Very fine & warm. Netted strawberries. Took M. to the billy but fear she is not on heat. Mr N.[1] says they usually only are on autumn-spring. M. greatly afraid of a cow. The cow, on the other hand, frightened of half-grown billy kid which was there.
16 eggs.
[NEWSPAPER CUTTING]
Wet Mash for Laying Period. – As soon as the birds are nearish their laying period they can be put on to a wet mash, the one we suggest being: Weatings, 5 parts by weight; bran, 3/4 part; clover meal, 3/4 part; linseed meal, 1/2 part; Sussex ground oats, 2 parts; yellow maize meal, 2 parts; fish meal, 11/2 parts. The best grain mixture to go with this consists of wheat, 1 part by weight; oats 1 part; kibbled maize, 2 parts, S.T. (Norfolk).
Feeding Chicks. – Fine oyster shell may be given to chicks about a week old, W .A. H. (Coggleshall). The following is the grain mixture which we advise for the first eight weeks: Broken wheat, 6 parts by weight; fine kibbled maize, 4 parts; coarse oatmeal, 4 parts; linseed or hempseed, 1 part; canary seed 1/2 part. Dry mash can be fed after the chicks are a week old, and this is what we recommend: Weatings, 5 parts by weight; Sussex ground oats, 2 parts; maize germ meal (or maize meal) 3 parts; broad bran, 2 parts; best alfalfa (or clover) meal, 1 part; fish meal (impregnated cod liver oil), 1 part.
Feeding Ducklings. – Ducklings need no food for the first 48 hours. From 48 hours to one week, give warm bread and milk five times a day (as much as can be cleared up in 10 minutes); from one week to another before maturity: Weatings, four parts by weight; maize germ meal (or maize meal) two parts; Sussex ground oats, 1 part; bran, two parts; fish meal, preferably impregnated with cod liver oil, half part. Make crumbly moist with hot water and supply four time as day. Give a little grain in the morning after eight weeks old, A.S.J. (Cheltenham).
[1] Probably Mr. Nicholls, a neighbour who kept goats, and who, according to Orwell, had a ‘broken-down old wreck… who is simply worn out by about twenty years of f****** his own sisters, daughters, grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters’ not suitable for mating with Muriel, as he explained to Jack Common; see 516. Peter Davison
Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 
Had to read the footnote twice to work out if G was talking about Mr Nicholls or his goat.
@zenomax: Same here! Nice to see the eggs are still doing well.
Right, and exactly what was the “broken-down wreck.”
I think we can safely say that the name of Orwell does not automatically attract nature lovers or nature specialists – otherwise there would be far more comments!
Ya that was a good one…
for a minute I confused “M” with “E” …!!!!
For extended goat stories I can reccomend “Giles Goat Boy”…though I never could finish it…
Imagine all the ideas and husbandry advice he would be (wasting his time) reading if he had the Internet….
Ha Ha! What a wonderfully sardonic comment on animal husbandry! I have been waiting for more biting comments like this in the diary ever since it began! Come on: I know you’ve got it in you, George!!!
And yes, Catcher, he would be wasting significant time surfing the Net – but at least our editor chose to cross out the juicy parts of the word F*** (though he appears to have run short on asterisks!).
Secretly, Muriel wants to eat Bessie but Billy the kid keeps interrupting and “…..the Mommy birds are nearish…..”
:shock:
The encryption method continues to increase in complexity; each message is more cryptic than the one before—it’s ingenious—especially the ‘wet mash’ part.
The mysterious Mr. N (played by Spencer Tracy) had an elderly goat which Mr. B. (played by George Orwell) found utterly loathsome and unworthy of his asexual goat, Miss M. (played by Muriel).
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