Egg Suckers

Friday, 11:12 PM, 12 March 2010
Temperature: 36 F, overcast & breezy

We've discovered that something (hypothesis: raccoons) has been stealing our geese's eggs and breaking them open just enough to eat the contents. Having found two emptied eggs outside the fenceline yesterday, today we found one half-eaten after having tended to the morning chores. Presumably we surprised it before it could finish its meal.

As a result, we're in the process of trying out different kinds of nest boxes in the hopes of maintaining a viable population of ducks and geese. Plus, if anybody's going to get to eat those eggs, it should be us.

The shelter in the pasture with the rams, pregnant ewes and nursing mothers and their lambs was faltering; today we took care of that, along with a trip to the farm store for chicken wire and hay. The hay we picked up today should keep us going long enough for spring to truly kick in, at which point the sheep should be able to graze until the fall with only minimal supplementation.

We have been warmly greeted at the farm store lately, and not infrequently given a discount. It seems likely we're accepted into the community as something other than stupid city slickers at this point.

Tomorrow we pick up more trees, and possibly tree guards from the nursery. More digging shall commence.