Comment: getting fed up of spending money returning incorrect blades for our lister stablemate clipper... we have two sheep.. the std horse blades wont touch them.. neither will the coarse cattle blades.. does anybody know if the lister wizard cattle blade will do the trick.. its forty odd quid. but after doing my back in & collecting a bundle of blisters im getting pretty desperate.. gary Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p>I was sooooooo impressed with myself..  the greenhouse was restored to a usable condition, the raised beds were filled with a wide assortment..  sweetcorn, chard, peas, cabbages, celeriac, melons, butternut squash, avocados, cucumbers, tomatoes, beetroot by the ton.....  the trestle tables were filled with tray after tray of bedding plants.. annuals & perennials...  and on the only day that I wasn't able to get there before work...  another mini heatwave..   Asiatic lilies,  nearly 24" tall were keeled over and burnt brown, small bedding plant plugs that were all watered well the night before, were BOILED..  so were the numerous frogs & spiders ... at least the slugs & snails suffered the same fate ..   the compost heap is a lot higher ..</p><p> </p><p>And the turkeys... all eight eggs were fertile... so how come only two hatched.. bugger...  that huge pen I was making out of the old poly tunnel can be drastically reduced..   thnk I will buy some poults.. cant face incubating another batch..</p><p>Apart from that life is fine and dandy... just wish it would go back to being typically Welsh weather, cloudy & wet..  when I WANT the sun... that's what we normally get....</p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p>Wellllll... spring means loads of work & projects started.. the first couple of chicks arrived.. there are more due to hatch any day now..  the hens went broody so I just let them get on with it..  and I have been given 8 turkey eggs & the loan of a RCOM  incubator... sooo  hopefully...  xmas dinner will be cheaper this year..  I have access to the remains of a huge poly tunnel, its about 30m long & 15m wide..  the polythene cover is gone.. but the framework is still there..  I plan to cover it in chicken wire.. and house the turkeys there... I have also taken over a  30m by 30m greenhouse,  I have been striping all the rotten bedding tables & weeds out.. on the hottest weeks of the year so far... blood sweat & tears is a pretty accurate description..</p><p>The new neighbours have offered us the use of their  garden/field  (also bloody huge) im helping them cut the hedges back to manageable proportions... hard work but the offer of free grass for our horses just couldn't be refused.. our fields are dry baked mud at the moment.. and we are on the last two bales of hay... dry baked mud, heat wave... this is south Wales fer chrissake.. not Australia.. but im not complaining.. this will probably be the only sun we see all year..</p><p>Our two adopted sheep are HUGE.. I think they may have lived a bit to well over winter.. pinching the horses food...   I need to look at their maintenance & care this week too..  their wool is starting to come off in clumps..  its actually getting pulled out by the horses.. im going to try shearing them with the horse grooming shears... this should be fun.. as much fun as a trip to the dentist..gawd.. then I gotta look into trimming feet, worming & drenching.. flipping eck..anyone would think I know what im talking about..   im off to look up shearing on "<strong>you tube</strong>" now.. see how its done.. theres going to be some pretty embarrassed sheep here soon..  </p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p>After swearing that i have had my fill of incubating or brooding hens..  i have just given in, and put 4 eggs under a L/Sussex X.. she has tried to sit on every egg laid  for the past 3 weeks.. she lays lovely big eggs.. when she aint broody that is.. she sits so paitiently.. growling at any intruder like a feathered pit bull.. so i will see if she stays for a few days (this will be her first time) then pop her into her own little palace.. bloody know its just going to be more cockerels  hatching though.. it was running at 80% M20%F last year.. maybe its about time i started producing table birds anyway... its just the thought of all that gutting.. urghh.. i swear i can smell it on my hands for days later.. even when i wear gloves..</p><p>gary</p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <strong><p>Called in to a local poultry auction this morning..  there were a load more birds there than I expected.. all the birds went for silly cheap prices.. apart from the few that had minimum reserve prices..  there were bargains galore.. some Aylesbury ducks tempted me.. but as they came in a job lot of 6 or 9.. I resisted..  the kaki Campbell ducks looked in good condition but again in threes, I only want a female or two as company for my lonely drake, stop him doing filthy things with the hen he has adopted....   likewise the 3 marrans , beginning to regret missing those, they looked really good.. but was put off by the cage load of warrens above them.. two of which were obviously suffering from myco-plasma or similar.. closed eyes , with discharge spraying out from the head shaking,... a couple bought them.. newcomers.. both nervous & embarrassed.. unused to the crowd, noise & fast pace of the sale.. I tried to get their attention, gave him a warning shake of the head.. but it was too late..  maybe their start  in chicken keeping wont be the nightmare Im expecting it to be..  but ill birds this time of year die fast.. maybe the others were in better condition...</p><p>Soooo I left there empty handed .. cant say with regret.. maybe the auction wouldn't have been so dirty & squalid in the summer.. and with birds going for as little as £1.25 each.. clean cages & good conditions were never going to be the norm...</p><p>Hmmm...  don't think I will be going  back soon..</p><p>gary</p></strong> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p>Im bloody covered in itchy infected bites..  my hens are kept in a converted stable .. no way of blocking all the holes to do a proper job of smoking.. or getting at the crevices.. its all made from feather edge..  i had a dustbin/ burner going for 3 hours, burning old damp mildewy hay, it made so much smoke the fire brigade was called by a worried neighbour..  the mites?.. still there..  </p><p>soooo.. upshot is.. im building a super coop..  an old 8ft by 5 ft shed.. reduced down to 4ft in height, then mounted on a wheeled frame.. lined with block foam insulation & covered with ply.. all joints & crevices filled , capped & painted.. a wire mesh section under the roosting perch to let all that yummy fertiliser drop onto the grass.. rather than me shoveling it out each day..   the nesting boxes are open bottomed.. hinged at the top & swung up out of the way to make cleaning a doddle.. access to the eggs is from an external flap..  the central isle is hinged, lifted up, and i can walk inside..   the roof is going to be the tin sheeting used to clad factories.. complete with guttering to collect rainwater..feeding an auto drinker system.. (that bit is still in the planning stage.. and causing me problems)..</p><p>The pop hole is mounted on pulleys.. a 12vlt solenoid will allow auto opening when i can find a 12v timer..  a second pulley system will close off access to the food as the door opens.. preventing the rodents having a feast at my expense..  its taken me a few weeks.. but theres only the roof to fit when all the painting has been completed,  ohh yeah and the techno stuff... it could have been done a lot quicker.. but it has been done following a strict rule.. .. it has to be reclaimed or found lying around, it can be donated or swapped.. but no money to change hands unless absolutlly bloody necessary..   so far it has cost...   £5.80.. for some half round architrave to make the pop hole door..    pictures too follow..</p><p> </p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p>Its been a bad week..  not been on much.. hard to write with my typing finger all blistered..</p><p>1..    note to self, DON'T push a sizzling hot skillet with finger , the steak & my finger smelled eaqually delicious...</p><p>2..     note to daughter, don't pour old cooking fat down sink..  result flooded kitchen...</p><p>3..     to myself again..  when I say im going to fix the hole in the chicken netting to stop the terrier getting in.... FRIGGIN DO IT..  result.. one  mangled & very sorry for itself chook...</p><p>And now to cap it off..  found one of the hens dead..  egg bound.. didn't notice there was a problem , she was fine last night...</p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p> </p><p> </p><p>Well it's the 29 of March.. & im sunburned.. ???... I spent the day erecting a rain water catchment system..   I fitted 20 mts of guttering to the barn roof, put a "T" join half way along to a pipe drop, into a 80 gallon plastic tank, that i sat on a platform made from a heavy duty trestle thingy..  you know.. decorators use them with planks across,</p><p> The sole thing I had to buy..  One brass garden tap.. to screw into the bottom of the barrel.. everything else was found lying around discarded,, all it took was a bit of asking.. everything was given freely and most were just glad to be shot of their "rubbish"     3 years of hiking water for the ponies & hens..  and it took just a few hours to rig up...  and cost the princely sum of.... £ 6.42..  as old "pa Larkin" used to say... perfek.. </p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p><strong>Hmmmmm..  a cunning plan hatches..  I have found some derelict land..  its an old quarry.. it was used by the council  to tip landfill.. then a skip firm..  who dumped most of the rubble & soil they picked up...  so the big hole in the ground.. is now a large oval amphitheatre (posh ehh) .. the ground is reasonable flat.. it has derelict skips lying abandoned, those skips will come in handy, some, that have rusty holes in them, will hold vast amounts of compost, and others, with the help of some pond liners will hold rainwater, the whole area,  is totally overgrown & lush with vegetation. It is frightening to think of what might have happened if the fly tippers had found the place. Less than a mile away I had to reverse back up the country lane.. made impassable, by a load of polythene wrapped asbestos sheets, dumped in the middle of the road.. I had previously skirted two loads of trees and garden waste.. these people make me sick..   fortunately.. the entrance is like the one in that story "the hidden garden"  two large rusty iron gates.. covered in brambles.. with a hinged door (missing)...<a href="http://s377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/garywwess/?action=view&current=DSC07345.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="hidden gates" border="0" height="120" src="http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo217/garywwess/th_DSC07345.jpg" width="160" /></a>  the owner of the burger van that is parked alongside..( my regular eatery )  tells me that since the skip firm that was renting it off the council went bust over eighteen months ago..  nobody has been near it.. it was left to go wild long before that.. some of the buddleia bushes are huge, there are some largish trees & immense bramble patches.. I think there is a large pond in there too.. I just cant see it through the underbrush..  it is skirted by a main road.. with high hedges,, and nigh on impassable scrub & woods to the other side.. as it is below ground level.. all you see is  scrubland & fields beyond from the road as you whizz past..</strong></p><p><strong>Welll   the old adage..  finders keepers..  is going to be used here...  once that  " rusty "  iron door is fabricated..  and the huge rusty lock and frame is welded shut, a large bush & some more brambles are going to mysteriously spring up overnight.. totally hiding the original entrance...  the new entrance will be located away from prying eyes...  well...  the council obviously don't want it..  and I will be doing my public duty keeping our land green & tidy..   your thinking "somebody is bound to notice ?? " I told my wife about it..  she drove past 3 times & couldn't spot it..  when, hopefully many moons later, it is rediscovered by some overzealous council official, the conversion from a rubbish tip to a well tended parcel of land, should be more than adequate rent for my "borrowed" use of a forgotten quarry..</strong></p><p><strong>And now the fun starts..........</strong></p> Submit > < Back

Title: Comment: <p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Well.. I got our baby tractor out of storage today..  I had found a home for some of the wonderful compost in our three large bins.. im talking 7ft by 6ft here..  the horse dung & chicken pooh has been cooking away for the best part of a year..  and the greenhouse & gardens were already swamped in our creatures organic by-products..</strong></p><p><strong>After the first trailer load had been taken.. I let the hens back out so they could have a feast.. I got bored watching them gorge themselves after awhile.. so thought I would tidy the compost area & use the small tractor to scrape the ground in front of the bins clear.. the chooks are less than tidy & scatter the contents as they scratch.. as I reversed back & fore, the hens dived under & around the wheels, the exposed bays were crawling with worms, but no.. any worms squashed up by my wheels were obviously going to taste better... they were stupidly brave... ok.. just plain stupid.. I was actually pushing them with the shovel at one point, I was being very careful & driving VERY.. slowly .  as I stood up to check there were no birds at the front, the black bin bag I was sitting on, blew off to flutter round the yard chased by several hens,.. great, less to watch out for... they lost interest eventually, it held no tit bits this time..  when I reversed over it later...  it crunched...  it must have blown back over the hen as she pecked inside.. if I had looked closer.. I might have noticed the legs running as the bag "fluttered" by  ....</strong></p> Submit > < Back