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Friday, 28th November 2014
As the photo shows, the fact the poultry are no longer living in the 'summer' paddock, does not stop them from wandering back down to have a look at it and In the case of the Maran cockerel even hoping back over! Pear and Orange, two of our Muscovy ducks, have also taken to sneaking back in in order to go to the pond for a mid morning swim or two. After our scare with the fox (see 25th), these behaviours have made us just a little nervous!!!
In addition to this, we are also worried about the lack of grass in the top paddock where the poultry are currently living. As well as grass being great for the birds (and mud definitely bad for them), we also need the grass for grazing for their 'guards': our wonderful alpacas Jupiter and Neptune. This time last year we were suffering from frequent fox visits and Jupiter and Neptune had yet to become our solution, so our problem then was not so much lack of grass and mud, but worrying about the poultry going out, in case one or more ended up as the fox's dinner (or breakfast or supper).
As the photo on the 25th shows, the grass is VERY short in the top paddock now and it only takes an hour or two of rain for parts of it to become really muddy. As the photo below shows however, (taken last week) the 'summer' poultry paddock is in fab condition (except for where the badger has been digging mind you... gggrrrrhhh...). Today therefore we decided to take a risk and move the poultry back to their summer paddock in order for the boys to have grass, for the poultry also to have grass and not to have to cope with the mud, AND for all the birds to be in one place and so protected from the fox. We are quite dry at the moment and no major rain is forecast, so fingers crossed this arrangement will work for a while. If the weather turns we may move them back and then keep them in the barn for a while - time will tell.
The good thing is tomorrow is set to be warm and sunny and so a perfect day for all the birds to be back in this paddock and able to enjoy some quality time outside!!
