On the Holiday called Christmas it rained. It was not cold, just rained and rained and rained.
The mud has reached epic proportions and Him Indoors is not able to help with chores at all now.
His walking stick sinks straight down into the mud. And I am afraid of a fall.
So – well – there you are – sickness and health, etc
Here is a link to me helping Jude make his bed.
Cold is coming so I am deepening their beds.
This looks funny! A chicken on top of FreeBee.
This is even funnier – two chickens standing on FreeBee. They peck at the pig. Grooming him.
But it is not that funny really. They are doing this to Wai as well. And where they peck he bleeds. I am not sure how to deal with this, other than to keep smothering him in creams and oils to help him heal. His skin cracks all the time especially when it gets cold – and these barn chickens are wild. I can’t lock them away. And I will not cage Wai even if that would help.
I cannot cover him completely with a robe even if we could use a cover. Any kind of coat just rubs the skin right off. Not to mention the mud he would collect.
I am still working on the problem.
Keeping him covered in zinc seems to work – though straw sticks to it. I think the zinc puts the chickens off.
When he has a deep bed he gets right under the straw so a deep bed covered in a blanket will protect him.
What a horrible problem.
I shut the big doors last night to keep the barn dry. It gets quite cosy in there as long as there is no wind. And we have had very little wind this year. And only a little sun these last few weeks.
Maybe that will change when the cold comes.
And now I must away to begin morning chores!
Love Celi
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The Kitchen's Garden 
39 responses to “Mud Reigns Supreme”
I love my gumboots too! I buy them in NZ! And they last years! Wear them every day rain or shine!
Ugh to the mud which gets in everything.
Hope everything goes fine. We’ve been struggling with mud here throughout December due to the heavy rain, but temperatures are oddly high for this time. Fortunately this week has been sunny and dry which is helping to mutigate all damage.
Loathe mud myself. Like Ladeheid boots but doubt they’d be robust enough for serious mud. Have you spoken to your vet about your poor pig and can you shut the chickens away from him?
The pig is under a vets care and sponsorship from my writing and the TakeTen helps with that. I have never had chickens grooming the pigs before. Tye barn chickens have always been free and the problem is that group. I will begin to try and catch them then lock them all up for a restart but not yet.
Glad to hear it (was going to offer to help as I am a vet – but dogs and cats, in the UK) Hope he gets better soon and that your mud dries up. Roll on spring!
Wai’s skin problem is on-going. He is a rescue potbelly pig that I took under my wing after he had been set on fire and left to burn. The debriding left a lot of skin in pretty hazardous condition. The chickens pecking at the pigs is a very new problem though. I am off out to cover all the pigs now before I go to work. It is getting colder tonight!
I wondered if he was a pot belly, they do seem to have a lot of skin problems. What a horrible thing to happen, it’s great that you have been able to help him, burns are really difficult to treat