched the eggs all week and was in ore as they hatched, desperate for them to dry enough to hold. He then helped build their nest in the brooder box and set up the lamp. He now checks on them daily.

The incubator is still full and we are counting down to our next hatchlings, due this weekend.

More exciting (for me at least), was the arrival of our 5 piglets on Thursday (four boys and one girl). All are fit and healthy and feeding well. Our sow delivered all naturally, on her own. As they were not there when I fed them in the morning, but were happily snuggled up in the shed in the evening. And in fairness she has been a very attentive Mum, but not too aggressive.

Even my sister who is (a self confessed) “not an animal person” was excited by their arrival. I think the novelty has warn off slightly with my nephew, as he has not yet been able to get close enough to hold one. Something that we will hopefully get to do this weekend, before we have to castrate the males that are for sale (we are not “nutting” our own bore). I say I hope he can hold them then, as I have a feeling Mum will not be so relaxed about letting me in the pen afterwards.

I will try and post about our success with this process soon. Especially as it is a first for us too. Though a friend (who has some experience) has agreed to lend a hand.

 Also this weekend is D-day for the turkeys ready for Christmas dinner. Which in itself had raised a few interesting conversations with my nephew. As whilst my sister or parents have not hidden the facts of where meat comes from, I guess he has never really been confronted with the direct association. But he appears to be taking it all in his stride. Even asking me to put the rooster in the pot, as he had kicked and scratched his arm.

3 weeks til Christmas, 3 days til family arrives

OK so it has been pretty hectic here, though we haven’t got around to half of the things I had hoped to blog about! We have had a ‘heat wave’ it officially reached 34 degrees (here on the coast, it was higher inland). Which doesn’t sound that hot, but when you consider the humidity is about 90%... it hot! So many of the jobs I had intended to get done are less than appealing during the day. And morning and evenings are very short. And as for rain, we had a thunder storm Tuesday, that was more of a light show than anything- 1mm of rain!

I have begun weeding, I at least have the path done and looking neat, just the herb garden, landscape gardens and veggie patch to do (probably early tomorrow). I did however start some seedlings, and they are doing quite well in the shed. I just hope I have more success when transferring them, than I have in the past.

Today is actually my last day at work for 2012, though Matt doesn’t break up for a few weeks. I must admit it feels weird, but as my family arrive in 3 days, I will be grateful for the extra time to get all the things done that I had hoped to in the past few weeks- nothing like organisation! I haven’t even posted my cards and gifts for those who are not coming... just hope the make it in time!

My family actually leave their homes tomorrow, even though they arrive here Sunday. I admit it’s a long trip- not something I look forward to. But I am looking forward to seeing them!

For those who have been following, we have been counting down to another arrival, due shortly. So penning off the pregnant sow, was not a job we could put off any further. So last night we built  a pen around their main shed.  I am just wondering how much trouble she will be, as she has never been an easy animal. And pigs are social, we wouldn’t have done it unless we felt it was necessary- we penned her off for her own health and that of her impending litter. We had hoped she would have started farrowing and we would have just built the pen around her chosen nest. But as with everything else since we have had this one, nothing come naturally. So we have used the main shed, and she has her own water tank... but she was not happy. See whether it is all still standing by the time I get home from work! 

Another issue we had prior to my family’s arrival, was our ever increasing flock. We did process our roosters and a few ducks last weekend, so our freezer is looking rather full now; in preparation for the extra mouths. Although we also acquired 2 more Rhode Island crosses from a friend of a friend. They were from the batch we hatched for the initial friend.

Unfortunately we have also ‘lost’ a few others. I found one duckling tangled in some of the fencing- as they wander where veer they feel. It couldn’t have been there long, but apparently it was long enough for it to die- think it broke its neck. Another just vanished last week, so we are now down to 8.  I know we had intension of reducing our numbers, but this was not what we had in mind.

On the opposite vein, we had limited success with crossing our Indian Game rooster without laying stock. After a week we candled the eggs in the incubator all of the other rooster over the few hens appear fertile; whereas Ronnie only appears to have had success with one. I just don’t think he has the dominance or the speed and agility. So we have put in another batch from Rocky (our Sussex rooster), now he is back with his girls. Mainly as I wanted chicks whilst my nephew was here, we also had a few duck eggs, so they went in too... so we will check them this weekend. 

Poultry progress... let the egg tally begin

The geese have settled in well. And the ducklings are growing in both size and bravado! They still manage to squeeze through the fencing, so they wander freely around the front garden and hel themselves to the Indian game’s food supply.

As for the chickens we will be collecting eggs this week for our ‘meat bird’ program; as we swapped our roosters around a few weeks back now. And they should have settled into their new homes and be ‘working’ sufficiently.

As I have explained in the past, most commercial ‘meat birds’ are bred from, or variations of the Ross cob. This cross was bred for its mass, weight gain and appetite.  However I struggle to rear these birds due to their rapid growth and appetite, limits their natural behaviours and their quality of life is affected.  Struggling to stand or walk, sitting in their own mess, eating! We even had to remove their food at night to stop them eating constantly... and ended up rehousing them in a shelter with bedding on the floor, as they could not manage ramps or steps; but then this increased their risk to predators.

Young Indian Game's

So we made the decision to breed and rear our own table birds, that will hopefully be capable of laying eggs. Similar to that of http://castlefarmeggs.co.uk/?page_id=787 . In the hope that they would be able to free range better and have a longer, better quality of life. The idea being we cross a good dual purpose/ or larger breed layer, such as the Sussex or Australorp x’s we already had with a game bird. We have had an Old English Game rooster cross with our layers, and the roosters from that combination carried a fair amount of quality meat for their size. However they also carried the athletic and aggressive traits of the rooster; the same reason we no longer have him. However these are also supposed to be a good free ranging layer. So I still have hopes for the few pullets we have raised. 

But in our quest for a table bird we decided to try them with our resident Indian Games, or Dark Cornish. This breed is heavier, carrying a lot of breast meat and although still flighty, they are far less aggressive... though the females can be pretty feisty when protecting their nests. Matt says they look like a roast chook with their feathers on. And I must admit they do have that neat shape, so hopefully a cross between these birds and the layer may work.

We are unsure which will work better; the Sussex rooster over the game or the Indian game over the layers? I have read a few things that suggest Sussex over Indian game produces a better table bird, though the productivity is likely to be less as Indian game hens produce fewer eggs per annum. Though the layers produce more regularly, there may be issues in regard to whether the Indian Game rooster is capable of servicing the females sufficiently for a good fertility rate due to his stature.

We know both roosters ‘work’ as we have had a few batches of layers from Rocky and we currently have 9 young Indian Game pullets and roosters from Ronnie. These birds have gorgeous patterns and colours through thier feathers- something I hope will pass to thier young, even when crossed.  

We are hoping that these birds will still produce relatively productive layers. As when it comes to maintaining our laying flock, we obviously generate a supply of roosters. Therefore the most efficient format would be to have a single strain of birds that we could raise the females as layers and the males for meat.

So this week will begin collecting for incubation. I will be marking the eggs as to their source (which rooster over which females). So we can assess the virility of the roosters and the success of the resulting offspring as either layers of table birds. So expect a regular egg collection report, this probably wouldn’t hurt so we know when the Old English Game cross pullets and Sussex and Sussex-Australorp cross pullets begin to lay.

Weekends work for one

Well what a busy few days I had with Matt being away. I ordered a truck of soil as I had a few things I wanted to do. We still needed to fill the areas where we had moved the tanks. I removed the Yukka tree trunks and weeded the garden bed beside the shed (that we had ear marked as a herb patch) and I wanted to build a few new garden boxes and fill a few large pots. 

So the truck I had booked for Thursday morning, eventually arrived 3:30pm. I had already pulled up and weed matted the shed half of the path last weekend. I then pulled up the mid section to allow for the truck to deliver the soil between the house and shed. This also meant taking down the dividing fence and temporarily disconnecting the electric fence.

I wanted most left in the rear garden and the rest in/ near the herb patch, so that I could replace the fence and reconnect the electric fencing, before I begun barrowing. Having it nearer the tanks, also reduced the distance I needed to move it. Made sense… This did not do quite to plan. At the nearest point, there is approx 4.5- 5mters between the house and shed. The truck driver took many manoeuvres to reach this point; damaging many of the remaining pavers in the process. To be honest I didn’t think they were anywhere near her travel path. By the end I was just grateful that she didn’t hit the house!

I did attempt to match the pavers however Bunnings offered some in that size (450mm x 450mm) in white, ours are cream at $18 odd each. So as she obliterated 14/15 and there were 2 previously cracked I decided to space out the existing and fill the remaining with stone chips, instead. So built the ‘wet patch’ up with earth, then laid weed matting (as for some reason this wasn’t done when the original path was laid). Then lay pavers and stone chipped.

I did manage to get her to dump the majority of the soil for the front in the herb patch. The rest was for barrowing and filling random wholes that we had yet to do. From the previous owners dogs and other low patches, here and there. The majority was for my veg patch.

Yesterday we moved the remaining soil from the front into my two new doorstep pots (though I haven’t got any plants to put in them yet). And barrowed the rest to my veg patch. We then levelled and planted out (and sowed) our herbs.



Herb patch, being watered in



Herb patch planted out

I was surprised by the stock of seeds I had accumulated, ready for our herb patch. We transplanted an exisiting Basil and Mint plant (from my veg patch, a second reamins there as a back up). We rehomed the Bay tree, central to the patch, so it should have ample room to grow . As well as planting out a few chives and oregano recently purchased- I have had no luck raising Oregano from seed? We also planted out the two chillie plants we had had in pots on the patio table along side and a ginger plant. And then the seeds; Tarrogan, Lemon Balm, Cumin, Corriander, Parlsey, Dill, a few varying types of Basil and a scatter of lavender along side the shed door.

Madog making the most of the view

The mound out the back had shrunk. Some of this will fill my pallet veg boxes. Once I have them solid and secure. The remainder will fill around the tanks, as this is going to compact and need topping up. Til then it makes a great observation point from which Madog can watch the world go by.

In other farming news, Matt agrees our ‘Christmas ham’ (a Berkshire cross Saddleback pig we picked up at the beginning of the year, for the freezer whilst we waited for our own piglets and pork supply) is looking a little podgy. Given I witnessed Smokey (our resident Berkshire bore) mount her just over a month ago. This could mean she’s expecting… This would be both exciting and problematic.

Exciting in, especially if my dates are correct; she would be due a few days after my family arrive to visit. And in that after much waiting we would have piglets here. Problematic, however in that our lack of piglets to date could be put down to Smokey (our resident Berkshire gilt) and that Smokey is evidently 'working'. And we wil not being having our ‘Christmas ham’ for Christmas dinner wiith my family, as planned .

So I guess this leaves us with what to do with Streaky? She is now almost 14 months old now and ‘primo’ size for pork. Yet we have still seen little action and she doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of being in-pig and I am still unsure whether she’s even coming into season. We did think we saw a difference in her the other week, and Smokey was sniffing around her. But I am not sure if we are seeing what we want to.



'Christmas ham', Smokey & Streaky



We did initially set out to breed Berkshires, so if we have her for Christmas instead we have to look at replacing her. Again this leaves us with a decision to make- do we get another young piglet from a breeder (given there are only two within a reasonable distance and we can not use the one since our male came from there. And the other we’ve already had little luck with. And then we wait again, putting in more time and effort. Or do we search for an established sow; that we don’t know and have not raised.   And if I’m honest, we bought a breeding pair so that we could rear them from young, build a relationship and become more attached… Can I be objective about it? If she’s not producing the goods, can I eat her?

I also attempted to re-shuffle my birds. As the young Sussex cross chicks are now fully feathered and the brooder box was becoming crowded. The original four Indian Game chicks are also fully feathered, but still far too small to be placed in the outside run- as they could easily make it throught he chicken mesh. It’s amazing how much a of a size difference there is between these and our Sussex cross layers.

So to move the Sussex crosses out, I needed to make room. Therefore I decided it was time the English Game cross hens made their way into the main chicken run.

I had completely forgotten how athletic their father (our temporary resident pure Old English Game rooster) was! He initially escaped from the run and vanished for almost a week. Returning, where I eventually coaxed him into the general run. Where he stayed as he had food and girls. However he still roosted upon the 8 foot fence posts and was too fast to catch.

These were traits we had neglected to consider when we incubated the eggs this arrangement produced.

Putting more research into the bred, Old English Games are ideal for free ranging and require little food, as they are more than capable of sourcing their own. Unfortunately whilst I am happy for mine to ‘free range’ they are confined to an area of the garden during the day away from the dogs- for their own safety.

One o four colourful Old English cross hens

I did attempt clipping their wings last night. This was not successful as the hen immediately proceeded to scramble up the chicken mesh and roost upon the fence post. So most were returned to the enclosed run last night. The few that had made their way into the hen house we allowed to remain and I clipped their wings this morning. In an effort to limit their ability to make it into the dogs realm. Confinement for these birds is definitely not a long term solution and something I am not comfortable with. However as Matt pointed out, he would rather eat them himself instead of them becoming dog food… So I guess I have to give their future with us a little more thought, a pity given the colours that this cross over produced were varied and stunning! However a life of confinement is not acceptable to me and the chick run (whici is only meant to be a temporary solution until they are large enoughto stand ther ground amoungst the bigger birds and protect them from preditors- butcher birds, hawks, kookaburras etc) is becoming increasingly over crowded!

First indian game chick

This is our first successful Indian game chick to join our flock

The tanks are in, and just in time

Well this weekend the tanks were moved and reconnected, apparently just in time as Sunday evening saw the return of the of rain, with more forecast this week.

Friday morning 8 am Deon arrived with the excavator, taking a little over 2 hours to clear the area and move the tanks in position. Well we did end up pulling them back away from the shed with the car (as they were a little too close). And Matt rolled the empty one out again and climbed inside in an attempt to pop the top back out- as the excavator had pushed it in. (Some thing that’s been annoying him ever since).

Excavation begins

Matt digs for existing pipe work

We also asked that he scrape back the area carefully as the stormwater and house connections run underneath. All of which we would need to reconnect the tanks following his departure. These he did not find, even though he had cleared the area along side the shed to the depth the tanks were then submerged.



Final tank moves into position





Finding the pipes



So once the excavator and driver had left Matt began digging back along the pipes by hand. It was really surprising how deep they went! I’m afraid Matt did most of the work alone on Friday. My contributions of supervising, documenting and generally getting in the way, mostly just irritated him. My lack of assistance was not an aversion of manual labour, but that I have spent much of the weekend suffering from a cough and cold. I did manage to pass him bits and pieces in the afternoon, as he ran up and down the ladder realigning and gluing the PVC down piping in place. Reconnecting the pipe work that leads to the pump (and therefore the house). This went on until dark (which in the tropics was probably 7pm), but meant working under work lights, which didn’t make the job easier.

I did perk up a bit Saturday, and I helped test the reconnected pipe work (now that the PVC cement had, had time to cure). This involved running hose pipe to the gutters and flooding them until water run through to the tanks… This didn’t exactly go to plan. We discovered that the pipes at the front of the house filled the one tank and the back fill the other. This may seem in consequential, but the downpipes at the front are lower than those at the back. Therefore the outlet supplying the tank also needs to be lower, as water finds its own level. And if the tank outlet is too high (which at the moment it still appears to be- by centimeters) the water will drip/ flow over the downpipe and not into the tank.



It also seemed strange when nothing was flowing from the back of the house- especially as the downpipes were much higher. Matt then uncovered s leak in the downpipe at the corner of the house, a few meters off the patio. A patch that has often been damp during the wet season, but as it’s a bit of a dip, we had not really paid it much attention since we moved in. But a meter or more down was a cracked elbow joint! So the water had not been reaching the tank. So another trip to the DIY store and more PVC cement.



Ffion & Madog inspecting



Saturday afternoon was all hands on deck to shovel the remaining soil back around the tanks. Matt did admit toward the end of the day, that I was beginning to fade quickly (and didn’t want to be accused of making me work when I was sick. But finishing the job took us half and hour, although he had offered to finish the last few barrows alone- I did feel rather guilty for abandoning him the day before. And I’m sure my Nan used to swear by sweating out a cold (or something like that). Though once we were done I had a shower and went straight to bed for about 2 hours.

Sunday we reconfigured the connections to the water pump. Incorporating taps, that should allow for the tanks to be operated without the need to disconnect or connect pipe work. In other words, if Matt’s not here I could do this easily without struggling or having leaks. As some of the connections and seals are quick tricky. I also don’t think taking them on and off all the time is really any good for their lifespan.

So the tanks are in, all reconnected and we had begun running the bore into the tanks to test them… but then came the real test.

It does look as if we’ll need to drop the outlet level of the one tank a few more centimeters, as the water is sitting in the outlet and then backing up at the downpipe. But it’s pretty close.

Otherwise this weekend I sold my first dozen “fertilised eggs” to a colleague of a lady I have sold chicks to in the past (and who we bought Madog from). As they have a few broody hens. They said they would let us know how they go, as we haven’t hatched chicks out from under a chicken.
I have often wondered how people sell fertilised eggs. As how can they guarantee thy are fertilised. I know we have a working rooster (we have some hatching in the incubator right now). And the eggs were fresh, they were collected that morning and the ay before. So I hope they have some success with them.
As I just said we have a few hatching at the moment. 2 arrived Saturday, 3 more Sunday and I woke to 9 this morning, with at least half a dozen more “pipped”.