Pest Prevention

1. Grey Squirrels

Since the chickens are on lockdown, we’ve noticed they are going through a lot more food than we expected, even with us supplementing their rations with corn, fruit and veg. So the mystery was solved when we found a grey squirrel helping itself to hen food in the coop. GS tightened up the personnel door by nailing plywood along the bottom, which also helps keep draughts down. But on a nighttime check yesterday, he noticed the little mouse sized hole in the hens door was tripled in size. To fit a grey squirrel.

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The grey squirrels had been eating through the door to steal hen food. So GS put in a grey squirrel proof repair. Don’t be sorry for the grey squirrels, they get plenty at the bird feeder (which is really for the wild birds). And don’t think grey squirrels are cute wildlife, they are not. I think they are what the Gruffalo was based on: big yellow teeth, long black claws and an evil temper, bullying each other and other animals including the poor hens. And there are thousands of them…

Needless to say, if it had been red squirrels round the farm, we would have been trying to feed them and take photos.

2. Pooing Cats

GS has been sorting out the poly tunnel for spring planting, however the Assassin thinks he has built the best covered loo for cats EVER.

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The Assassin’s Plan for World Domination

We are resigned to the fact that the Assassin is plotting our downfall in a well orchestrated coup in the future. She practices in the hay shed where both my hands and the hay nets get leapt on with claws out, ready to shred all those who stand in her way.

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GSS Tests the Ice

It’s been so cold lately that the pond froze over so thickly GSS could walk on it. The pictures show a perfectly camouflaged Assassin overseeing the tests. Was this giving her ideas for the coup, we wonder?

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The previous day GSS had made bread dough and left it in the boiler cupboard to prove. He baked it after the ice tests, if you look carefully you can see the steam rising from the baked bread in the picture below. Between the four of us, it did not last long enough to cool down. We had it buttered with hot soup, delicious!

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