Author: Mike

This is a little clip of our very sweeeet rabbit Dusty hope it works, this is the first video we have tried to post!

It’s nice to have Jess back at Origin

. She has been away for a few weeks unwell but she is pleased to be back at the farm.

Today we came to the farm to find that the rabbits have got out of their run and are now under the log cabin. The dogs are frantically trying to get them out! Mya crawled under the log cabin to find the rabbits only to get stuck!!!! Martine and I managed to get Mya out but are still coaxing rabbits out with carrots!

For the past week we have been watching one of our Black Rock hens. She has only been leaving her nest to have something to eat and drink then she quickly returns. We have been taking eggs from underneath her until today. We decided that she is ready to be a mother hen. We replaced some of the eggs under her for white Leghorn eggs so that we get a real mix of chicks. She accepted the new eggs and tucked them under her wings. Every now and then she turns them carefully so that the embryo doesn’t stick to the shell. Not all the eggs will have been fertilised but we’ll see in 21 days if we have any chicks! Keep you posted!

Today Hayley and Will collected 45 eggs from 49 hens! They must be happy if most of them are laying an egg every day. Hayley put an egg in her pocket and forgot, the egg broke and left Hayley with a very slimy pocket!

It’s a stunning morning at the farm. Everything crisp and white, the sky blue. Looking forward to a morning walk followed by making some jam. Lots of eggs to collect and pack so that we can restock or honesty box shop. The pigs need their fresh fruit and veg and the chickens can look forward to their hot mash (not the potato type).

Here are our two sheep. We rescued Milo from Shepherds Pie! He was in with a feisty ram, then when the ram went to ‘tup’ the ladies, Milo was all on his own. As we have come to realise sheep hate being on their own. These two make a good couple and are never far apart.
In the picture you can see William, one of the people who comes to the farm. Now that the grass is getting low they enjoy a good munch of hay. Will is a bit of a sheep whisperer and has sheep following him wherever he goes.

At Origin we have 49 hens and of course Jaroo the rooster! We have a lovely mix of organic hens, my favourites are the white leghorns, they are slightly smaller than the others but lay gorgeous white eggs with a really hard shell. All in all we get around 40 eggs a day from our hens, so plenty of omelette eating.
Our hens have an automatic door opener/closer that works with the sun light. As soon as the sun comes up the little door opens and the hens catch the early worms! At dusk the hens all queue to get into their hut to roost for the night, Jaroo waits for all the ladies to go in then he does one last check, a circuit around the hut and then goes in last. What a gentleman! We are hoping to get an incubator so that we can breed our lovely hens, we have lots of people who want chicks.

Olive and Pepper are two little micro pigs. They are not the pedigree extra small ones but they are smaller than most pigs.
They are very friendly and most of the time roam around with the hens. They make a good team as the pigs root up the ground and the chickens find the worms!
They have a one track mind and its all about food!!!! They have an automatic feeder that dispenses food at 8am and 4pm. They start waiting at their feeder about 15 mins before it dispenses. Very clever.

 This is Mya, She is Ebony’s pup, she was first out of three to be born and we had to keep her warm when she was first born as Ebony had trouble delivering the second pup and needed some help.
Mya is full of beans and nick named speedy! Her favourite possession is her pink ball. As long as you keep throwing it for her you will be her best friend. She has an extraordinary nose that can sniff out anything! If you hide her ball somewhere she will find it super fast.
She is not quite as brave as Ebony as she has always had her mum by her side but she is definitely getting there. She has been pecked by the chickens a few times but she is leaning to keep an eye out for that now.