First Welsh Lambing Night Shift...

Got the taxi there, got lost but eventually found the place. Rang the bell for 10 mins ... no-one in. Walked up to the sheds in the pitch black and there was a man there. Just a contractor the same as me, and he left when I got there!
The book with pen numbers + lambs which needed milk and stuff was in Welsh!

On my own with 800 sheep in lamb, a little old dog and loads of wierd noises freaking me out.

There was a triplet with 2 little lambs (she'd lost the 3rd) which were reallly cold so I hoiked them out and put them in a pen under a heat lamp - couldn't even find where they were plugged in at first!

Texted my friend Sian but didn't have signal to took ages, eventually she got it and said she'd come up and got a taxi there about 2 hours later. 10 mins after that the farmer came! So he explained everything to us - they pull all the lambs if they can, to stop them getting stuck or their faces covered with the membranes and dying.

There was a sheep struggling to lamb so the farmer had a look and the ewe had ruptured her muscles all along her belly and around her bag so the lamb was right down and he could hardly reach it. Got some strings tied around its head + legs after 10 mins, tried to pull it out and eventually did. Was already dead 'cos she'd lambed prematurely, the other twin lamb was so far down inside her it was impossible to get to so we had to leave her to it.
Then there was a ewe which had a head out and no legs so it was stuck, the lamb died and the head started to swell, making it even harder to lamb! Had to get the farmer back to come and lamb it which he struggled to do.
While that was happening there was a ewe with triplets trying to lamb so I went and helped her, the first one came ok but the second was its legs out and head bent right back, pushed it back in a bit and got him out, then delivered the last one - first thing to go right! :)
Then we had another ewe that wasn't due until the 10th who started to lamb - it was a tiny lamb so we tried to help it and failed, phoned the farmer and he came out - she was aborting so we just had to leave her.
Everything was going wrong and we were wondering how we'd lamb the rest of them?!
Penned up some sheep so went back to check on them all 15 mins later and there was one lambing so we helped her out and it went fine.
Did the same for the next 6 hours! Adopted some triplet lambs onto a single so that each ewe had 2 and could give them enough milk.
Fed the ewes and bottle fed the lambs at half 4.

We were just getting ready to leave at 6, checked the ewes one last time and there was one with just a head out. Couldn't leave it 'cos it would swell up and die. I lambed that and then did its brother too. Just about to leave her to it and realised she was a triplet so pulled the 3rd one! Good job we realised!
Taxi didn't come until half 6 so got back at 7ish!
Think we pulled 25 lambs, which isn't bad :D At home we only pull the lambs if the ewe is struggling and the lamb is stuck but here we pulled most of them and if she had one lamb we'd pull the others stright away instead of leaving her. So its more hands on and pulled more in 1 night than a in week at home!

We didn't stop at all for 9 hours, hardly had time to grab a drink so didn't nom my Hula Hoops in the end! Its ridiculous how they thought 1 person could do it, esp leaving them on their own having never been before! Even with 2 of us it was really hard work, probably needed 3 or 4 of us to be able to pen, feed and lamb at the same time...

Start Lambing tonight

Spoke to Rhydian earlier, who's sorting out Lambing. He said they only need 1 person tonight to start at 9pm.
Bit of a pain 'cos we were going to share taxi's and it'd be better if we were in 2's!

We rang one taxi the other day who quoted £14 but phoned our friend Ace and he said £9 so have booked him for half 8!
Hopefully we'll be in pairs next week so we can share the taxi, and waiting around for the ewes to lamb!

Rhydian is lambing tomorrow but will find out who's doing Monday and during the week. Hopefully we'll be able to go in pairs as it gets busier. He said only experienced people so I'm fine but Cody has none so really she can't go on her own. The other 2 have a bit so they should be ok.

We finish at 6am then need to get back to halls. I'm always up 'til late anyway so 6/7am is too much of a stretch :S
... unless we have 9am lectures! :|
Tbh I'll be tired for a few weeks if its £80 or £30 a night, and it'll be really good experience to have lambed on 3 farms , see the differences etc. :D

Lambing tonight...

Spoke to Rhydian earlier, who's sorting out Lambing. He said they only need 1 person tonight to start at 9pm.
Bit of a pain 'cos we were going to share taxi's and it'd be better if we were in 2's!
We rang one taxi the other day who quoted £14 but phoned our friend Ace and he said £9 so have booked him for half 8!
Hopefully we'll be in pairs next week so we can share the taxi, and waiting around for the ewes to lamb!

Rhydian is lambing tomorrow but will find out who's doing Monday and during the week. Hopefully we'll be able to go in pairs as it gets busier. He said only experienced people so I'm fine but Cody has none so really she can't go on her own. The other 2 have a bit so they should be ok.

We finish at 6am then need to get back to halls. I'm always up 'til late anyway so 6/7am is too much of a stretch :S
... unless we have 9am lectures! :|

Tbh I'll be tired for a few weeks if its £80 or £30 a night, and it'll be really good experience to have lambed on 3 farms , see the differences etc. :D

Think I'z got another chest infection too 'cos been really struggling to breath and taking my inhaler. Cba to book a Drs appointment if it'll clear up on its own.
Just been to CKs and got some cough medicine :) and Olbas menthol lozenges "To help keep breathing easy" ... worth a try ;)

Another day at the Zoo

Back at the Zoo again today.
Cleaned out more monkeys! I did Mango, the capuchin that was eating an egg last week.

Got them all clean and then put Easibed down and hay in their nestbox.

They took in 4 or 5 new cockerels on Sunday so asked me to identify them.
Not sure what they were but were crosses. 4 had single combs and 1 had a huge Derbyshire Redcap-esque comb. Big long legs too!

Then we started scrubbing down the Petting Barn where the rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, mice, chinchilla, vervet monkeys ... and even porqupine are!
Scrubbed down the walls and windows and the pens, to get ready for (hopefully) lots of visitors over half-term.

More Lambing??

Someone emailed me from the Uni today saying he heard I was looking for Lambing and would I go there + stuff.
You're a day too late!

He isn't the farmer, just is sorting out people to go lambing for the farmer, so I asked a few qu's and said we'd got the Uni lambing already booked but might be able to do both 'cos that doesn't start for a couple of weeks.
Would be night shifts again, and there are 800 ewes in the shed at a time and as some leave, it gets topped up, so could be quite busy!
Its in Trawscoed which is about 8 miles out of Aber(?) so we'd have to get a Taxi there, which would cost  ~£14 each way!

Hopefully will be able to do both!! :)

Lambing 2011

After emailing lots of people, being forwarded on and trying for quite a while I've finally managed to sort some Lambing out!! :))
Was surprisingly hard to do considering we're in Wales!
Emailed Uni's Farm Manager and went to see him today with my friend Cody to get it sorted out....

They have a big shed with 400 ewes in then there are another 2 sections of the shed which have cows in one it and the other had a metal runway or something.
Waited around for a bit and managed to speak to the Farm Manager and then the Shepherd.
There will be 4 or 5 of us going and 'cos of lectures we'll be doing the night shift!
8pm - 6am and then on 2 days we start lectures at 9am and finish at 6pm!!!

Will be worth it to go lambing and play with the lambs, can sleep in the afternoon! :P

We got there on the bus today which took about 20 mins but the Arriva buses stop running at 6pm in Aber and won't start till 8am so will have to look at other buses or a taxi. Becky does her her car up here but we won't always be with her!

Need to sort out what experience people have so he can put us together and sort out a rota :)

Alan, Alan! - Zoo

Another day at the Zoo today :)

Was good - I cleaned out Miriam + Roley, Jean's pet Capuchins. Cleaned the window, scrubbed and scraped all the surfaces and shelves and scrubbed the walls. Swept everything up in there and put fresh Straw and Easibed down for them.

Then I scrubbed down the wood in the Kookaburras and hopefully made their enclosure look a bit better :)

Went and helped Cody clean out the Black and White Ruffed Lemurs after that.

The Emu have started laying so they have loads of Emu eggs and have been giving them to the monkeys! They crack them open on their shelves and then eat all the egg :P

I got really excited 'cos of Alan!

They (Prarie Dogs) hibernate so I didn't see them last week, but there were at least 6 out today!
They're in a big enclosure with with Ring Tailed Lemur - the lemur came over to the bars and I stroked their feet - were really soft!

The Marmosets had their pop-hole opened this week so can run outside into their run. The babies were coming out and running back in, but they'd jump over onto the bars by us, had to stroke their tiny little feet :)) Soo cute!

Mom Marmoset (hiding in the background of the photo) wasn't very happy and would jump at us too then do a lap of the cage. They were all sticking their arms through to try + get the phone! :P

Monkeyin' Around

At the Zoo again today :)

Managed to just get the bus in time to get down to town, to the station and on the train 5 mins before it left! :) Hope we can manage it every week :P

Cody was ill + had a Drs appointment this afternoon so didn't come.

Got there about 10 to 12, tidied up a few bits + swept the paths.
Then went and cleaned out one of the monkey enclosures (same place we cleaned the corridor last week). Opened the monkey house door to scare them out of the hosue into their run, then had to shut the pop-hole so they couldn't get back inside.
Had to scrape all the surfaces to get rid of poo + food + stuff, scrub them down along with all the perches and things, and them scrub the walls + clean the window.

Put some Easibed bedding down on the shelves and floor and filled their nest box in the corner with straw.
Was sooo hot in there 'cos of the heaters/radiator in there to keep the monkeys warm, and we had to lock the door behind us just incase the mokeys got in the house, as a 2nd security door ... sweating like a PIG.

We then had to carry all the muck buckets to the much hear in one of the back fields, 'cos the tractor is broken! Fed the horses + goats on the way back, and 'cos it was really muddy, John tried to grab one of the tiny little pygmy goats but she was having none of it! :P

Turns out my flatmate Angie was there with her bf! I didn't see her but she saw me and didn't come + say hello!? lol

Going to the Zoo...Zoo...Zoo, For an Interview...view...view

Been to the Zoo today for an interview about Work Experience! Got up at half 7 to be ready for half 8, got to town, got our train tickets and then got the 9.30 train, 20 mins later we were there. Was about a 10 minute walk, didn't quite know where we were going but spoke to someone, said who we were (was with my friend Cody) and they said "She'll be down in a minute".

5 minutes later a lady walked out the house towards us with something on a lead...

Nillie the Lynx! She was hand reared and is only a few months old, so still has some growing to do. Jean, the boss, picked her up and we stroked her - she purred so loud! She still lives in the house at night but goes outside into her run during the day. The zoo have two 18 year old Lynx brothers who she'll eventually live with.
Jean then spoke to us; were asked what we'd done before, what animals we liked, jobs we wanted, about Uni etc, then filled in a form.

I was put with a keeper called Elaine, and we went off to do all the birds. Mixed up the feed and put them ready in their bowls. Chickens and Call ducks obv had layers and corn, Kookaburra had 2 mice and 2 chicks, then we did some african carnivorous birds, budgies, parrots, finches, 2 (eagle?) owls, peafowl. There are 2 rhea and 2 emu too, but we didn't feed those. Fed the chipmunks and a couple other little furries.
Theres loads more animals but Cody went round and did those. Snakes, tortoises, crocodile, lizards, monkeys, couple of groups of lemur, wallabies (who live with the chickens!), a porcupine.
Then the normal pigs, ponies, rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep and goats ... you get the idea :P
Me and Cody then went and scrubbed down all the walls and cleaned the windows in one of the monkey houses and mopped the corridor.

Was a good day, only expected to be there a couple of hours but we were there all day until 4! then got the bus back to Aber.
Its only a little place but they have some really good animals. They all seem friendly and well looked after, the only thing is it just looks tired and could do with freshening up. Bit of paint and new signs would make it a lot better, but it costs money and who am I to say that on my first day :P

Back next week! :)
We're going to go every Wednesday - finish lectures at 11 and then will go straight to the Zoo.

More Work Experience

Think I mentioned it the other day (on my other blog), I'm getting kind of bored just being in the flat all day and with the same people. Only really recently so probs to do with exams, but thought I could try + get some work experience 'cos it'd be fun and is relevant to that there degree I'm meant to be doing :)

Applied for work exp at Borth Zoo, which is a 20 train ride from Aber (although the trains only go every 2 hours) and thought I could go on a Wednesday afternoon 'cos we have that off to do "sport".
The lady replied and said yes, when was I thinking about going but I haven't heard back for a couple of days.

Also emailed someone this morning from a Llama Trekking place, in Burton near home. A friend went and so I thought I could ask. Its about half an hour from home but Grumps works (a further) 10 mins down the same road so I thought he might be able to drop me there on the way to work! :)

Would obv have to go at Easter or over the Summer, but thought I could just ask and see what they say
Found out Lambing starts on March 17th this year, so will still be at Uni but will probably go when I'm home 3 weeks later :) Want to do some in Wales too, would be silly not to! :P

I also need to try and find a 6 week work placement for Uni which counts as one of the modules for next year. Can't really think of anywhere close to home except for a couple of farms and without having a car it'd have to be close. Did think about the vets but the one I've been to before is 40 mins away and the new one round the corner still isn't open and even though they're still working on if it you drive past, I can't see it ever being done!
On the other hand I thought I could go the opposite and go somewhere further away but stay there and do it like that.
6 weeks is a long time though!

Was asked last year to work for someone over the summer and would have loved to have done it but the distance was too far, might see if I can do it this summer and see if it counts as a work placement for Uni :)

Free Range Laying Hens visit

I went to lectures this afternoon followed by a visit to a "Free Range Egg Production Unit" ...Birchgrove Welsh Free Range eggs out near Trawscoed.

We were given bio-security overalls + boot covers, shown around the sheds and stroked the chickens!
There were chain feeders and auto drinkers throughout the sheds so they had constant access to feed with nest boxes along one side which were astroturfed with eggs rolling off and onto a conveyor belt.

Everything was suspended from the ceiling so that they can push a button and all the feeders, drinkers and nest boxes all raise up to the roof, the slatted boxes you can see down the middle are collapsed, and they can drive a mini quad/tractor in to push out all the dirty bedding!

The eggs are laid in the astro turf nest boxes in the middle of the shed, which rolls along like a conveyor belt + the eggs roll out:

They have the grading, stamping and packaging machines there and distribute themselves all over Wales and around Aberystwyth in retail stores.

Out of the shed and outside to the range:

They have 10 acres for 3000 chickens - legislation allows double that but there was a lot of space for them outside..

We were able toask questions at the end - I was interested in vaccinations and worming regime they used, she couldn't remember what they used until I prompted her with Flubenvet? - "Yes! that's it!"

They have a specialist poultry vet that flies around the UK in a helicopter he's so much in demand!!!

National Poultry Show 2010

Have been home and working again this weekend - at The National Championship Poultry Show 2010!

New hall this year, which is a lot bigger and is heated ... big change and decision for PCGB but it really paid off, with a massive increase on entries, sales pens and visitor numbers up. Chickens are the new 'in thing'.

You can see how big the hall is from the photos, then the sales pens were in another room in the corner ... something like 4000 chickens entered apparently. Then theres the turkeys, ducks, geese etc aswell!

Starters ... well done to Tasha. She got 1st, 2nd 4th with her girls, same with her boys and then Jack went on to Championship row. He came away with Champion Bantam Male, Champion Bantam Heavy Breed, Best of Breed and Wyandotte club special award! :)
Tasha got a 3 handled trophy! Really pleased for her, 2 years of breeding and she places on Championship row! Its like winning at Crufts!

The man himself:

The view from our stand, the Cochins:

Was working for Cotswold Chickens, selling tonics, feed, supplements etc. We had loads of people coming up to talk to us, ask for advice, buying things - nice to see people interested in it.

 Me + Clare on the Cotswold Chickens stand

 

We met up with Omleteers that came to the show on both days, was about 40 of them! Really nice to see everyone again, and to put faces to names of new people.

We seemed to be everywhere, walk round and always see someone you know, which was nice :

One lady who we didn't know came over just as we were packing up on Sunday and was chatting to us.

She said she'd been walking around all the stands all weekend, and the only stand that were always smiling and said Hello to everyone that came over was ours.

Thought it was a really nice thing to say :')

More photos! ... German Langshan:

Drop Moult! Probably where she's been kept inside for the last few weeks, then going into the hall she's just dropped her feathers, or it could be stress?

Green duck!

I soo wanted some Call Ducks, really cute and really small, they're just too loud ... hence the name.

Call Drake:

Serama Cockerel:
Can't really see how small he is from the photo, but look at how big the water cup is compared to him, and look at the next photo!
Told Mother I want one to take to Uni next year :P

Birchen Brahmas! They're huuge. Dad said he wanted some Brahmas/Cochins and a Buff Orpington. There was this trio in the sales pens, and a man came over asking if they were mine and would I split them so he could have just the cockerel ... was tempted to buy them to split with him but Dad wouldn't let me 'cos I'm not there to do intros!

Chocolate Wyandottes my friend Tom had his eye on :)

Clare + I got there early on Sunday to put our things on the stand and there were 2 escapees on top of their show cages. 2 Old English Game bantams!
He was a bit scared but she was really nice and let us stroke her. The stewards noticed 10 mins later and they were put back in their cages!

Oh, I was a winner too! ;)

I entered some eggs and 5 photos.

My Plymouth Rock (Nugget) egg got 1st!

Photo of Cilla the Silkie sitting on an easter egg got 1st, CLB boy photo got 2nd and my photo of Orville got 4th! :)

Moreton in Marsh Show

Have been in Moreton In Marsh this weekend - chickening again!

Working for Jude again, on the Cotswold Chickens stand :)

Up early to get there. Luckily they'd already set up the gazebo, shelves, housing + things yesterday, so we had to just had to put a few bits out, sort the eglus and cubes, install the chickens and go!

Inside the gazebo

Was on the stand with Jude, Anthony, Clare + Rosie. We had a proper card machine this time which worked really well.

Really different products were selling compared to Thames - these were proper chickeny people. We were busy all day though and took a load of orders, which is always a good thing. Nice to see people interested in keeping chickens!

Had a huge brown t-shirt with the logos on ... looked like a dress on Clare! :P

Have a chest infection + on antibiotics, so shivering + then burning up all day, but was still good - think we need a chair at the next one though!

There was a poultry tent + show there, right behind us. Alice (my barred wyandotte)'s sister placed in her class! :) Tasha, who she's from said Alice is better, but has the wonky toe!
My Cream Legbar boy went to his new home too. Pre-arranged to meet a lady there so she came and collected him + hes gone to live with her girls :)

We saw Alex James from Blur there, he came over and said Hi, said he was interested in getting an eglu so gave him a brochure. We recognised him but didn't realise who it was until someone said!

Thames Show - Cotswold Chickens

Another chicken show this weekend! :)
At the Thames Show with Cotswold Chickens.

Left the house at 5am! Got to the showground at half 6, and met Jude, ... and Anthony.
It was tipping it down with rain .. luckily they'd already set up the marquee yesterday and dropped off the Omlet houses.
We started unloading all the tables out the van then got onto the boxes - there were 1000s of them! I think the whole shop was there, and then more ... was stuff everywhere.

We had a classic, Go and cube so I set those up and put chickens in them - they took a wooden coop with them too.
Sold a load of chicken tonics, gifty items and took a few orders for eglus and cubes too. We even sold the wooden coop, cube and all the chickens we took with us ... had to carry the cube across the showground to a mans car though, heavier than it looks! So it was well worth them having a stand for all that, and raises interest too :)

The show finished at 6 so we started packing everything up, even though we'd sold so much stuff it still took an hour and a half!!
Got home just before 9

CLA Game Fair - Day 2

Left the house just after 7 this morning to make sure we were there on time - which we were early 'cos there was less traffic than yesterday!

Was on the stand with Clare from Omlet again, her OH and son, and then Karen off the forum.

Sold 2 cubes today :)
One man was really nice - made sure he took my name so that he could phone Omlet and mention that he spoke to me! :D
We got 3 eggs from the chickens today, but then someone stole one egg out of the cube!!

Got back at 20 past 8, really tired now!

CLA Game Fair - Omlet

I was working at the Omlet stand again today, this time at the CLA Game Fair in Alcester, nr Warwick. It took soo long to get there - left the house at 20 past 7 and got there just after 9 ... sat-nav said we should be there at 8.15 when we left! It was a stand-still for the last few miles, luckily we left enough time.

Was on with George from Omlet again, and Diane :)
George has pretty much put up the eglus and cubes, so I just put the shades on, took the chickens out the crates into the Cube and Classic, fed and watered them and put out the leaflets.

We sold 3 cubes and a beehaus - I didn't take the orders but pretty much sold a cube and a half, then there were 2 couples that said they will book later in the year.

There was another chicken stand next to us - Smith Sectional - they had some really good coops and were really nice people ... met Sheila off the forum too :)

Gardeners World

Second day at the Omlet stand at Gardeners world today :)
Up early and there for about half 8 - I already had my ID pass so could just walk in.

Was on with George from Omlet, Sarah (who I already know) and Karen from the forum.

Between us we sold 2 cubes, a classic and a Go - mine were the pink classic and green Go :)

Saw some other friends off the forum there too! DebC, Emma and Cheryl. Then Louise from the turkey farm's sister came and asked about fitting turkeys in an eglu - I think George was a bit shocked but then realised I knew them :P

BBC Gardeners' World 2010

Second day at the Omlet stand at BBC Gardeners World and Good Food Show today :)
Up early and got to the NEC for about half 8 - I already had my ID pass so could just walk in and set up the stand.

Today I was working with George from Omlet who delivers their housing all over the UK, Sarah (who I already know) and Karen who I've spoken to on the forum.

Between us we sold two Cubes, a Classic and a Go - mine were the pink Classic and green Go so was happy with that.

We saw some other friends off the forum there too; DebC, Emma and Cheryl!
Then Louise from the turkey farm's sister came and asked about fitting turkeys in an eglu - I think George was a bit shocked but then realised I knew them!

Omlet Stand - Gardeners World and Good Food Show

First day at the Omlet stand today!
We were at BBC Gardeners World and the Good Food Show, at the NEC. Got there at half 8 and met Clare from Omlet to collect my ID pass to get in.
Diane was there too, who I already 'know' from the forum, so was good to finally meet her - met someone else off the forum called Redbug, who just came to have a look at the stand :)

We were on a big astroturfed pitch, with the products set up on it: an eglu classic, eglu Go, a cube and a beehaus.
Was good to have a proper look at the beehaus too - I'd seen it before when we went to Grand Designs last year. Managed to talk people through it all, hopefully picked up a few bits from reading the website and the forum, and we have brochures to hand out with all the info in too.

Adam Henson from Adam's farm on Countryfile was there! He walked past the stand and said Hi! :)
Andi Peters off the telly was there too presenting the Good Food Show bits, Quin off the stand had his photo taken with him yesterday! lol

Was a good day - we sold 5 cubes between us - I took the orders for 2 and practically sold another but didn't take the order.
Had to convince 2 little girls parents that a Go with 2 ducks would be a good idea :P

BBC Gardeners' World Live 2010

I was contacted by Omlet a few weeks ago about working on their exhibition stand and today is my first day!
We were at BBC Gardeners World Live and the Good Food Show, at the NEC in Birmingham. I arrived at 8:30 and met Clare from Omlet to collect my security pass and find the stand.
Diane was there too, who I already 'know' from the forum, so it was good to finally meet her and we met someone else off the forum called Redbug, who just came to have a look at the stand :)

We had a huge stand on a big astroturfed pitch, with the products already set up when I arrived: an Eglu Classic, Eglu Go, a Cube and a Beehaus.

It was good to have a proper look at the Beehaus too - I'd seen it before when we went to Grand Designs last year and James (one of the designers from Omlet) demo'd it to me, if anyone knows about the product its him!

I've been doing some reading on their website and forum so I knew enough about the product to explain it to people and we have brochures to hand out with all the info in too. Any specific questions we refer them to the website or they can call Omlet for a chat.

Adam Henson from Adam's Farm on Countryfile was also at the show, he was walking past the stand and came over to say Hi! :)

Andi Peters off the telly was there too presenting the Good Food Show bits, Quin off the stand is a big fan so ran over and had his photo taken with him yesterday! haha
Was a good day - we sold 5 Cubes between us - I took the orders for 2 and practically sold another but didn't take the order.

I had to convince two little girls parent's that a Go with two ducks in would be a good idea and I think a did a good job as they ended up buying them one!