Spring has arrived

The flowers are starting to come up at Ridgeway farm and we now have daffodils and hyacinths enjoying moments of New England sunshine.

The ducklings are two weeks old and I have learnt some valuable lessons already.
1. Ducklings smell.
2. They poop a lot more than baby chickens.
3. They are messy (see above point).
And 4. Boy do they grow fast!
They are already about the size of 5-6 week old chicks. They do love their water, and have upgraded from the kitchen sink to the pig water tub outside.

My horse Muppet is doing well, and shedding like crazy. Someone please tell me why I have a grey and white paint? Our goal for the year is simple, try and stay sound.

The sheep are enjoying the start of the grass. We are in the middle of changing our fencing all to cattle panels, but hope they will be up soon so the sheep can go out in the bigger pasture. Edward is hoping the shearer will come and visit soon too!

I hope everyone is having a great spring so far. Now it's time to take a certain two dogs out for a walk!

If anyone lives close by and is in need of lambing supplies please contact me. I have a tub of things I will no longer need and would like to find them a home they will be needed at :-)

Time for something completely different

Happy spring everyone!

For me this is the time normally that lambs arriving and things are crazy. But as we just have Edward and Eleanor we don't have to go through that this year. Instead we had made the decision at about Christmas time to get ducklings delivered now instead. They arrived this morning, the post office actually called at 6:20am, and all 4 are healthy and doing very well.

This is our pair of Welsh Harlequins Jeremy and Jemima, we decided on Welsh Harlequins as they are supposed to be quite docile, and I think they look beautiful.

This is Jeremy...

and this one is Jemima.

And then we decided on a couple of female runner ducks because they make us laugh.

So this is Miranda....

and this is Stevie. They are named after characters in a British comedy show we enjoy.

We are excited to watch the ducklings grow, and will be busy for the next few weeks getting their shelter ready outside for them and getting them something to swim in. Sometimes being a novice on a breed is a little daunting, but we hope to do ok. Any duck tips are greatly received though!

The sheep are also both doing well, although poor Edward needs a shearer to come and give him a haircut very soon.

Eleanor is settling in great and will now eat out of my hand in the morning.

Happy start of spring everyone.