Locked up!

So...we are getting fed up with our Guinea Fowl.It must be coming into the mating season and the four of them appeared to have paired off. One female in particular has become very noisy and she has also developed an aversion to going back into the pen at night along with the others. The consequence of this is that come dawn she wanders the garden constantly calling to the others as if asking "Where are you?" but they are trapped in the pen. Twice at 5.30 am we have been awakened by the cacophony. Once Will, naked except for Ugg Boots, got up to let the others out and so restore the peace for a few hours.This morning I buried my head under the pillow against the noise and resolved to do something. They have also taken to wandering too far towards next door's garden so today I decided that we will keep them all penned up in the back of Fort Yudhisthira until mating season has finished. The chooks will still be able to roam free from the coop but the guinea Fowl have lost their privileges.It was easier said than done to get them all back in the pen. I did manage to get three of them in but the noisy female just wouldn't go in, even with Will trying to herd her with me. We spent a frustrating 30 minutes trying to persuade her in. We gave up and resolved to wait until dusk and catch her while roosting but in the end we later stumbled across her having wandered inside while we were not looking so we shut her in, separated the fowl from the chooks, and closed off the doorway between the front and back sections of Fort Yudhisthira.That's it. Job done! They can languish in there for a bit until they quieten down or my mood softens.

Very blue!

So...another  weekend has passed and we have once more been busy 'boarding' in Blue Moon. Yesterday afternoon we put two more boards up on the upstairs ceiling, so that is almost finished apart from two small corners...

 

It's sprung!

So...in the last few days we have had some rain. Overall we got over 30 mls. The tank at the back of Frogknot fills up quickly as it is fed by part of the roof on Frogknot and the shed roof. As this tank was overflowing we pumped half its water up to one of the tanks at the back of Blue Moon House. Now both the tanks up there are three quarters full which is about 7000 litres in all. A little more rain is forecast over the coming days but we still need a lot more to bring the dam up to normal. The garden is enjoying the water...

The 'Book Cave' Book of the Week.

'Chook' news.

So...here is our flock as it stands at the moment... 

...but there is another...Sheng- Mu, daugther of Mu, raised by Hecate and born and bred here at Frogknot, who is currently sitting on seven eggs which, if Thor has done his job, should hatch round about the 16th October.It's egg-citing!