Moorlands, Puppies and Wyandotte chicks

Moorlands - Vince and Janet are working hard to cope with the Lachlan River flood damage, electric fences, water piping, road damage, fence damage... its all happening and none of it good.

However on my visit today I was lucky enough to catch up with Kettle's pups, Pixie, Peg, Moody (all black and tan girls) and Max (black).  They were delightful, and whichever 2 girls we end up with, we'll be lucky to have them, they are lovely little pups.  Casey thinks we are non-starters for Pixie ;-D

Their collars are colour coded, which is lucky, because I have trouble telling the girls apart, black is Peg, blue is Moody and pink is Pixie.  Max has a blue collar too ;-D

Moody has Max in a head lock over a bone, Peg on the left.

If Moody cant have the bone, she'll chew Max's ear... till she gets it, very determined little miss.

 Max looking very sweet, and very like mum, Kettle.

Max looking a teeny bit mad!!

Max and Moody - plainly she's not entirely sane either ;-D

 Max and Peg

Moody looking very sweet, but touch that bone, and see what happens!!

Pixie has plainly been whacked twice with the cute stick!!  Loli was not impressed with her good looks!!

Casey with Pixie.

Maybe 3 farm dogs is a good round number!!  LOL!!  However at this very early stage I've got to say Moody and Peg look like perfect compliments to each other.

Also caught up with the Wyandotte chicks, the blue laced buff pullet is looking lovely :)

House Plants, Hydrangeas and Spiders

The house plants are flowering... either I'm doing very well, or they think they are going to die!!  Time will tell.

The hydrangeas are out more fully and looking lovely.

End post on the verandah has this Pandorea growing up it, which I quite like, the others have jasmine and ivy and a stinky fly attracting climber, none of which I am very keen on!!

We have a new chook tractor for the Rouen babies, Charcoal is still supervising their every move, and I still cant tell whether her maternal instinct is showing through, or if she's just keeping an eye on 'meat on the hoof'.  She definitely prefers the ducklings to the chickens though.

Its very cold today, and was super cold last night, only the ducklings 2nd night in the great outdoors and so I barracaded them in with every wind breaking piece of 'usefulness' I could find.  They seem to be doing OK, and were even keen to go swimming this morning, gave them enough water for a paddle, not a full on swimming sesh.

This spider is quite large, and in the wind, its web looks flimsy at best, very hairy number, and is on my list to avoid even though my spider bites were inflicted by a much smaller variety.

New baby budgies

We have 3 new baby budgies, newly fledged and moved to temporary digs!

Back row - Dad, Baby #1, Mum
Front row - 1/2 brother (different Mum), Baby #2, Baby #3

Not a wren, a willy wag tail

Saw the owner of the nest this afternoon, and its not a wren, its a willy wag tail!  Rubbish shot, but didnt want to disturb her!

Wren's nest

Yesterday I found a little wren's nest in the garden, small but perfectly formed!!  There are so many blue wrens dashing about its lovely to watch them.  Nothing in this nest at present, but most pairs seem to be having a second family this season.

Lindy and Bozo

Lindy brought Bozo up to the yards today, gave him a good brush, which he loved and then took him out for a little ride.  He would have preferred to have stayed home, and keep on with the brushing bit!!  LOL!!  He's such a lush!!

Hydrangeas

The garden continues to flourish - all this rain!!  No good for the sheep, but the flowers are loving it!!  This a gorgeous variegated hydrangea in the garden on the southern side of the house.

New Ducks

Some new ducklings at the Duck Hilton, we've hatched 9 Rouen ducklings and they are thriving.  Rouens are a breed prized for their flavour, they develop slowly and taste wonderful - dont name these ducklings!!  I think we have 5 ducks and 4 drakes, best drake will be kept for the breeding program as will the ducks, the others will be for taste testing ;-D  Once up and running we hope to be able to supply the local market with good quality meat, raised organically and free ranged for maximum benefit.

They were a bit shy about having their photo taken, but are really enjoying being out side in the day pen, with access to a pond and the 'lawn'!!

New Silkies - the Buffs and Duchess

Four new buff silkies have come to join the team.

They are Viscountess (aka Vicki),

Empress (aka Emma),

Beatrix

and Eugenie (at the back, Peanut in the front).

Also recently arrived is Duchess, a lovely mahogany hen who was very haughty when she first arrived, but is now skirting about the edges, could be wrong but I think one of the farm chooks (Isa Brown x Australorp) has given her a dressing down, I'm sure she'll be back in good form before long, cant keep a good chook down!!  The new silkie pen is under construction, and once the move to the kangaroo paddock is complete the silkies will be much happier.  Kiwi and Peanut are enjoying their new environment, and not daunted by the big chooks!!

The dogs sometimes struggle with the whole 'free range' concept, and like the chooks to stay in their pen!!  Luckily everybody has to sleep sometimes ;-D

Deano and Emma

 The farm chooks, big girls and very good layers.

Kiwi

Dogs at Wedgewood and Moorlands

Belle and Charcoal today, supervising the fringed lily shoot.  They are both looking sleek and trim.

These are Kettle's pups at Moorlands, the black puppy is Max, we are going to have 2 of the black and tan girls, Peg and Pixie.  Janet and Vince will train them up for us, so that when we move to our own place we'll have working dogs ready to go :)  They will be home for 'weekend leave' in a couple of weeks time, cant wait!!  Easy to forget how much work/mischief puppies are, but luckily they are as cute as buttons and already they are much bigger, this pic is 10 days old!!

The Garden in Novembe

These photos were taken a fortnight or so ago, before we got 175mm of rain in 7 days!!

The irises have been wonderful, despite the dogs trying to turn them into day beds!!

There are several varieties of lavender in the garden.

The roses have been spectacular too, especially the little climbers, they were a mass of colour.