The hens are laying!!

Hi folks. A major announcement!...............our chickens have started laying!! Yesterday we were thrilled to find an egg in one of the nesting boxes and further more, this morning, we noticed that one of the hens was settling into one of the nesting boxes in preperation for another egg laying session and sure enough, after a couple of minutes, she delivered an egg! Two eggs in two days.....wow! I guess the others will get round to it in due course.

After my comments about the Alpaca troughs getting filled with rain water, Rob Rawlins at Wellground offered a very simple solution..........drill holes in the base! Couldn't have been more simpler so thanks Rob for the advice.

We have noticed that the grass growth seems to be really slowing down now and on our routine paddock inspections just lately, we have identified even more Ragwort growing. It is a constant battle to eradicate this weed as the root system is fairly comprehensive and spreads underground only to "pop" up several feet away from the original plant.

At this time of year, we have a significant rabbit population and the damage they are doing to our paddocks is getting quite serious now. Mind you, a number of them have contracted that nasty disease, Myxomatosis and when found with obvious signs of the disease, they are humanely despatched.

Yesterday was a day for some chain saw and brush cutter work. I decided that one of our paddocks at the bottom end of Easter-Wood was in need of some serious hedge and bramble clearing so after a 2 hour stint, I am pleased to be able to report that all of the encroaching hedges and brambles have now been neatly trimmed! I suppose it is a bit like spring cleaning really as it always feels good when this sort of maintenance has been completed.

We still have a problem with mites on the ears and over the eyes of some of our girls and tomorrow, we will be applying some ointment that our vet sent over to us in the hope that this will erradicate the symptons. We will also administer another dose of Dectomax just to be sure.

Well, I am signing off now but will return soon.