Easter Monday was a
happy but slightly stressful day for our hen Trisha. The first two of her eggs
hatched and she became a mother. A very protective hen mother, at that. Two
days later there were four beeping, fluffy chicks and on Saturday the total
became five.
Trisha has always
been prone to taking any new situation with the maximum amount of emotions, so
motherhood is making her crackle from stress and worry. The small, fluffy
bundles of joy take her in their stride and are busy eating to stay warm and
alive. We still have a very cold spring, so poor chicks. (Trisha does her best
to warm them, bless her).
Jill and Jane are
still waiting for their chicks to hatch so when that happens, we'll be in
trouble. Where to place all these young, angry mothers, so they don't meet up?!
Mindy, Mandy, Molly
and My are four very happy sheep, as they love their hens and find small chicks
to be the icing on the cake. They can already hear the constant beeping coming
from next door but have not met the new arrivals yet. Molly knows that if you
step too close to the chicks, the mother hen will attack you, so we are pushing
the "meet and greet" forward. We’ll wait for a while, as a safety
precaution.
Monty seems to have
forgotten that he is, once again, a proud father and just carries on with his
days as normal as he can. Maybe he will notice that something has changed, when
we stand knee deep in small bundles of fluff?
The chilly weather is
a challenge for everyone that finds freezing temperatures to be a slight
irritation. It is also proving to be a setback for our sheep. The grass on the
fields does not seem to grow at all. Our lovely sheep still live on hay and on
last year's dry grass that they find in the fields. When let out in the
mornings, they rush off to look closely for some fresh grass, but so far all
they find is green moss. Then, when called in again, they settle in nicely in
their pen with their big heap of hay, and all thoughts of green pastures vanish.
Ebba, the dog, found
out that she quite likes sitting outside, in a smallish pen. Dear husband and a
good friend of ours built Ebba an outdoor area where (hopefully) she'll be able
to spend some time on her own, this summer. Ebba can sit stock still for a
surprisingly long time if she has something to watch or listen to. By having a
pen for our dear dog, we can work outside and still have Ebba with us. It's not
a substitute for exercise or playing in the paddock as it is about 4 x 2.5 metres,
so it's more of an extra bedroom than a play area for sweet Ebba.
I called to check in
with my sister's friends, the orphaned otters, last week. They are both doing
very well and being wild and happy, at the animal sanctuary where they have
spent their winter. Now they will head off to their fishing course and
hopefully return to us, in the autumn.
Otters stay with
their mother for 15 months so we will not see them for a while, yet. I had
somehow got the thought of them returning to the village this spring rather
than the autumn. Firstly, they must become expert fishermen and all round super
brave otters. I am now stressing about the two stars meeting up with predators,
fishing nets, stupid people - you name it, on their return, but that's just me.
We are so happy that
the otters have made it this far and now wish them a happy summer at school. We
are also very impressed and grateful for all the work the nice people at the
animal sanctuary have put in. It can't be easy!
This week’s lovely
artwork made me laugh out loud. We are lucky to have dear Darya making this
blog what it is!
Have a nice week and
give our love to all your animals, small and large. And if you have a clean,
tidy animal free house, enjoy that, too. We have a lot of sand everywhere, just
know, although Ebba does claim to wipe her paws when she enters the house. Maybe
it's the magic of spring.
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