Families Go Wild in the Farmyard!

We had lots of new volunteers at Families Go Wild today, as well as some old farmhands! We also did something we haven’t done in a while - muck out the small animals.

We started, as usual, with checking for eggs. The farmyard staff had already collected some in the morning, but we found another one that must have been laid more recently, as it was still warm to the touch. We put it in the egg bucket and got on with the next task.

This was to muck out the rabbits in the farmyard, Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Rabbits are quite good about leaving their muck in just one place in their hutch, so they are not too difficult to clean out. We had to empty and clean their food and water dishes, and empty out the hay crate where they poo. This then gets washed and refilled with hay, and the foot and water is replenished as well. There were some previously harvested greens in the feed room for us to collect, so we each took some to feed the rabbits.

We then mucked out the guinea pigs, which is a similar process. Guinea pigs are messier than rabbits though, so we had to spot clean them as well. We then did the same as we did with the rabbits, including feeding the guinea pigs some of the greens. They came up to us, as we were feeding them, so we could stroke them and hold them a little bit, though we didn’t chase them, as they can get scared.

Next we mucked out the three rabbits by the office, Harmony, Orange and Tempo. They loved the fresh treats we gave them. We took turns going into their hutch, two volunteers at a time, to feed them.

Once all the rabbits’ and guinea pigs’ enclosures were clean and stocked up with food, we got Peanut and Pickle, the ferrets, out for a while, to give them a walk and a cuddle.

Peanut was much calmer than Pickle today. Peanut was happy snuggling with volunteers, whereas Pickle kept trying to escape the grass circle, so we had to keep a good eye on her!