We Now Have Eggs to go with the Bacon

Way back in the New Year about late January/early February, we decided to get another couple of pigs.  They turned out to be the nastiest natured pigs we have had to date (these were our fourth batch).  We found it difficult to name one nice attribute between them.

                       The two new girls, appropriately named DARKIE and DOTTIE

Dottie turned out to be a Number One Bully and an absolute Houdini who could worm sideways through a 7 strand post, wire and batten fence, like a natural sheepdog.  Consequently, when they were running loose in the back paddock (which they invariably were when one or both of us was home) she was a huge pain if she caught a glimpse of you in the distance which prompted a wriggle-through the fence and a speedy arrival of Miss Nosey Parker accompanied by high pitched cries of frustration from Darkie left back in the original paddock.

Fortunately, Kate, who has made it very clear that SHE DOES NOT ROUND UP CATTLE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH - ONLY SHEEP - became our self-appointed house guardian, dissuading Dottie from wriggling through the fence wire to chase up dinner by barking furiously and monitoring our home paddock fence line.  When either of us appeared with the dinner bucket on our way to lock them in their yard, they would run behind you squealing, with Dottie very fond of nipping you on the back of your legs.  And they can hurt!  They both became very fond of learning to balance on their hind legs, which they both did constantly, jumping up to push against gates as you were trying to let them out and trying to nip your hands as you were fumbling with the gate latches.   Such fun after heavy rain when one became spattered in mud!

They were a little late in getting dealt to due to our processor being inundated with work which is normal at this time of year as there is little grass growth and surplus stock are consigned to the freezer.  Believe us, we were counting down the days until Home Kill arrived.  And, they were getting very big.  Folk were very generous keeping us provided with plenty of surplus fruit this year, so they were fed on a surplus of apples and feijoas.

Vic, our Home Kill operator and his worker, skinning the bristles off Darkie in            scalding water while Dottie hangs around watching

We are now officially getting eggs.  The Plymouth Barred Rock chickens we hatched from eggs are now 16 weeks old.  We ended up with 3 hens and 1 rooster.  The hens are now at 'point of lay' which means we can expect eggs from them any time from now on, especially now that we are 1 month past the shortest day and the days gradually getting longer, but our eggs at present are coming from Hannah (the hatcher) and Lucky (who survived the storm) who both lay in separate nests among the hay bales.  They are still in temporary quarters without a proper nesting box, but that's another story ...  At this stage we are getting about 3 eggs every 2 days, on average.  It's so lovely having your own free range fresh boiled eggs!

Now, this is a photo of the HENS, not the cows who are obscured by the fence.  Hannah far left, the 3 Barred Rock Pullets and little Lucky, and Randy the Rotten Rooster to the right

A handsome fellow though he is, Randy is going to meet his maker and become Coq au Vin in our slow cooker, we have decided, this weekend.  He is just too bullying and greedy with his raping and pillaging and is becoming a nuisance.   As well, he is exercising his vocal chords these days and we don't need to be woken any earlier than we are at present!