Life has been pretty steady at the moment - certainly as far as the animals are concerned . Berlioz is starting to put on weight , he was not overly keen to take a bottle , even though he clearly needed it and was hungry . A bit of stern talking , and we are away. I finally worked out that he is only happy to feed if he is in a small pen with as many other alpacas present as is possible- it must be a security thing , the more animals present the better he feeds. Mind you the rest of the herd started to get a bit stroppy about being rounded up three times a day, and I have gradually reduced the numbers so that it was only his direct family ( Riva and Artemis) and Athena , yesterday they all flatly refused to be rounded up at lunchtime , and since I have a cold and therefore a very short fuse , I started to leave the field without feeding Berlioz , at which point he followed me and fed out in the open , now that is progress ! I guess he is just a home bird who likes to be home ! Funnily enough , his mother is paying less attention to him than when they first came back , but he has been adopted by last year's maidens ( Athena , Artemis and Acantha ) who seem happy to mother him and keep him company . Pictures tomorrow I promise.
Also , last Sunday I went to a poultry auction . Not much to crow about ( excuse the pun) but I did manage to buy 1 bird - a very sweet youngish Brahma , she is not in great condition- missing a few tail feathers and with a deformed foot , but she has settled well and tonight put herself to bed in the main chicken house - also progress! She is the spitting image of Pepper , who was a tasty meal for the fox , but she is currently called Brahma !!
Otherwise , our house is very nearly finished - we have all the exterior done , all the bedrooms upstairs are painted with at least one coat , and yesterday the underfloor heating was laid in the kitchen and family room . WE WILL BE IN BY CHRISTMAS! and the kitchen is due next week!!!
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