Big hut clean-up - and Happy Birthday to Richard!

Today I did a big clean-up in both huts, scrubbing out with Dettol after clearing out the bedding.  It was a pleasant morning and the strong winds would dry the empty huts out well, I thought.


Instead of opening their run to give the 10 free access to the frog pond and beyond, I only opened the back gate near the greenhouses - thought they would only be a few minutes before running straight down to the big duck pond.  I was fooled;  when I came back from sorting food and water for the 5 they were still standing wavering by the open gate:

The wind has knocked down the blooms of the lovely rose 'Elfe'

After our coffee break I thought I'd entice the wavering lot out of the gate by offering them a bag full of cucumber pieces I'd got with me ...... but they'd gone.  I could see them down at the pond:

I wanted to point out the football-sized cabbage John had grown this year - it's
there in almost splendid isolation after onions and beans have been harvested.

As I said, I had a load of cucumber pieces with me, and while I was busy at the hut anyway I emptied the bag there.  There all came running up to see what goodies I'd given them, even the 5 locals, but they don't like cucumber -




The 10 newcomers in this area had no scrupels in helping themselves to anything they could find there, bugs on the birch stems, water and food:

I had to laugh when I saw them at the food trough, because I saw mainly the young drakes helping themselves to the girls' layer pellets [it begs the question if they are particularly tasty?].... bleibt die Frage ob sie am Ende auch das Eierlegen versuchen werden *lach*?



Tut, our black&white one, still has TWO very pretty curly tail feathers, whereas big black Jay-Z appears to have lost his - see this photo:

The youth moult has got a grip now, all 10 look pretty ragged.

The usual picture I would find when checking, of the resident Anke, Lane and Candida standing outside of the pond and all others in it .............

....... no longer holds true since this afternoon.  After the cucumber interlude - which the 'locals' didn't take part in - these 5 grasped the opportunity and went into their temporarily empty pond, and they stayed in this time when the 10 finished searching for cucumber pieces and joined them one after the other:

When I had finished scrubbing out the hut all 15 were together in the big pond, more or less at peace.

PS on Tuesday morning: Don't be fooled by the sunshine in the photos above;  the sun came out only briefly, there were lots of showers and very strong winds, and both of the latter have increased greatly overnight and it's a horrible, cold and wet day today. AUTUMN HAS ARRIVED!