Duck Survives

Hello Everyone,

….and doesn’t it have a feel of spring, how lovely. The snowdrops are through and the daffs are all pointing skywards. All good signs of spring.

Another sign of spring is the amount of daylight. We have more hours to work outside. Me…I am still sowing seeds in the greenhouse. Bob…well he is ‘spreading muck!’

The manure was delivered and Bob has been covering the beds inside the polytunnels with the muck. Then he rotovates the muck to create beds which will soon be ready for direct sowing or planting out the plant plugs from the greenhouse….team work.

Each evening the pigs, chickens and ducks are all fed and then tucked up into bed. On Sunday evening the pigs, chickens and three of the four ducks all went to bed as normal. The fourth duck was unable to move and her head was all floppy. She looked quite ruffled and Bob was able to pick her up with no argument from the duck. We checked the duck for any outward signs of damage, but none could be seen, other than some fluffed up feathers. The duck was placed in the duck house, with water and food, then left until the Monday morning. We then went to bed to sleep…sort of. I was on duty on the Monday morning, while Bob had meetings in Newcastle. I was quite apprehensive doing the rounds, as finding an unwell bird does not make for a pleasant day. However, amazingly, our lovely duck survived the night, was bright as a button and had even laid an egg. We have no idea what had happened…had our duck been attacked by a bird of prey or a stoat??? Who knows. We are just very happy that we still have four ducks.

My way of working tends to be…if I am not tidy and organised then I do not work very well. Good job I have these tendencies as, this week we had our annual visit from the environmental health department. The EHOfficer is checking on cleanliness, procedures, systems and traceability. We have no issues to report….thank goodness.

Next week we will have a new much simpler method of ordering and an updated website – no more spreadsheets!…..which means that for next week only I will be handing over the weekly email to Bob as I am not the best techie….I am much happier in my greenhouse.

Have a fab week,

Ann