27 Jan 2018
So arriving back to working on the farm and praying for the rain to come. But the rains are coming. I can feel it . The change is in the air, that beautiful coolness; just love it. Its been a few months since the huge downpours in early October 2017. That saw 300mm + fall in about 10 days and three full dams, which are only dropping by a few inches over last 4 weeks too. But about 100mm of rain would be good right now.
It never ceases to amaze me how much happens here from one week to the next. Take the arrival of my newest toy...a Massey Ferguson 50 inch zero turn mower. Now I can finally get those orchard rows cleared up ready for harvesting next month. And that is a job I must be ready for, no matter what. So the Mower delivery arrived on Thursday morning and I wasted no time in getting stuck into those weeds....but weeds are good yes?....yes and no. Too much and they stop the harvester which cant get under the trees to pit up nuts. So now those pesky weeds are mulched back under those trees. Job done. Tick. And mulched weeds are a great fertilizer cover for soil improving too. In fact the humble weed gets far too much bad press in my opinion.
Then I thought it was time to get the flock of hens expanding a bit faster as I spotted some newer chicks for sale at local feed store. So I purchased 3 slightly bigger ones, and there lay my biggest mistake. Despite having a very broody hen at home waiting for them, it did not mean she would take to them, like she did last time. And removing a broody hen off her own fertile eggs was next big mistake. But I couldn't tell how old those eggs were (only 2 by the way) but seems they were laid before I went to Hawaii.
Needless to say said broody hen did not like me, or the new coop she was put in and set about attacking the chicks in the coop. One was lost, but I rescued the other two, with one of those injured and needing urgent attention. They are both ok now, and recuperating inside the cottage in separate cages. You live and learn. But I will have to rear these two by hand until they are old enough to be reintroduced back to the main flock. It seems the broody hen is still quite attached to the original 5 I purchased over 2 months ago. They all follow each other around in a cute little bunch....so lesson learnt. Don't bring in new babies to a surrogate hen until all of the other babies have flown the coop - so to speak. And never put chicks under a broody hen if she had own eggs there first. Life on the farm just teaches me every day.
Then I thought the snake issue was over for the season...then think again girl.
Yes mum it was another big worm in the birdy cage AGAIN!
The racket my female ringneck makes is really the only thing that alerts me to their peril, and gets me out of bed like lightning. It was 2315hrs. This was third carpet snake this summer to attack the parrots, and actually started to get itself wrapped around one inside cage when I arrived on porch to the rescue. And rescue parrot we did. And this morning you wouldn't even notice anything had happened. I will be so glad when I move up to the farmhouse next weekend, then I can put the parrots inside each night.
Which leads me to announce that the farm will change hands next week.....OMG I cant wait.
Stay tuned for next weeks episode brought to you from the comfort of an insulated, waterproof, air conditioned, 3 bedroom farmhouse, with flushing toilet, hot water and a level porch...and no snakes, but lots of photos. Tick!
So arriving back to working on the farm and praying for the rain to come. But the rains are coming. I can feel it . The change is in the air, that beautiful coolness; just love it. Its been a few months since the huge downpours in early October 2017. That saw 300mm + fall in about 10 days and three full dams, which are only dropping by a few inches over last 4 weeks too. But about 100mm of rain would be good right now.
It never ceases to amaze me how much happens here from one week to the next. Take the arrival of my newest toy...a Massey Ferguson 50 inch zero turn mower. Now I can finally get those orchard rows cleared up ready for harvesting next month. And that is a job I must be ready for, no matter what. So the Mower delivery arrived on Thursday morning and I wasted no time in getting stuck into those weeds....but weeds are good yes?....yes and no. Too much and they stop the harvester which cant get under the trees to pit up nuts. So now those pesky weeds are mulched back under those trees. Job done. Tick. And mulched weeds are a great fertilizer cover for soil improving too. In fact the humble weed gets far too much bad press in my opinion.
Then I thought it was time to get the flock of hens expanding a bit faster as I spotted some newer chicks for sale at local feed store. So I purchased 3 slightly bigger ones, and there lay my biggest mistake. Despite having a very broody hen at home waiting for them, it did not mean she would take to them, like she did last time. And removing a broody hen off her own fertile eggs was next big mistake. But I couldn't tell how old those eggs were (only 2 by the way) but seems they were laid before I went to Hawaii.
Needless to say said broody hen did not like me, or the new coop she was put in and set about attacking the chicks in the coop. One was lost, but I rescued the other two, with one of those injured and needing urgent attention. They are both ok now, and recuperating inside the cottage in separate cages. You live and learn. But I will have to rear these two by hand until they are old enough to be reintroduced back to the main flock. It seems the broody hen is still quite attached to the original 5 I purchased over 2 months ago. They all follow each other around in a cute little bunch....so lesson learnt. Don't bring in new babies to a surrogate hen until all of the other babies have flown the coop - so to speak. And never put chicks under a broody hen if she had own eggs there first. Life on the farm just teaches me every day.
Then I thought the snake issue was over for the season...then think again girl.
Yes mum it was another big worm in the birdy cage AGAIN!
The racket my female ringneck makes is really the only thing that alerts me to their peril, and gets me out of bed like lightning. It was 2315hrs. This was third carpet snake this summer to attack the parrots, and actually started to get itself wrapped around one inside cage when I arrived on porch to the rescue. And rescue parrot we did. And this morning you wouldn't even notice anything had happened. I will be so glad when I move up to the farmhouse next weekend, then I can put the parrots inside each night.
Which leads me to announce that the farm will change hands next week.....OMG I cant wait.
Stay tuned for next weeks episode brought to you from the comfort of an insulated, waterproof, air conditioned, 3 bedroom farmhouse, with flushing toilet, hot water and a level porch...and no snakes, but lots of photos. Tick!
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