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Monday, 20th January 2014
It was such a beautiful start to the day today that we had second thoughts about keeping the poultry and alpacas inside. The alternatives were limited however: allow the poultry AND alpacas out and risk the alpacas getting muddy, possibly slipping, not to mention damaging the land OR allow the poultry out on their own and hope the fox kept away!! We stuck to our resolve and all stayed in and guess what, it then rained anyway (although not much thankfully). The alpacas made no complaints, some of the poultry stood for ages by the pop-hole hoping it might open but by mid-morning all had given up. Arthur who was mucking out today said all was actually very quiet with very little squabbling.
Napoleon, our male turkey, took advantage of the reduced space to really cuddle up and display to his 'girls'. From where we stood, none of them looked that impressed. And neither was he impressed with us disturbing his courtship by pointing our camera at him: in fact in this photo he looks rather cross.
The ducks spent most of their day on the top perches: we still find it amazing how much perching they do: as the photo shows they are quite comfortable with it. It does make them quite fox-proof - we hope!!
Woodchip, lining and extra gate mats all now ordered and all due to arrive on Wednesday. We have bought from specialist 'livestock' suppliers who were able to advise us on the best liner for going under the woodchip as well as the best chip itself that hopefully will withstand hooves and feet and a certain amount of scratching up by the chickens. Our aim is to create a 60 square metre area immediately by the pop-hole and gates that will be mud free. From there we will lay down a fair few 'gate' mats: designed to lie on the grass and so stop the mud developing but still allow the grass to grow through (see 20th October for pictures). And beyond the mats will be grass which with any luck may remain grass for a while. We are hoping we don't get too much more rain before we start the work as it will be easier and safer if things are a little drier... fingers crossed!!!
