Hard Work

Chris has felt the stress of animal husbandry today as I have worked a 12 hour day shift, and I think that the amount of work involved has surprised him somewhat. Usually with a night shift I can fit in a shift, do all the feeding,walking,watering,cleaning and bum wiping, sleep for an hour and still manage to clean the house and cook a meal. Multi tasking isn't in it, it is just routine and a product of an obsessional nature.
The ducklings alone need their feeding water cleaned out every couple of hours and their "swimming water" changed at least twice to three times daily (they are dirty little buggers!!!!!!!!) The hens drain their water feeders dry in hours in warm weather, and Broody hens such as Beatrice and Trinny, need to be encouraged to leave their nests morning and evening in order to eat and drink. In a week and a half there should be another 10 ducklings without the benefit of a surrogate mother hen to care for them,occupying the kitchen crate: so workload will be literally doubled.
I enjoy all this hard work, and to be honest the "slog" of job after job isn't really a chore, but it is easy to forget that the animals are my responsibility and Chris does not recieve the same enjoyment with their care as I do.