Chickadee Photos

So here are the wee guys/girls, pretty cute huh?

They are settling in well, I made them a mix of sunflower seeds/oats/quinoa/sesame seeds this morning that they really liked, apart from that they have been enjoying raw marrow,  slugs, snails worms, kikuyu and other various scraps

 They were all quite facinated with the sound of my camera taking shots and pretty soon all stopped to take a closer look

 This wee guy is Scratcher, we are pretty certain he is going to be a rooster, he doesn't have a tail at all yet 

The Farmer put this nice sandstone rock in the middle of the run for them to sun themselves on, they seem to quite like it.  We've also put various flat planks of wood around at the suggestion of my father-in-law, they are there to be flipped over once a week so the chicks can get in and eat any little bugs that have made themselves at home under there.  We are also planning to make a maggot feeder for the little guys as seen on the Farmlet website, but more on that soon!

We have Chickens!!

Woooo!  We just got them today!
 8 gorgeous wee 8 week old chicks, after watching them for a while we think we may have 3 cocks and 6 pullets, but not completely sure of course.  Yes we have just spent about the last 3 hours sitting in the chicken run with them watching them making themselves at home.  We couldn't believe they were straight out of the box and straight into scratching around, finding bugs and worms, all the while peeping away to each other.  They are quite friendly, taking food out of our hands.
In other exciting news we are booked in next weekend to do a farm tour with some local chicken breeders,  they keep their chickens organically so we are really looking forward to learning their methods and ethos.

Pictures to follow....!

Broccoli Disaster!

 This had been the site of our broccoli patch, sadly The Huntaway thought she would do some gardening of her own, planting a fish head in here......trying to add compost perhaps?

 The sole survivor, and he is not looking happy

In a happier photo the cherry tomatos are going great guns, and they are soo sweet!

Tomatos!

So now The Huntaway is pretty much back to to normal (hurrah!)  she is back to training.  Shes adjusting well to our new additions -  weaner calves
At this stage we are de-sensitising and she is practicing being a calm relaxed dog around the stock, and its going really well!
The calves are pretty keen to come up and check her out and she isn't afraid to take back her space when they get too pushy.
The grass is still growing like crazy as we have another 15ml of rain.  It has been such a wet summer!

In the garden we have started harvesting our tomatos.  I actually didn't think we would get any home grown tommys this years as our plants have really struggled, losing almost all the lower leaves, they look terrible, but are fruiting so its all good!

Our pumpkins are getting a little mildewy so I want to try spraying them with a baking soda solution as suggested by my brother.   He had a lot of success using this method on his courgettes, so I'm looking forward to trying it out in our garden.
On the veggie from we've also planted out more seedlings - Broccoli, Brussel Sprout, Cabbage, Cauliflower and Leek.  My seedlings are tiny, but so far are doing well.  We really need to build ourselves a wee seedling raising box...... But only after the chicken house is finished!

Back to the Vet (gross photo warning!)

The Huntaway had a rush visit to the Vet this morning.  She was due to have her last 3 stitches out tommorrow, but when I checked her this morning I was horrifed to see the area around the scar was swollen and hard.  The Vet says shes had a reaction to her internal stiches and put her straight onto antibiotics, two a day for a week.  The area looks gross and is weeping a little.  I feel sick about it and am now doubting my decision again.

So for those with a strong stomach, heres what it looks like....

This had been a flat little scar last night, almost invisable.  Still shes happy and bright so I have my fingers cross this is going to settle down quickly.

Done and Done

So the Huntaway is officially spayed.
 Its been a rough week for the girl, but happily she has bounced back like a trooper.  The night of the op I was seriously questioning whether or not we had made the right decision, all she wanted to do was sleep and even for the next couple of days she was pretty reluctant to do anything.  Now I'm just trying to keep her contained until her stiches are out, the girls going out of her mind!  She wants to get out there and ride on the quad and move the sheep already!