Nest building time!

The weather was beautiful for our final Easter Activity day.  The chicks may have changed and are not the fluff balls they were, but they were friendly and curious and did not mind being handled.  However, the stars of the day were the first gosling and the duckling.  They were both very content to sit in the laps of the children and be stroked with care. 

The egg dyeing was again a success and the nest building was very good.  All around us, we could see wild birds collecting material to build their own nests and the pigeon in the barn had laid an egg which was very visible.    As we sat having our lunch, the first swallows appeared.  We opened the attic door for them and immediately there were twitterings there too...  Such an exciting time - full of hope and promise.  I realise that I must have created this website a year ago as the post about the swallows building their nests was one of my first!

First taste of Spring and grass!

I cannot believe how yellow or how soft our new gosling is.  The colour  in the photograph here is not as intense as it appears in natural light. For the first 2 days after hatching, the gosling could hardly stand.  She shuffled around and kept falling over, looking very comical.
Luckily for her, she has a companion.  A friend hatched a duckling last week but went away on holiday so 'duck' has come to us for his holiday.  The pair were immediately curious and explored each other with their beaks.  Now they are inseparable.


Today seemed the warmest day of the year and Spring has sprung!  The unlikely pair had their first taste of grass and sunshine. They seemed very comfortable on grass and ran around after us. So different from 3 days ago. However, after their excursion in the garden, they were exhausted! Snuggling up together under the lamp, they could not keep their eyes open...

A gosling has arrived!

On Tuesday evening, we detected a small crack in the egg but it was hardly distinguishable.  By the next morning it was a small hole that got bigger..

By lunchtime, it had pushed out of the top and was sitting with its bottom in the shell.  It was looking very wet and weak.  When it eventually pushed itself out, it couldn't properly stand and lolloped around in the incubator.  After a few hours, it looked much better - it had fluffed up and looked quite alert.

Easter Activities

We had our first Easter activity day today.  It was great fun and enjoyed by all.  The feedback was great..." You make us feel so welcome".  " It is easy to bring any aged children to the farm, there is always something for them to do."  " Brilliant as always". "I loved having the chick in my hand".  Such comments are so gratifying and make it all worthwhile.

The day was a mixture of handling animals and crafts.  Dyeing eggs has always been a tradition in my family and I always enjoy it. The excitement of the unwrapping is always there for me - even after all these years!

Spring arrivals!

We have begun our spring planting in earnest and the primroses and daffodils are out. The supplementary feeding of the birds is working well and everyday we see crowds of birds in the hedgerows.

 

About 3 weeks ago, we had our tractor stolen. Almost before our eyes. Despite having given chase, we never found it... However, thanks to our insurers, we have been able to buy a replacement - another John Deere. Here some children are enjoying it.

 

Our new chicks have arrived.  Small balls of fluff.  We have 15 commercial brown ones and 4 white leghorns.  I am always looking for white eggs at Easter time because they are easier to dye.  I thought it would be a good idea to have a few hens that lay white eggs.  As always, small chicks bring a smile to people's faces.
We are now waiting on a couple of goose eggs which are warming nicely in the incubator.... Fingers crossed.

 

Winter Tasks

During January, February and early March, we have been catching up with some of the maintenance jobs that will make our space easier to use.  We have painted drawers, put up towel rails, finished the raised beds and covered the paths in bark chips.


Our routine of making lunch has proved popular and is working well

Growth of the lambs.

Our Jacob lambs have been a great source of pleasure to us and to our visitors.  Not only that but we have been able to do some interesting education through them too.

Every week we weighed the lambs and discovered that they put on weight quite consistently - even Rudi though he put on less than the others. Then suddenly one week he had put on the same as the others.  However, by that time he was way behind them and remains so today. However, he is eating well and filling out at last.

Using the data, we drew a line graph.  The result was a great way to see the growth patterns of the lambs.

 

Home Educators visit the lambs

2 groups of home educated children came to the farm to visit our lambs this week. The children measured out the water and milk powder to make up the bottles.  The lambs were very friendly and allowed the children to feed them without any problems. Apparently, the biggest thrill for the children was carrying the lambs to the garden.  The lambs have grown such a lot in the last week; they now weigh around 6kg - quite heavy for a 6 or 7 year old.  However, they were determined and all the lambs arrived in the garden safely and back again.  There is nothing quite so heart warming and a group of lambs frisking around an open space. Forever inquisitive, they were nibbling at new textures around the trees and grass. The children loved running around with them too.  After a picnic lunch, the children then weighed out more milk to put in the shepherdess.  Some children sat in the tractor - in fact, it was quite difficult to get one of them to leave it!  2 enjoyable days. 

Happy New Year and welcome to our new lambs!

We have been very lucky to have been given five beautiful Jacob lambs. All their mothers had a least triplets;  by giving us one of them, the remaining lambs will get more milk. At first, some of our 'orphans' were a bit reluctant to take the bottle and needed encouragement.  Now they are all guzzling it away and are already bouncing around the pen.  At the moment, we are still bottle feeding them, but in a week or so, we will try them on the 'shepherdess' - an electronic feeder which gives them access to milk whenever they like.

 

Already really curious, they are bouncing around the pen and exploring everything they see.

Isobel is snuggling 2 of them under her coat.  One has fallen completely asleep.

Care Farm Christmas celebrations

On 23rd December, we celebrated Christmas together at the Care Farm and the end of the year in which we have opened.

After feeding the birds, collecting the eggs and walking the dogs, we made soup, laid and decorated the table and drunk delicious spiced apple juice.  We sat down to a delicious meal, pulled crackers, told jokes and laughed a lot.

We are pleased with what we have achieved so far - although the Care Farm is still small, we all feel that it is working well and are looking forward to the year ahead.