Meet Ryan

Time for an update on the goslings that were hatched. 
After losing the one to the pond, the remaining 4 are doing extremely well and following the adult geese everywhere.  They seem to be thriving and enjoying life.  The day or two after the first lot arrived saw a few strange things happen.  Firstly, the other Mother Goose abandoned her eggs in favour of walking round with her friend and her friend’s goslings.  So the remaining eggs in the shed went cold and we thought were goners.  Anyway, as we said we would, we let nature take its course and left them there.  We had a couple that hatched ok but died  for one reason or another and some that died trying to hatch.  A day or two later, when one was trying to get out and struggling, we decided nature had its own way for long enough and we helped the little dude out.  Mother Goose has already rejected a couple of goslings that hatched after the first day (that accounted for some of the deaths I mentioned), so we decided to pop Ryan as he is now called, in to the incubator and see if he made it.  He did and now Steven and I have been adopted by him as his parents!  His favourite past time is swimming round in the sink.

With this in mind, when 7 Vorwerk chicks (breed of hen) came up for sale a day later, I thought they would make great friends for Ryan and we were right.  For now anyway, before he gets too big!

It wasn’t a silly move though as I now have the 2 breeds I really wanted, Lakenvelder and Vorwerk.  I shall breed these myself over the next year or so, when I introduce some from a different blood line (some people say it matters, others say it doesn’t). 

A new week

As much as I still get the Sunday night, work the next day feeling, I do enjoy the start of a new week. New plans, fresh ideas and a full week to fit it all in.
Tonight I have planted a few earlies in the ground after they have been chitting for a few weeks. I will do some more next week.
The tomatoes that were leggy are now planted up to their first true leaves. I hope this works. I am super pleased with how everything is doing so far. It's really exciting!!
Still no goose eggs but we're heading into March so fingers crossed for some soon. I near people saying they have had their first of the year already so we remain very hopeful.
The chicks are getting huge and already showing individual personalities. They make me laugh daily.
Food wise I have under ordered potatoes, that much I know already. I also forgot ripe banana and only ordered 'keep me' ones! All learning for the next order.
Happy days on our smallholding.

Lots of little updates...the best kind

We now have 9 chicks with the last one being hatched today which is day 24. They are all gorgeous and seem to be thriving well. My handy husband has made them a bigger brooder ready for when they are too big for their current cardboard box. The new one is fully collapsable and can be stores flat if required. I did remind him I intend on having all kind of chicks in there for the coming few months so it'll be staying put for a while.

Lovely and clean

Brooder # 1

Brooder # 2

One hour or so later!



Today :)



Today I have applied for a cph number as we're hoping to get some pigs in the next month or two and this is something we must have before we can buy them. They said we should have it within the next 15 days. That fits in well time wise. 

There's no sign of any geese eggs yet but a couple of friendly bloggers have said it'll probably be March time before we can get any. I've also checked for a nest and not noticed anything yet. They have started taking themselves to bed on a night though so that's a nice step forward.

The geese having a nosey at what seeds I am planting in the greenhouse

Follow the leader

The hens are doing well and the eggs are intermittent. Some days we get 3 and others 2 but that's fine by me for now. They are young girls after all though maybe some would say that means they should be producing daily.  They are starting to follow the older girls and getting closer to my daughter, occasionally getting close enough to eat from her hand.

Loving our hens

We have also managed to move a ginormous water container in to place to harvest rain water. That will be used to water the plants and for the geese to wash in etc. I'm not sure if it will be OK for the geese and hens to drink so I will look in to that.

The first water container in place.  2nd one behind it ready to be installed.

Seedlings wise I have planted a few more tomatoes as I'm trying to do them staggered over a few weeks. The first lot I sowed are looking strong which I am really pleased with as I thought they might die.

I've set myself a challenge if only shopping every 2 weeks for food and the first delivery is on Friday.  I'm going to update the menu plan page for those interested. The budget is £350 a month for all groceries Inc meat and toiletries. That's to feed these monsters :).

Our gorgeous daughter and her chick

My amazing som with his little chick

The mood last night - stunning

The moon tonight - again, stunning.

We have chicks!

As I type this we have 4 chicks hatched with another couple pipping, meaning they have started to break through their shells. They are gorgeous. The breed that has hatched are cream legbar and can be sexed at birth based on colour and markings. So far we think we have 3 girls and a boy which is just perfect. The boy is Bernard, then we have Marmalade, Angela and Sophie 2nd.

What a lovely day.