My How You've Grown!

Spring has most certainly sprung, and with it all the young animals at Newhouse Farm are growing with natural abundance.

The goslings are no longer cute little bundles that I can scoop up in my hands and carry out of mischief. This picture was taken when they were a few days old back in late March.

Now look at them! They've reached the grand ol' age of 8 weeks and have grown HUGE! All 7 have survived, and we've moved them to the orchard where they have a large grassy slope to roam around on. The goslings make great lawnmowers, and rival cows for the amount of grass they eat.

They may look like grown-ups, but they still behave like naughty teenagers, as they have a great aversion of going to bed. Every evening we go outside to put the animals away. All the ducks, geese and hens are fairly obedient and go into their various homes willingly and with little fuss. Not so the goslings. Round and round their house we go, but will they go in... no they won't. The record for the longest amount of time it took to get the goslings to go to bed is currently held by Dick: it took him 20 minutes the other night and meant that he missed the pub quiz!

The other big giveaway that the goslings haven't fully grown is that they still have downy fluff on their necks instead of feathers, and a few stray fluffy clumps elsewhere on their bodies. But now they're mostly covered in beautiful white or grey feathers, and just look at the size of their wings in the picture below. It may well be time to clip their wings soon or there's a chance they may fly away.



















It's not just the goslings that have grown. The Soggy Bottom Boys, aka the 3 ducklings, and the 4 chicks have had a huge growth spurt. They were once this size...


Now the chicks are 8 and a half weeks old, and the ducklings are 7 weeks, and they all live together in a little wooden house! I'm still not sure whether it's advisable to have chicks and ducklings living together, but these ones seem to be cohabiting in perfect harmony. Initially the ducklings and the chicks stuck to their own sides of the pen, but nowadays they're one big flock. I've seen them all snuggled up together having a nap, which is a very sweet sight. However now we've introduced a perch into their house for the chicks, the ducklings seem quite flummoxed as to why they can't hop up there next to their chums.

What's also pretty amusing about this unusual combination of feathered friends is that the ducklings, although younger, are so much taller than the chicks. They're now about twice as tall and tower over the chicks, who although challenged in the stature department still seem to have the upper hand (or should that be wing?!)





Sadly it will soon be time to split up this merry household, as the ducklings will need to move into the pond area and the chicks will move in with the adult flock. The 2 seperate sections do border onto each other though, and I wonder if this gang will look through the chicken wire fence that separates them and recognise each other?





What's more, there's new infants now to be found at the farm. Some Buff Orpington hens became very broody and were sitting on some Maran eggs we gave them. These have hatched and now there are 5 little Maran chicks being cared for by their 2 foster mums. They have their own special hutch that neighbours the ducklings and chicks, with a ramp that takes them up to their sleeping area. It's very endearing to see these little black chicks hopping onto their foster mother's backs, or climbing the ramp to go upstairs.

And finally, we're eagerly awaiting the arrival of more goslings. No, I haven't been incubating again! Instead the real mother goose has taken control and is currently sitting on a large number of eggs. I've no idea when they're due to hatch, but I can't wait to see more fluffy yellow goslings running around. The gander is dutifully standing guard beside his missis day in and day out, and is still as grumpy as ever. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the goslings-to-be.