Moving house

 This week I did more moving out work. This time it was the duck housing in the tin roofed enclosure of Littlemeadow pt2. This housing, built in two halves, was originally accommodation for my first five Magpie ducks back in 2019, but has been unused by the remaining two for at least four years. The intention is to phase out the ducks in pt2 and give this still good housing to the girls in pt1. I am phasing out the chickens there in favour of the more hardy ducks, which are also quieter.

     Stage one is complete. Getting the house divided into its halves and out of the enclosure. Not easy. I had to take the gate to the enclosure off its hinges and remove both house backs before I was finally able to drag them out onto the small meadow. But it is done. I have also put up a division in the now cleared space so that the Magpies ducks and the lone Muscovy duck each have a holding pen under cover. The mesh roofed pen is now storage and will be losing its badly sagging roof by the end of the year, if all goes well.

     The next stage is to make space in the enclosure I want to put it in. This involves the dismantling of the nursing pen and checking the size of the space to make sure it will fit. But not until next week at the earliest, when I will have a decent chance of getting it done.

Paid the rent this weekend, which always makes me relax 😎. Every year I feel the pressure of the possibility that I will be told to give up one of my halves of Littlemeadow, with neither looking at their best. Not this year! Rent paid means I can now begin to really work on planting seed and getting plants in. And making the big structural changes. On the list for this year is sorting out the sagging tin roof. This may well involve removing the tin to reduce the weight so that supports can be added under the beams to prevent any more damage. I may replace the tin with mesh so that there is less pressure on the beams, using the tin to improve the boundary of the plot instead.

There will be a lot of repairs to do this year, and it will have to be done gradually between the planting. But I am hopeful and determined.