It never rains in Gibbston

I'm blogging a bit earlier today as I have time to spare while waiting for the grass to dry before heading out to pick raspberries and redcurrants for the freezer.

Things are a little soggy here after yesterday's downpour. The amount of rain we had made me think I was living back in Invercargill - it just kept bucketing down.  As a townie, if the weather was wet I'd just hunker down inside and read a book. As a country chick, the rain meant any plans for the day went straight out the window.

First up the Boss and I headed to The Vineyard to check on the piggles.  When we'd put up the new electric fence the day before to extend their paddock, we ran it part way along a dry creek bed at the bottom of the gully.  With the rain we just wanted to check the new fenceline was okay.

To get to the piggles paddock you drive up the hillside above the turkeys.  We stopped to check on the nest of eggs one of them had laid on the hillside (stupid bird) and I had a wee moment.  The turkey pen was totally awash, with the turkeys all standing around in swirling water, and the nest full of wet eggs.  It didn't take an experienced farmer to figure out the piggles had to wait.  I gathered up the eggs, we hurtled back down the hill and while I rehoused the eggs in the warm dry turkey shed, The Boss waded through ankle deep water to attempt to redirect the torrent of water away the turkey pen.

We then pursuaded the dim witted birds to go into their unused house to wait out the weather.  The Boss reported there was so much water flowing down the "dry" creek bed it was impossible to get near the new fence in the meantime. We figured the piggles had far bigger brains than the turkeys and were most likely fine.

Back home things weren't much drier. Abu the Roo and his tribe nest, roost and eat in a huge enclosure that houses three lemon trees.  In the summer time we take part of the roof off to allow the sunshine inside. This is great for temperature regulation and ensures the lemons ripen.  Yesterday the roof, or lack of it, was a real liability.

Pinecone my frizzle was so wet his feathers were laying flat across his body. The floor was a slippery sea of mud and there was rain dripping into the feed trough.  Things looked pretty sad. 

A bit of lateral thinking, a handful of screws and plywood offcuts later, and the problem was solved.  Now when it rains (and it probably won't), Abu and his chooks can take cover under their stylish Speights bivouac- a tent fly that now stretches over the vital areas of the chook house. How many chickens do you know that go camping?

What I've learnt today:

1. A Turkey's skeleton comprises only about 5% of its total body weight. Many of a turkey's bones, including those in the skull, are pneumatized (filled with air).  That proves to me they're total air heads.
2. Pheasant eggs are very difficult to candle due to the thickness of their shells.  I'll have to wait a little longer to find out whether The Boss' Christmas present is going to hatch.