Meet and feed the animals
Come along and join our animal feeding sessions and help Farmer Simon to feed the chickens and ducks and collect their eggs. Meet our cheeky little goats, Grethel, Smartie and Bon Bon and make friends with our four alpacas, Treacle, Fudge, Rosalie and Florence – not forgetting our two ponies, Pebbles and Amber and our miniature donkeys, Ember and Taco. You will not be allowed to ignore Ruby and Prudence our Kune Kune pigs who make a lot of noise when they know food is on the way!
During the spring and summer we often rear a few orphan lambs, so you may have the opportunity to help with bottle feeding during your stay
Snuffle with Ruby and Prudence our Kune Kune pigs who make a lot of noise when they know food is on the way!
We have two ponies called Pebbles and Amber who are mother and daughter, and a Welsh Dartmoor cross. They are very friendly, always happy to say hello and to share an apple or a carrot with you!
Our other residents include our two alpacas, Fudge and Treacle and their new friends Rosalie and Florence. They are gentle and friendly, yet quite shy. They are also very curious and will approach you, staring intently! They do not like being touched but will sometimes (if they are feeling brave) eat from your hand.
We have a variety of different breeds of hen (including Exchequer Leghorns and Cuckoo Marans) and most of them are good layers – although they do have a short break during the winter. We shut them in at night to keep them safe from the fox. In the mornings they need to be let out, fed and their eggs collected. So if there are any young (or old!) volunteers out there who would like to help Simon, animal feeding begins at about 9am in the morning.
Ember and Taco are gorgeous, little, Miniature Mediterranean donkeys. They are very friendly and love having their backs scratched!
Our ducks have the same routine as the hens, although letting them out in the mornings is a much noisier affair! We have some Indian Runner ducks who like to charge around together and are great fun, also some Aylesburys and some Muscovy ducks. The male Muscovies are unusual to look at but they’re very friendly.
We have two cats at Birchill Farm, Molly and Lottie. They are very friendly and happy to be stroked. We do ask guests not to invite them into the cottages – even if they ask politely!
