Livestock – Died and Gone To Devon

Fox in North Devon, snooping around the chicken paddock

Fox at Night

23rd September 201923rd September 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

Caught Mr Fox on camera! But still not caught him in the trap! I have been far more diligent about putting everyone to bed since we lost Mrs Goose back at the end of July. Fortunately, we have had no more casualties. However, the Fox was eating the chicken food (I caught it on...

Goose down remains from where a goose was taken by a fox

RIP Mrs Goose

31st July 201931st July 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

WARNING: This blog entry contains some pictures readers may not like. As usual, I went out last night to lock the animals away at dusk. The chickens always go back to their coup, to roost, so it is just a case of shutting the door. The dog lets me know if there is a...

Jemima has gone! Was it a Fox?

2nd May 20192nd May 2019Blog, Livestock2 Comments

Ok, so the other day, my favourite duck (the only white one I have, and hatched out last year) disappeared. She was there in the early evening, and when I went to put all the ducks to bed they were all behaving oddly....

Not eggactly the same size

1st March 20192nd March 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

Sticking with the geese theme this week, here is a comparison of egg sizes. From left to right. A large chicken ? egg, a duck ? egg, and a goose ? egg on the right. The goose egg is about 10cm in length....

More Fencing

5th February 20195th February 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

I’ve lost track of how much fencing I have put up in the past 5 years. Since arriving in North Devon, we have created lots of enclosures for the animals. Currently the geese in the front field are kept in with temporary fencing. They have recently learnt that they can just walk over it....

Chickens enjoying an early morning stroll

The chickens are coming into lay.

11th January 201910th January 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

Each year, the chickens cease to amaze me. They are so sensitive to day light, that as soon as the days start to get longer, they start to lay more. We are only a couple of weeks after the Winter Solstice. During December, the chickens were producing an average of one egg every other...

Ducks by stream in Devon - Died and Gone To Devon

Happy New Year! A Photo a Day for 2019?

1st January 20191st January 2019Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

Last year, the aim was to do a blog a week. I achieved this with 76 articles, so slightly better than I expected. This year, can I do better ….. a photo a day? We will see. Today I spent the first day of 2019 in the garden, pruning roses and vines in the...

This year's new ducks, Khaki Campbells, White Campbell and possibly Swedish Blue - Died and Gone to Devon

Egg Static

29th October 201829th October 2018Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

New Season Ducks are Laying Well The ducks we hatched out this year (along with the 5 Khaki Campbells we bought) have been laying well for a month now. The four ducks we hatched have all matured to be female (one white - probably a White Campbell, and four black - some genetic throw...

Let Them Eat Tea Cake?

13th October 201816th October 2018Blog, LivestockLeave a comment

Geese Eat Grass Not Tea Cakes! We’ve had to put a sign up, as passers by have been feeding the geese extra snacks. What people don’t realise is that geese predominantly eat grass and greens. So bread snacks, roast beef and yorkshire pudding are shouldn’t be part of their diet. Anyway, the geese are...

From Gosling to Goose

20th August 201820th August 2018LivestockLeave a comment

The goslings hatched out on the 17th May have grown at an incredible pace. In just over 3 months they are now fully feathered and large birds. The four Embden geese are large. The females usual average about 10Kg to 13Kg and the male 12Kg to 15Kg, so big birds! The smaller goose, is...