the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

What next?

I was leafing through an old copy of "Country Living" Magazine (August 2006) and came across an article called "Farming for the Future", about Warborne Organic Farm in Hampshire. It's quite an interesting article and I was quite enjoying it until I came to this bit "George spends a lot of time with his animals, particularly his chickens, which he trains to live free range. "When they first arrive I have to teach them how to forage," he explains. "I get on my hands and knees and use my finger to peck deep into the sward of herbs and grasses. They watch me curiously and then copy my action.""

The more I read it, the funnier it gets. Do me a favour - no wonder the hens watch him curiously. Without wanting to anthromorphise (if that's the correct word), the chooks are thinking "What the hell is HE playing at?". Either that or Hampshire chooks are an awful lot more stupid than ours. Our day olds are pecking and scratching; I've worked on farms that took spent battery hens - within days they were indistinguishable, in behaviour at least, from the others. And, believe me, WE didn't teach them how to forage.

Now, I know CL is a lifestyle magazine not a trade journal, but give folk a break. Still giggling though. PS I WAS NOT teaching the chick to cheep!!

Mynah chicks

Please no-one tell her that they don't need to be taught to cheep!

Hopetoun House Horse Driving Trials

As if we didn't have enough "driving trials" of our own - we went to watch some yesterday at Hopetoun House. Horse driving trials are the driving equivalent of a three day event. Yesterday was the marathon - the cross country part. We didn't stay long - partly bacause I wasn't dressed for the cold and partly because we had so much to do here.

However, we did do a spot of Royal watching! We knew HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was one of the judges but when we spotted him on his Easy Rider moped, we had to do a double take. He's good value for 80+ - but he should really get a moped with an electric start - the kick start seemed a bit hard!

Dan took some nice photos - the tandem diving looks scary. I didn't realise how the front horse moved away from the vehicle until I saw the photos. He'll get them on soon.

More new arrivals

We had more new arrivals last night in the shape of four Light Sussex chicks. When I went to bed last night, they were all pipped - had been since lunchtime. I confess I was dying to "help" them, but they weren't actually due until today, so I took myself off to bed, woke at 4am (labour pains, I think) and all four were out and in the incubator.

They were duly transferred to the brooder before I went to work and, so far, all look fine and are eating and drinking. One looked a bit poor this morning but I think it might have been the last to hatch. It looks fine now - at least I can't pick it out from the others!

There's one egg left in the incubator - there seemed to be a live chick in it on Saturday, when we candled it, so I'll give it a couple of days befroe I turn the incubator off.

The older three are WILD! How do you get them tame? Catching them to bring them in at night is an extremely anxious time! One escaped tonight - fortunately, it headed back to the other two, who were in the box. I could see Cassius sitting on the path, sizing them up.

They seem to be quite well feathered, so if the weather stays fine, they should be out in a couple of weeks. Now that they have got the idea of going up the ladder when the weather is bad, they seem to be well on the way. They're dirty little stopouts, though. They were still bobbing about at 9pm tonight, long after the hens had gone to bed. I thought it would be easier to catch them when they went to roost (as I did last night) but tonight they seemed to be up for a late one.

It's only seeing these wee ones, that I realise how much the cheeps have grown. The new ones are sound asleep. They're in the study, because we're having the spare room painted, so I can keep an eye on them. Do you ever get over the "cute" effect? I think not!

Backyard poultry keeping course

After much shillyshallying, I have finally got round to organising our first backyard poultry keeping course. We're keen to encourage folk to try producing their own food and hens are such fun. Much more exciting than, say, a marrow, Although marrows are, of course, extremely worthy.

This is all happening on Saturday 30th June, here at TAS. Starting at 10am, we'll cover all the essential aspects of keeping poultry at home. Lunch will, of course, be provided. Full details on the courses page.

The Godolphin Arabian

I've just ordered a copy of "The ByerleyTurk" by Jeremy James. It's the true story of one of the three foundations stallions of the English Thoroughbred breed of horse. The other two were the Darnley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian, I think.

Anyway, this got me reminiscing about books I read as a child (lots of horsey books, mainly).I can remember reading a novel about the Godolphin Arabian but I can't remember the name of the book or the author. I can remember that the horse has a wheatsheaf mark on him and he has a wee, short name. I'd love to read it again so I'm relying on you folk out there to know the name of the book and to let me know.

Over to you and thanks in anticipation.

An endless supply...

Now that Smokey is at home (or as near as makes no difference), I have taken it upon myself to keep the field clear of poo. The first few times I collected it, it went on some of the vegetable beds. Then I made a big pile for autumn application. Then...

my friend Carol took a trailer load and there's another trailer load ready to go.

And a half full wheelbarrow waiting to be emptied into the next empty trailer.

And just as I finished tonight, in the rain, Smokey lifted his tail and deposited another pile, and looked at me as if to say "Don't worry, Mum, I'll not let it run out".

I think I'll advertise it at work...

And then there were nine. And Hobbes.

Mrs Purple died in the night. She was one of our oldest hens, except for the Brown Leghorn, and a Rhode Island Red. She hadn't been in top form for a while - her comb was a bit purple (not the reason for her name - she had a purple leg ring), so she probably had some kind of heart / circulatory problems. She was OK yesterday i.e. chooking around for corn and pecking greenfly off the gooseberries, but was a stiff as a board this morning.

So now there are nine. And Hobbes. And however many of the cheeps turn out to be female...

For horselovers

As you will know, Smokey and I have been learning to drive over the winter and into spring. It's all been going very well and he has been an absolute star.

Last Wednesday, however, we had a bit of a setback. For various reasons that I won't bore you with, there was a bit of a carry-on in the field, so Smokey was a bit hyped up. I wanted to take Smokey driving (a pal of Dan's was going to backstep for me), so I caught him, harnessed him up and started to lead him along the track to the road, where I usually get on. I'm not really sure what happened, but Smokey got more distressed and bolted. I simply couldn't hold him. He went along the track, on to the road, round a 90 drgree bend, then tipped the buggy at the next 90 degree bend.

By the time we caught up, the buggy was on its side, Smokey was on the ground facing the buggy and trapped in the harness. I told Dan to call the vet - I expected him to need a humane killer. We unhitched the buggy (I have safety devices on the swingle tree - thanks, Claire) and cut him free. Then he stood up and walked away.

He had a cut on his off hind leg, on his nose and on his eye; his knees were grazed as was his neck. But he wasn't lame at all. The vet gave him a shot of penicillan and an anti-inflammatory. When I looked out the window on Thursday morning, Smokey was having a really good roll.

I have a broken finger and a few bruises. I can't believe how lucky we are. I thought I'd lost him.

Anyway, this is really background. The real point of this post is Smokey's head. Although he wasn't badly hurt physically, he was so uptight and spookey. He's always been a very laid back horse - left brain and dominant. But he couldn't stand still - at the slightest noise or movement, he was off. I was pretty upset about this. We've had our ups and downs over the last five years, but I've tried to work on our relationship and I thought I'd lost it..

So I've been spending quiet time with him. Just having a carrot (or bread and Marmite, which is lick lippy), a scratch, a lean on each other. This morning, I walked up the field to give him his bread. As I walked back, I heard hooves coming fast behind me. It was Smokey, just checking in for a scratch.

Tonight, I was taking the empty feed buckets out the field, when he came trotting down for a scratch. I was leaning on him, scratching, when Johnny came over. I sent him away (protecting my herd of two). As I did so, one of our dogs started barking at him and he took off up the field. To my delight, Smokey chose to stay with me. He didn't even move. It made me cry.

A few years ago, Smokey and I started to follow a natural horsemanship journey via the Parelli Programme. Recently, for a number of reasons, we've drifted from it (although I try to follow the principles). Last night, I watched a DVD of Linda Parelli working with a scared horse. And I knew we were doing the right thing by not doing very much and I know we're going to be OK.

I've booked today to go to the Parelli event at the NEC in August. There are a lot of people now promoting natural horsemanship (which is great), but the Parellis are something special, not just in their horsemanship, but in they way they can communicate with us ordinary mortals, and let us communicate with and understand our horses.

I realised today that the most important thing for me isn't DOING anything with Smokey but it's about just being with him, in a relationship. If all I did with him was hang out in the field, and he wanted to be with me, that would be good for me.

I'm sure all you horselovers will understand.

Cheeps' progress

I didn't put the cheeps outside today - it has been bucketing rain all day here, and even thought there is shelter, I was worried that they woudl get wet.

They were out all day yesterday and it's forecast dry tomorrow, so they can get out tomorrow. And weekends are OK, because I can ring them in if the weather gets nasty. Like the washing!

Dan's been away this week, so hopefully he'll see a difference in them tomorrow when he gets home.

The Cheeps' first day out

It's been nice here today, so it was time for the cheeps' first day out. We used the extension run as a playpen. They were out for about half an hour (maybe longer); Hobbes and the hens had a good look. As did Cassius!

At first, they just stood stock still - I was a bit worried that they would die of stress or something. However, within 10 minutes, they were pecking around, had found their food and water and were investigating grass and dandelions (of which there are many in our lawn! I shall now say that I cultivate them for the cheeps.)

Chicks' first day out on Vimeo.

So they will be out for increasing lengths of time now, so long as the weather is OK.

Yummy apple slices

It's important that you get your pigs tame, so that they can be relatively easily handled. We've found that the easiest way to do this is to bribe them with food. And the best food is apple slices. Pigs seem to have a natural affinity for apples!!

So here we are tempting the pigs with apple slices and reassuring them that we're not so bad.

Actually, one is quite bold; the other is much less so, but he'll come round.