Rats!

As cute as she may look when she’s curled up in her bed or sitting on your lap, Midge is a “real” Jack Russell Terrier, with razor sharp instincts and lightning fast reactions. She’s two and a half now, and in that time has killed more than her fair share of mice, voles and rabbits (and, sadly, chickens), not to mention all the toads she’s found in the field, which having found out what happens if you attack them, she won’t touch but still loves hunting! Oh, and there was the snake she found, but that’s a blog post for another day.

So yes, she’s a proper little terrier and never was I more pleased about that than yesterday afternoon when I spotted a rat at the farm! It heard my footsteps and sought refuge but having seen its hiding place, I ran and got the dogs. When it decided to take its chances and scuttled off at top speed for the hedge, Midge shot off after it and successfully caught and killed it in seconds!

Midge - 17 October 2009

Snipe, caught up in all the excitement but not knowing what to do, ran off and came back with a stick…

Missing dogs

Of the blogs I read, two dogs have gone missing. Shadow came home in the most dramatic style, Annie is still missing.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on mine (especially after last time).

Please do the same with yours.

Snipe - 17 August 2009

Midge - 18 August 2009

Tree dogs and odd dogs

There’s a lovely old tree in my field, which must have been wonderful as a climbing tree, back in its day. Sadly, it’s now getting to be quite rotten and although I have scrambled up its lower branches (being 30 is all the more reason to climb!), I daren’t go very high, just in case…

On a couple of occasions, I thought I saw Midge jumping out of the tree but thought I was imagining things.

Turns out that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me:

Midge the Tree Dog - 12 October 2009

As for Snipe… Just don’t ask:

How was your August?

Looking back through my photos from August, I was pleasantly surprised to find several that, in total contrast to the soaking I received yesterday, suggest that August hasn’t been as wet as I believe:

Midge - 6 August 2009

Brini - 7 August 2009

Scrumpy - 8 August 2009

Some of the hens - 11 August 2009

Jo and Snipe - 13 August 2009

Pinky - 18 August 2009

The farm - 29 August 2009

Suicidal chickens don’t have happy endings!

You may recall that way back in the depths of June (you know, “summer”) I blogged about our two new Warren hens, Maude and Mildred. For the most part, they were settling in when Mildred decided that the grass was infinitely greener on the other side of the electric netting. Whenever my back was turned, she found a way to get out but for some reason, could never find a way to get back in, so I was constantly on Midge-watch, lest her terrier instincts point her in the direction of a free and (relatively) easy meal.

I cut Mildred’s wing feathers, made sure the netting was tight and not sagging, but she still kept getting out. So I wasn’t surprised when, a week after she started auditioning for Chicken Run, I went to check on the chooks and there was only one set of brown bum feathers shaking their thing in the grass.

It would be nice to think that she’s now running wild and will one day meet a handsome cockerel so they can raise a brood of feral chickens, but the somewhat more likely answer is that she fed a fox…

Mildred - 1 July 2009

Since then, Maude has been fully accepted into the flock, though I have started calling her Hetty. I don’t know why, but I kept forgetting whether she was Maude or Mildred and whenever I went to talk to her, “Hetty” just fell off my tongue.

Whatever she’s called, she has started laying – big beautiful eggs that look and taste like sunshine in a shell. Delicious

Hetty - 27 July 2009

In other chicken related news, the three Pekin and Silkie chicks who hatched in April are all boys, so they’ll be for the pot later this month.

And Xander, our young Buff Orpington cockerel, is looking mighty fine! He’s very handsome and is still extremely friendly, though thankfully he no longer tries to jump into my arms!

He’s done nothing but grow, grow, grow over the past few weeks.

This is how he changed in just a month:

Xander - 1 July 2009

Xander and the bantam boys - 27 July 2009

Once the boys “go”, I’ll put Xander in the with big girls (he’s going to flatten the Silkies and Pekins one of these days!) and poor Flint will have to accept that despite his own exaggerated opinion of his size, he is in fact a Pekin and will have to join the hens who are his own size. I don’t suppose Xander will mind but Flint will be furious!

Captain Flint - 1 July 2009

Looking back at (a sunny) July 2008

I seem to have lost my blogging mojo so I thought I’d post some photos from last year, back when the sun was something warm, comforting and familiar, not a distant memory like it has been this July!

Midge - 1 July 2008

Bailey and Queenie - 4 July 2008

Brini - 20 July 2008

Captain Flint and pals - 20 July 2008

Harold and family - 21 July 2008

Scrumpy, Tia, Stella and Brusco - 22 July 2008

Snipe, Midge and Teal - 29 July 2008

The view from Mum's front gate - 29 July 2008

Maybe August will see the sun return – and with it, my blogging inspiration!

As it rains, so I return indoors to the blog!

Sorry about the absence, I took advantage of the glorious weather to be a busy bee outside and have rather neglected the blog of late.

So much has been going on, I thought I’d cheat and do a photo update of some of the highlights (yes, yes, I know that you know this is because I’ve actually forgotten what I’ve been up to and the photos I’ve taken are the only reminders…)

For various reasons, I’ve been unable to send any pigs off for slaughter so I’m still feeding eight hungry mouths, which is annoying me somewhat. The only good thing about it is that little Curly is rapidly growing so we should get some decent meat from him when his time comes. Which it had better do soon! Oh, I lie, there is one other piece of good news about Pinky and Curly’s delayed departure: they’ve cleared a massive patch of brambles for me! In fact, I’ve had to totally adjust their fence so that they’ve got something to eat as they’ve completely exhausted their original patch:

Curly and Pinky - 22 June 2009

We have two new hens: Maude and Mildred, a pair of Warren POLs (point of lay) who are approximately 20 weeks old. The others are being extremely mean to them but I’m hoping they’ll settle in soon.

Maude - 22 June 2009

It was a no-go with Willow and her Maran and Light Sussex eggs. Not a single one hatched. I did think that they weren’t warm enough to the touch quite early on during her incubation, but there was nothing I could so except wait and see. Thankfully, she got off her nest when I (gingerly) took the eggs away, but right on cue, Speckle went broody! She’s been in the broody ark all week and I’ve been promised some Light Sussex eggs, so I’m hoping she’ll settle in and hatch some LS chicks who should be good for laying and the pot…

When the sun next comes out, I’ll try to take some photos of the two new girls. They’re quite camera shy at the moment, not that I blame them!

Did I mention that it’s been hot, hot, hot? Here’s the evidence: even Fergie, who hated getting muddy, has been spotted frequenting the local wallow:

Fergie - 23 June 2009

And Midge, the dog who also hates getting muddy and wet, has completely shocked me with her choice of Favourite Game:

Midge - 24 June 2009

B’s cat is a bit of an idiot:

Horatio - 24 June 2009

But I can’t talk. Just look at my dog:

Snipe - 24 June 2009

And here she is again, this time with her new toy:

Snipe - 25 June 2009

So that’s what I’ve been up (not to mention everything I’ve forgotten about).

And you?

Making hay while the sun shines!

Yesterday’s predicted rain never arrived so at lunch time I decided to tempt the weather gods and watered the vegetable garden, cursing the slugs who have attacked my courgette plants. Amazingly, this did not instigate a downpour and so I spent the afternoon cutting the long grass in the orchard. Thing is, I cut it by hand using some loppers, so that I can leave it to dry and become hay which I can then use as bedding for the hens’ nest boxes and in the pig arks.

I took a much needed break to take this photo of what I had done and what was left to do!

A close up, using Midge to show you just how long the grass is!

This was as close as Snipe could get to me when I was behind the electric netting in the chicken run!

Finally, take a look at this:

Pea plant in the field - 10 June 2009

A while ago, I idly pushed some peas that the pigs hadn’t eaten into the dirt that they’d turned up in the field. Look again, can you see the pea pod?! I’ve managed to loose the feral garlic (the undergrowth grew up around it and I’ve no idea where it is!) and the feral broad beans are growing but haven’t flowered yet, but this looks as though it might actually do something! And the amazing thing is that I haven’t looked after it at all. It’s survived on rain water, so got no water during the week and a half of blazing sunshine, and I only propped it up with a stick last week. Nature rules! I just hope my domesticated peas make it. The slugs really are on a mission

My pack

I’ve spent the past couple of days cutting down the never-ending growth of bracken and Himalayan Balsam, the former being a toxic plant, and the latter being a menace which stops grass and other plants growing, leading to soil erosion.

Naturally, I had the dogs with me and it was interesting to observe how they chose to spend their “free time”. Snipe picked a sunny spot (yes, you read that right!) and lay down, seemingly dead to the world, but whenever I moved too far away, she padded after me, sometimes coming to greet me, but generally selecting a new spot, closing her eyes, and so it would start again.

Snipe - 8 June 2009

Midge, on the other hand, spent the time rushing through the undergrowth, hunting for mice and who knows what else. She didn’t catch anything, but certainly had fun trying. If she was out of sight for too long, I’d whistle and within moments, she would appear, doing a funny bunny jump through the undergrowth, which, to be fair, was at least twice her height.

Midge - 8 June 2009

I did consider training Snipe to pull the bracken or balsam out of the ground but she really wasn’t interested!

A (temporary) farewell to Midge

I have blogged before about our Jack Russell’s history as a naughty little dog who spent most of her waking hours hunting in the fields and woods surrounding my mother’s farm, despite my best efforts to block up any holes in the fence, and how this obviously caused a lot of worry about her safety.

Mum kept threatening to re-home her but as the weeks and months rolled by with no sign of the threats becoming anything more than that, we ignored her.

So it came as a bit of a shock one evening last June when Mum answered the door to someone who had come to meet Midge! The woman had recently lost one of their dogs and was looking for a replacement. Typically, Midge wasn’t off hunting and met the woman with a happy smile and a wagging tail, settling down on her lap as we drank coffee and talked about the little monster.

Within an hour, she had decided that Midge was the dog for her, and to my horror left with the dog.

Midge - 7 June 2008

The house seemed extremely empty without Midge and I confess that I cried as I fed the two Labradors the following morning, Midge’s unused bowl staring at me from the cupboard, where I hid it at the back, out of sight.

The following morning, however, there was good news (for me). Mum got a phone call saying that there were problems. The woman’s other dog was unhappy about his new companion and kept attacking the stranger. She didn’t think it was wise to keep Midge: could we take her back? I grabbed my keys and stayed long enough to get directions!

Midge was pleased to see me, and the two Labs were ecstatic to get their small friend back. If I had supported the idea of Midge going, I would have pointed out that they’d had Midge for less than 48 hours and that it would take time for their dog to accept her presence. They needed to stop interfering and let the pair sort things out.

But I wanted the little dog back, so I kept my mouth shut and muttered something about it being such a shame, wished her luck finding a new companion and drove away without looking back.

However, I needed to do something to stop Midge wandering and took the three dogs to the beach to see if the sea air brought any inspiration. As Midge did her best to avoid the water and the two Labradors raced in and out of the waves, the sea air worked its magic.

Midge sometimes went missing during the day, but only if I took the dogs out of the yard and into the fields and then didn’t keep both eyes firmly fixed on the Jack Russell, or if I went into the fields but left Midge loose in the yard. If I was in the house (or rather, in the kitchen where she could see me), Midge stayed put. But when B and I went to work in the evenings… Yup, that was her favourite time for hunting and Mum’s greeting on our return home was usually a comment that Midge had only just come in as well.

So if I took Midge to work with us and left her in the car, she couldn’t go anywhere. No hunting, no giving away.

It worked like a charm and Midge loved it. As soon as she saw B or I start getting ready for work, she was ready to go and would sit by the door, her whole body shaking with excitement. In fact, she hated it when we had the day off and would hang around us, just in case we were trying to sneak off without her.

In some ways, it’s a good thing that Mum did giver her away, as on her return, she became my dog, not Mum’s, and since B and I moved down to south Wales, she’s been a wonderful member of our family and I can’t imagine life without the little beast!