Spotty, Stripey and Blackie our saddleback boys have meticulously turned over their compound so it will make a lovely vegetable patch for next year. Unfortunately with the recent rain it has become a quagmire and they have been standing with their feet in water, so we had to move them.
First we corralled them into a small corner so we could get at their house without them escaping.
Then we towed the house to the new area
And finally erected a new fence.
How easy can it be we thought we will now take down the fence shake the feed bucket and they would come running.
No they refused to cross the old fence line. Like an invisible force field it could not be crossed. We tried putting down straw, taking the entire fence out, laying a floor of plywood, but rooting out the last grass from under where the house had stood was far better than facing the unknown.
Eventually we managed to coax Spotty and Stripey into the new area by moving the trough 6 inches at a time while they we feeding, but Blackie would not move.
After 4 hours of anything we could think of covered in mud and exhausted we erected a fence around both the old and new compounds and Spotty and Stripey tried to explain to Blackie the merits of the new home, green grass, dry feet and deep straw in house, but noting worked. We left Blackie hoping he would change his mind that night, and Alfie insisted I go out ant 10 in my dressing gown and put the old water tank for a temporary home.
This morning ant 6 I awoke to howling wind and driving rain, I went down to the house to see this sight
No comments:
Post a Comment