We found a baby hoglet in trouble a few days ago.
She was lying on her side in some long grass not far from the nest. She was barely moving apart from a few spines twitching when the breeze blew across her. Martin brought her in and we administered some first aid - a warm water bottle to lie on, a little warm water to drink and some quiet rest in a cat box.
She became quite perky after about an hour, enough that we could examine her. She was smaller than the others- only about 50g so possibly the runt - and had some nasty ticks behind her ear which could have prevented her from putting on weight. She also had an swollen eye that started oozing pus.
Petal,as she's now called, has probably been poked in the eye by
something when snuffling in the under growth so we bathed her eye with
boiled cool water and a cotton bud and put in some antibiotic eye drops
(we've collected quite a medicine cabinet for the hedgehogs!). After a
good scoff on some kitten food she wriggled down into some warm fleeces
and went to sleep.
She was so tired after what was probably a harrowing night for her she didn't even wake up when I sorted out her ticks and bathed her eye again. Just lay on her side gently snoring while I cleaned her with a cotton bud. She's put on 40g since Saturday, so hopefully it won't take any more than a month before we can get her to 600g hibernation weight and and then we'll release her.
Then last night, we had the surprise addition of her THREE siblings (Twinkle, Blossom and Filbert), who are now tucked up in the conservatory asleep in a rabbit hutch. Two weeks ago we weighed one of them while it was snuffling around the garden to get an idea of size and age (they were all roughly the same size so we figured it was a good starting point). At 100g we estimated they were about 3/4 weeks old. Then we weighed one of them again a couple of days ago and it was still hovering around the 100g mark. Despite feeding them every night right outside their nest, they've put on no weight. At 6/7 weeks old it's not good enough and they'll almost certainly perish in the cold.
Hedgehogs only hibernate once they hit 600g in weight, a sort of physiological failsafe. Unfortunately, it means many autumn babies never hibernate and are left searching for food all winter during a time when there is very little food out there. Eventually they perish of cold and starvation. So to ensure they get to the correct weight in time for winter hibernation, we removed them from the nest yesterday and have started feeding them up on kitten wet and dry kitten food plus peanuts and fruit.
Hoggyopolis here we come again!
****
Been trying to get some serious veg gardening out of the way this week in addition to pog rescuing.
The potatoes are up and they're not half bad either. Considering we've already eaten about half of what was in the ground this year, this little lot will probably see us through until Christmas (we don't eat a great deal of potatoes).
That means what I planted will see us through six months since I started digging them up in June.
The bed was given a good dig over and some dried grass, compost, fire ash, and blood fish and bone were dug in. After smashing up the big chunks of soil, I transplanted the pathetic specimens of beetroot that had been attacked viciously by the chickens too many times and planted some more fast baby beetroot, kale,baby spring cabbage, baby carrots and mange tout. I reckon that I can get a bit more veg out of the bed before the cold weather really hits. I have fleece to cover the bed when it does and some more to wrap around the fencing.
The tomatoes are impressive and provided the base for one of the most tasty pasta sauces I think I've ever cooked. These big meaty numbers will certainly be on my growing list next year.
I also wanted to show you my Swiss Chard. I took a picture a couple of months ago when it was bursting with vigour and ready to pluck.
Then like an idiot I wandered off to download the picture and forgot to fleece it back up. The chickens moved in for the kill and had possibly one of their most exciting days since they arrived.
Rather irritatingly, despite scoffing 7 Swiss chard plants, none of them suffered with tummy upsets. I was severely miffed at their ability to handle so much illicit greenery without punishment.
Clearly crime does pay.
I've also been bottling greengages and pears like a fiend for quite a while now and adding to the jam store. I've found we have a yellow plum tree in the hedgerow over the back field of all places and am in the process of picking some for jams. Unfortunately, they are riddled with coddling moth larva so preparing them is hard work, but still. Free food and all that so I persevere.
Talking of free food, my mother has discovered a secret stash of filberts. Like any good forager, she won't reveal the source, BUT luckily for me, her teeth are playing up and she's not risking hard foods at the moment so I get them. Yippee!
****
Finally, Martin and I went to Barnsdale on Bank Holiday Monday and I was adopted by the resident cat. Note the delicate part of my anatomy he's sticking his claws in!