More chicks and more....

Hah, I knew one hen was AWOL! This morning I step out and hear a different pitch in all the clucking, quacking, whistling: three little chickies. I have no idea how many she was sitting on, just happy enough for her not to have been a casualty to the feral cats here.
Pleased I'm not into proper breeding, I would have to keep them under lock and key to prevent random matings and hatchings.

Gearing up to the butchering process now: bunnies to be sold and kept sorted out. I've got 6 do. Un-/ fortunately I have had to feed them medicated pellets, which means I won't get to do them while the kids are still at home, due to withholding period for the meat.  Don't want to have my first go while the kids can watch me, just in case I turn into a blubbering mess.

Yesterday we used a break in the weather to put some plastic sheet on two sides of the bunny Hilton: we're expecting to get more bad weather on the weekend and need to make it a bit more wind and rain proof.

Today I'll try putting the goats into the other paddock again, this time Miss Escapee on a mobile tether ( HEAVY piece of cast iron on the leash) and hope that Miss Docile will hang close by. The sun charging the battery for the electric fence should help too! And I'll be painting their new drinking trough, an old concrete double tub. We've put it up in front of one of the barn walls and it looks like it has been an integral part of the set-up.

And the Welcome swallows are having a high all time with a major family reunion taking place at our place! At the moment we've got between 10 - 14 flitting in and out! They are soo beautiful, I just wish they'd all shit in one place!! Our courtyard and deck need regular water blasting to get rid of the flight patterns.

And our ducklings cannot be called ducklings anymore: they have grown so big, I reckon they'd make a bigger roast than our chickens!! One is definitely quacking, while the other five are still "whistling". I hope that is a sign for at least one female duck!!! I've got to wait another three months to be able to separate them by their feathers. Patience, not one of my strongest character traits.