Events frequently come in 3’s its said. Well my word this week has been eventful.

Firstly Saturday morning, Patrick our elderly donkey , refused his mug of tea and banana, Chris then said he had only picked at his breakfast.

Suspicions were aroused, there were no obvious fresh poos and he did not look his usual happy self.

One vet visit later he was diagnosed with colic, given a muscle relaxant and an anti inflammatory. Within an hour he was grazing, pooing and looking very much happier, phew !

The next day we found our cockerel Max dead on the drive, heaven only knows what was the matter with him. He was old (well over 10) and had a great life training generations of puppies to respect our hens and was a friendly soul and a gentleman with his ladies. We will have to go shopping!

Monday morning Kite looked really sorry for herself , the dreaded mastitis had struck. Off we went to the vet and antibiotics and pain relief were given. 

Tuesday she still had a temperature and her de-meaner was not good. Off we went again. The antibiotic was changed and we had to stop her feeding her pups, not that she wanted too, she was so sore.

Temperature levelled off a little and I hoped we had turned the corner. No such luck . Thursday we were told the infection needed to come to a head and burst before she would feel better. OMG, what had I done,  I felt awful.

Friday morning she had a boil the size of a 50p on her breast. Pete our vet who has seen this horrid problem several times reassured us and said he was not concerned about her general condition and de-meaner. The best we could do was go home and wait. 

No sooner we were back, Kite lay on the sofa and it burst. I will spare you the graphic details but it was horrid.

As I write (Friday 4th pm) I am feeling so much more optimistic, Kite wanted to feed her babies so we are allowing them with her 3 at a time. The other glands are full of milk and we don’t want a repeat scenario in another gland . 

 I am hoping now that the hole will drain well and healing will take place.

Honestly when you breed a few litters you always hope that things go well, we have had a few traumas, but the end result has been positive. When you see your gorgeous girl in pain it makes you question what you are doing . Then you see her with her babies again looking so much happier and it ALMOST makes it seem worthwhile.

Now to the positives. We almost missed the pups 4 week birthday with the chaos going on. My how they have changed, their teeth are through and don’t we know it !  They are eating so well and thriving and seem not to have been affected by Kites absence.

We have moved them into their day sunroom, we did this earlier because of Kite needing to spend time with us and everytime they smelt her they cried, which was most unsettling for her . 

We have a pot bellied stove in there, which is kept chugging away keeping them warm .Nights are spent in the maternity wing as usual .

We have taken a couple of photos some prior to the Mastitis episode and vidoes of their  first foray into the conservatory. 

Latest update …

Kite is sooo much better this morning, she is eating well again and now we have stopped the anti-inflammatory she is allowed to feed her babies which she was so excited to do this morning. Needless to say Chris and I are so relieved. Fingers crossed for continued improvement .