Note to selves, next time we plan a working "holiday" to catch up with some desperately needed farm works - ban everybody. Get surgical masks out. Sterilise every surface before touching. Anybody sniffs, sneezes, coughs, looks vaguely like they may have the slightest possibility of a cold - run them off the property / sprint in the other direction / whatever it takes to "run away / run away / run away".
Oh and take up drinking booze again. I've very suspicious this backing off on the alcohol routine is at the core of the problem. Which was, Day 2 of holiday he came down with a cold and just about nothing on the To Do List from Hell got done.
Cute (okay well grubby and cute) they may well be, but whilst he did manage to get the fencing panels completed with help from our lovely neighbour (even though he GAVE us the cold in the first place hmpppffff), we still haven't finished their housing for the yard.
With the clever construction method (individual panels liftable by the two of us, 2 pins to hold them together, pigs can push but can't lift them) it's taking us < 30 minutes to move their yard, as opposed to the 2+ hours it was taking.
As we're still doing the nightly "running of the pigs" back to their house because it's bloody cold in these parts of a night, the movement of the yards is a bit restricted until we can get that housing problem solved as we need a sort of an elaborate tin flanking "race" to get them from the paddock into the orchard, past the vegetable gardens, through the main chook house (without stealing eggs or romping all over the sitting goose), past the jail cells and the Heir and the Spare's housing, and into their night house....
They do love the "running of the pigs" as it's a chance for a little bit of their favourite game - if we both run in different directions at the same time, which one of you will have a conniption fit and fall down dead on the spot from an aneurysm????
So moveable housing still on the To Do List from Hell - look out upcoming weekends, it's going to be such fun in these parts!
We also didn't get anywhere much on the new duck house, although we got a bit further than I thought we were going to middle of week 2. Alpaca yards moved (brains exploded whilst they tried to get their heads around that) and poles for new house in place.
Of course, there's always somebody who is happy about a delay in proceedings.
This year, Zhu Yingtai has happily ensconced herself right smack bang in front of the nesting boxes. Which is making egg collection not just a gymnastic feat, but a tad risky to the ankles into the bargain. Honestly, if she mucks this up again this year I'll be miffed in the extreme.... although at the moment the incubator is full of duck eggs, so I thought might as well try the old fashioned way.
(On the upside we've also got 7 more chicks hatched ... one sneaky chook took advantage of the lurgy and managed to plonk herself on a dozen eggs without me realising she was there ... oh well, that's 16 from the last incubation doing well, and now 7 from under her - what's the bet that's about 20 more roosters....)
