Sitting Ducks (and chickens)

What a fun and busy time we are having.  A couple of weeks ago, we got four new chickens.  Here's a photo of two of them wondering where on earth they have come to and what they are doing being transported in a pet carrier.   Come on - time to get out now!

Well of course the chickens aren't a problem as they can just go in the existing hen house with its own run and tree for them to jump into.  But then we were asked if we would take a couple of ducklings.  Help!  We know nothing about ducks!
So that required some very serious thinking about.  What would they live in - oh, they don't need a special house, we were assured, they can just wander about.   Mm, not sure about that and trying to fence in almost 8,000 sq.m. of land is very trickly as most of it is in terraces.   And what about water - don't ducks need a pond?  Oh no, a children's paddling pool will do or an old bucket sunk into the ground.
We were not convinced.  And what is the point of ducks anyway?  They don't even lay that many eggs.  So that was it - zero votes for keeping ducks.  But then, our home farm handbook declared that they would 'delight and amuse us.'  And that we could believe so now we just needed to make a home for them.  And a pond. Bucket, indeed!
Once the little guys arrived, we unfurled them from the sack they had been transported in - the pet carrier having been rejected by the farmer.  And of course we had to give them a proper welcome from the comfort of the kitchen.

Ooh, a little bigger than we were expecting but still decidedly cute.  And probably a very good thing they weren't tiny babies because they would need too much looking after and I wouldn't get any work done for coo-ing over them!
So - time to show them their home and their little pond.  At first, they were rather reluctant to get their feet wet and preferred to sit down at the edge of it.

But once in, they really took to it like, well you know, with lots of duck-diving and even swimming underwater.  This was great for us spectators!  And the ducks looked as if they were really enjoying it too, until that is, they scared themselves silly by splashing and that's when they really did delight and amuse.  If you would also like to be delighted and amused - here is a You Tube video of them.  It's really quite funny and whilst we doubtless still have lots to learn, we are really enjoying these new additions to the finca.

Chicken course ... ?

This week saw the first of our chicken courses, although I really must stop calling it a chicken course.  'What's a chicken course?' asked a friend.  'Is it something between a starter and a desert.'   No, I mean  'keeping' chickens ... and to be more precise, a course on Keeping Chickens on a Small Scale.  

I have to confess that I did not particularly imagine I would be providing such a thing until someone asked me if I could help them with some information on keeping chickens.  After all, they said, they had no experience and little confidence and maybe I could get them started on the right path.  Oh and how many chickens should they have and what breed?  And what sort of housing should they put them in and what about typical illnesses hens might suffer from?  And what should they feed them?  Was a cockerel necessary - and what's the difference between free range and organic ... and how do you know if an egg is fertilised .. and ... and ...?  And could they see what it would be like to pick up a chicken.
And so that started me thinking about other people who might be considering keeping chickens and if a course would be useful.  After all, I had some idea about chickens since I was brought up on a poultry farm where various methods of rearing were employed including free range, deep litter, barn as well as intensive egg production.  Then of course there was the chicken hatchery producing around a million chicks a year - and that's not chicken feed!  

Me with my 'tweeties' here on the finca

And here on the finca in Garafia, we have kept hens and reared baby chicks with housing methods ranging from a moveable chicken coop to free range with seventy plus poultry (something of a poultry population explosion!) to our current system of a fixed house with large run.

And so, with this in mind,  the course was born and, as it happened, our lovely guests staying in the casita were also considering keeping chickens and asked if they could take the course while they were staying here.  

We started with some theory which encompassed all of the questions and doubts already raised and of course the guests added a few questions relevant to their particular situation.  After this, we had an on-site look at different housing systems and the various merits or otherwise.  And then we got to the bit they were probably waiting for - meeting the hens and collecting the freshly-laid eggs.

It was a good opportunity to get to know what it was like to be close up with the hens, discovering that they would not only pick enthusiastically at the fresh greens held for them but also gather round to dive into a handful of corn.  And happily, when it came to picking them up, the girls behaved im-peck-ably!

Now we could leave the hens on their own to wonder what all the fuss was about - and eat the rest of the greens.

Crossing our fingers

The third of May on La Palma signifies a time to get your crosses out – well, in truth, they never actually go away – and adorn them with great finery. Pure white silk, costume jewelry and fresh flowers being the order of the day. Nice huh?
Well actually, yes.
For us, it is a time to head for the hills. Where better than the solitude of one of the furthest flung places on the island, Juan Adalid. It is a trip of nearly an hour, along the mountain roads of the north and to the nondescript hamlet of Llano Negro. Here we pause to support one of the few shops open on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
And then a U turn to San Antonio where two lonely flags fly high atop their masts to indicate that 'something interesting' just might be happening. We search out the near hidden road to Juan Adalid which is where our friends live. We almost always have to think which one of the single track roads, heavily bordered by tall greenery, will take us to their isolated house.
We drive cautiously along the road which is festooned with curves making it impossible to see ahead and the imminent arrival of a car hurtling towards us at full speed in the opposite direction. But now, we have joined a small convey of 4 x 4 vehicles all heading our way and at least we have some safety in numbers.
Where the impenetrable roadside greenery is not impeding our view of the road ahead, unguarded and impressive steep drop-offs are the norm with the road seemingly etched like a squiggly pencil line on the side of the hill. The view down to the sheer cliffs and the sea are, well, awesome, in every sense of the word.
There is a saying, in Yorkshire at least, 'it's a grand life if you don't weaken.' Similarly, it is a great drive if you don't crash or drop off the edge.
And so, after 20 minutes of rallying along with the other cars ever downward, having long passed the wind turbines, we arrive at a junction of other spindly roads. Here the other cars divert to a nearby hill as they are going to the annual fiesta of La Sentinela.
We continue on to our friends and their solitary outpost. Their hunting dogs alert them to our arrival long before we get anywhere near. Chickens which are dotted about here, there and everywhere continue to search the ground for any morsel of chicken-edible food, seemingly oblivious to our vehicle bumping along the now unsurfaced, uneven track. Near the house though, mother hens scurry away with their tiny babies into the safety of the cactus. Their goats are somewhere ... somewhere ... even our friends don't know exactly where, except that they will return in the evening.
We sip a welcome drink and chat about news in their part of the island. We are always surprised just how much news there is.
And then we set off on foot to join a couple of hundred other people at the fiesta on the opposite hill and yet again, marvel at how Palmerans have a happy knack for selecting such distant and logistically difficult places for a mass get-together.
But is is worth it. Not just for the mounds of free food – soup, paella, cheese, bread, potatoes, cake – and free wine, and live music of course. But also to see just how pretty their cross is.
And it is.