Hen-Gen
Well-known member
No, not the calendar date but the biological date. Next week I start saving eggs to go in my incubators on March 21st. Certainly indicates the return of Spring to me but also a burst of activity and excitement. Very much a case this year of not indulging in any flights of fancy (though I would say researching colours!) but of consolidation. I only have one splash barred bird so must breed more from him in case he dies on me.
Lambs due from May 1st. Late this year but the sheep I’m breeding from were born in May last year so I wanted to wait until they were well grown before mating them. And this years lambs, so long as I get some decent ones, will be run on without being mated until they are 18months. Actually looking forward to 2022 as a year with no lambs being born.
The ram I’m buying, the Whitefaced Woodland, should be here around October. A friend is picking him up as he goes down country each year selling young Herdwick rams. He actually knows the WW breeder so I’m hoping he’ll get a few quid off. Certainly I trust him to pick me out a good one. He has, as they say, a good eye for a sheep. He bought some absolute crackers for himself last year. For me a new ram engenders a level of excitement that many folk experience when they buy a new car. He’ll be the fifth ram I’ve bought since I moved here.
And house plants. Don’t talk about them much. But would like to coerce one of my cacti to flower. I’ll start watering them again this week after their four month drought. And a Sanseviera (mother in laws tongue) and a Monstera (Swiss cheese plant) definitely need repotting a size up. I think of house plants as providing a psychological link between the outside world and the inside.
And the Spring migration heralds the return of twitchers. I try and show courtesy and respect but they are a species I despise. But much happier to see the return of skuas and whimbrel from Africa, terns from Antarctica and phalaropes from Ecuador. It’s really quite humbling that they should choose this little 6 mile x 2.5 mile spot in the ocean to come to each year to breed.
Lambs due from May 1st. Late this year but the sheep I’m breeding from were born in May last year so I wanted to wait until they were well grown before mating them. And this years lambs, so long as I get some decent ones, will be run on without being mated until they are 18months. Actually looking forward to 2022 as a year with no lambs being born.
The ram I’m buying, the Whitefaced Woodland, should be here around October. A friend is picking him up as he goes down country each year selling young Herdwick rams. He actually knows the WW breeder so I’m hoping he’ll get a few quid off. Certainly I trust him to pick me out a good one. He has, as they say, a good eye for a sheep. He bought some absolute crackers for himself last year. For me a new ram engenders a level of excitement that many folk experience when they buy a new car. He’ll be the fifth ram I’ve bought since I moved here.
And house plants. Don’t talk about them much. But would like to coerce one of my cacti to flower. I’ll start watering them again this week after their four month drought. And a Sanseviera (mother in laws tongue) and a Monstera (Swiss cheese plant) definitely need repotting a size up. I think of house plants as providing a psychological link between the outside world and the inside.
And the Spring migration heralds the return of twitchers. I try and show courtesy and respect but they are a species I despise. But much happier to see the return of skuas and whimbrel from Africa, terns from Antarctica and phalaropes from Ecuador. It’s really quite humbling that they should choose this little 6 mile x 2.5 mile spot in the ocean to come to each year to breed.
