Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

Fabulous news: alpacas really do stop the fox getting your poultry... at around 1pm today we heard the sound of panicked poultry in the paddock. We looked out of our window and saw chickens, turkeys, geese, bantams and ducks flying and fleeing in all directions. Then we spied a fox 'caught' in the middle of Jupiter and Neptune who whilst not exactly chasing him, looked like they were circling him and he definitely looked like he was trying to get away from their legs and feet. We rushed out just in time to see the fox heading back towards the top of the compost heap from where he came in.
We were not sure if he had taken anything and did not dare to think what our thoughts would be if he had, but after chicken number 31 appeared from the top of the drive from where she had obviously fled, we were able to confirm that all 47 poultry were accounted for. It was such a huge relief!! Jupiter and Neptune deserve to be looking somewhat smug here - they are utter stars!!! We posted the good news on Facebook and heard back from several other alpaca owners who were able to report equally successful tales.
So despite the muddy conditions, putting the boys out with the birds this morning WAS the right decision! We do however urgently need a short-term solution to the mud issue so that birds and alpacas alike are not getting quite so mucky. There is still grass on most of the winter poultry paddock area but the land around the pop-hole area is a nightmare as that is of course where most of the traffic is. So we are winning but there is still a way to go!!