Demolishing the old duck run.

 

We have made a start with demolishing our old duck run and cleaning the duck pond. There's still lots to do! Once demolished, we will build a new, bigger duck run.

New duck run

 

We have been doing lots of building work recently. Recently, we decided that our old duck run was not going to hold together for much longer. So we have built a new duck run though the first birds we put in it were actually our Buff Orpington chickens.

Sunny days

 

We have had a few sunny days recently. That has meant our solar panels have produced more electricity than we used at the time. The surplus went onto the battery. We have to pay electricity and gas standing charges jointly of 54p a day. So, it was nice to see that overnight recently, we bought in only 6p worth of energy. Given the sky rocketing costs of power that are coming our way, the more we can generate ourselves, the better.

Our first job on the new land

 

Having recently acquired a further 14.5 acres to add to our existing 2.5 acres, we are finding all the small jobs that need to be done. The first is replacing the gatepost next to David in the photo above. The new post was ordered and has arrived. All we have to do now is dig out the old post, detach it from the fence and dig the new one in. A job for sometime over the next few days.

Frogs and toads

 

I paid a visit to our farm at midnight a couple of days ago (I was checking on one of our sheep - she was heavily pregnant). On the lane I found a frog and a toad, out of hibernation earlier than usual. I love having amphibians on our farm. They eat bugs that would otherwise eat our crops!

New sheep shelter

 

In November last year, Storm Arwen wrecked our sheep shelter. Last week, my friends Steve and John built a new one for me. All materials were repurposed. Alas, we are still waiting for the sheep to use it!

Incubators back in use

 

The incubators have come out of hibernation. The first eggs - 9 Buff Orpingtons - went into one of the small incubators yesterday. From now until the autumn, the incubators will be working flat out.