Roses and puddings

I'm a bit late with my Christmas puddings this year. I would normally put them on on the October ling weekend but this weekend has been the first chance I've had over last few weeks! 

Our first roses of the season are out! We are usually about 2 weeks behind the rest of Orange but it seemed longer this year.

more alpaca yarn!

Life at adagio alpacas continues to be hectic! In the last couple of weeks we have done so much! We welcomed our wonderful au pair (oh wow, why didn't I do this before!?! My boy is so much happier and so much less mummy guilt about working!!!). We attended the Australian National Field Days and had some wonderful alpaca friends from Keiana Lodge staying here whilst they were exhibiting as well as some family!

Today I felt like it was Christmas or my birthday! When I went to the post office my yarn was waiting for me! We had sent to Fibre Naturally off Tux's 2012 cria fleece and Julie's 2012 fleece to see how they came back and I'm so pleased! I can't wait to start knitting! Now I just have to finish the vest I'm knitting so I can start something new! Will I be that patient? Probably not!

dusk

It has been exceptionally busy around here, I've returned to work after 4 months leave and it is taking time for us all to adjust to the new routine. My return to work also coincided with the start of daylight savings on the long weekend which was a difficult co-incidence for my 2 year old. It caused some major disruption to sleeping patterns for quite a while. Hopefully life with settle down a bit for a while!

Dusk was just so beautiful here that I grabbed the camera and took some photos! I found out that we can see the sun set over Mount Canobolas from our veggie patch, someone's tree must have come down so that we can now see through! Unfortunately it didn't photograph well. 

My Father-In-Law has been busy mowing so with the warm weather our lawns look amazing! 

Gorgeous golden, butter wouldn't melt... Right?

From the look for Bartok you'd think that butter wouldn't melt... Right? Wrong! 

The dog that looks at me when getting into the car to go to the park and refuses to jump into the car because its just too hard to jump that high... can manage to break then scale the fence to escape into the paddock! 

Caught! I saw him do it this time and the fence is now fixed again!

Pullet needs to move out!

It's been funny having this chick living in my bathroom but it is nearly feathered enough to be outside overnight and I can't wait!

It seems the food is tastier around the back...

It is also looking like this chick is a pullet, contrary to my initial guess, no sign of a comb or other likely rooster signs. I'm quite happy about this since it really was hens we were after! Now we just need to source some more.. I think I'll invest a better incubator before I attempt to hatch chicks again!

Kookaburras!!!

Wow! I woke up this morning to hear the sound of a kookaburra chorus! I hope I spot one soon!

photos of adagio alpacas

Tulips in bloom

Ebony

I love this time of year, we are planting veggies, attempting to keep the weeds under control and generally enjoying the warm weather! My husband has had a beautiful camera for some time but I've never really had a play. On the weekend I picked it up and had some fun!

 The tulips are just starting to bloom. They are my favourites...







Some alpaca action photos, the photo of Ebony is so cute, she was checking out the camera, probably wondering if she could eat it! Its nice to have a good photo of Ebony, usually she doesn't come out well in photos as she is too black and needs a really good camera to show depth.

Have you got food for us?

Run! Maybe there is food?

The young steers, just watching...

All the fruit trees are about to bloom, hopefully we will get fruit off this one this year.

 I don't normally post photos of my boy, but he was being so cute! So lucky to grow up on a farm!

 We had a huge pile of rocks in the middle of the veggie patch that we originally intended to grow pumpkins on, however we found it was just a fabulous home for snakes. This last week we organised for a large digger (excuse my ignorance... a backhoe, I think?) to come with an operator and remove the rocks. It looks so good and ready for a new garden bed to be built! Now we just need the time...

Veggie patch area renovations

Poor little chick

We aren't having much luck with hatching chickens. I think my cheap incubator wasn't worth even the small amount we spent on it. Next time I'll invest in a better one. 

The lone chick from the latest batch is struggling too. It has some trouble with its legs, splayed leg, I think. So I've been reading the forums and one suggestion was to use a bandaid to stop its legs from coming out from under it and it initially seemed to help but the chick is too weak. I've been dipping its beak in water regularly throughout the day but that doesn't seem  enough so I've made a gruel from the chick starter and milk. The poor chick is really too week even for this! I've been dipping its beak in and hopefully it has ingested enough to get some energy.  I'll be so sad if this poor chick doesn't make it!

Barnevelder splash chick

To my surprise it seems our next chick to hatch is a splash chick! I don't know much about the barnevelder breed yet but it seems this is fairly rare from the forums I've been reading. Hoping that some of the rumours linking splash chicks and blue bloodlines are correct as we would really like a flock of blue barnevelder chickens! In the meantime I'm going to observe this splash chick with great interest! 

It's very cute!

I really hope some friends hatch for it!

Barnevelder chick hatches!

Our first of the next batch of chickens has hatched! Early too! I think this one was in the incubator for 19.5 days! (Rather than 21) however it is the only one to hatch today. Hopefully more will hatch tomorrow!