Runner ducks

Runner ducks

This morning we set off over the mountains to Kilkeel to fetch home some Indian Runner ducks – 4 ducks and a drake (we hope) who are just 2 days old, and have temporarily moved in with our Hubbard chicks, who are just a few days older.

Ducks!

Ducks!

Three years after starting the pond, we finally have ducks! They are Aylesbury ducks – 3 ducks and a drake, and they are having enormous fun getting used to their new surroundings.

Farewell to old friends, and a welcome to new faces

Farewell to old friends, and a welcome to new faces

For three years people asked “free range hens – don’t you worry about foxes?”. “Not at all”, I would reply casually, and so our hens wandered all over the place, right up until the night I came to their house, to be greeted only by the plaintive cheeping of one of the baby hens

Chicken day

Chicken day

Today was ‘chicken day’ – 15 weeks or so ago, these 10 birds arrived as day old chicks, supplied by our friends Brian and Becky, as something of an experiment in rearing our own meat.  They have led a happy outdoor existence, foraging, enjoying...
The lone ranger returns

The lone ranger returns

  After a couple of weeks absence, Dotty has returned with a sizeable clutch of chicks – fourteen, we reckon. These plus the seven that Fluffers had last week, and the ten that we are raising for meat, means that not only will our laying flock grow...
A frosty morning

A frosty morning

  The year is coming to an end with mercifully dry and cold weather, the horses are sporting their thick winter coats, and we are enjoying some amazing views across to the mountains. Last night we were officially the coldest spot in the UK, with the thermometer...