Abigail's Silkie has been sitting tight on a clutch of 17-18 eggs. They started hatching early this morning & got a glimpse of them earlier when she was setting about their dad - 2 yellow & 1 blue-grey hatched so far & a good few more in the process Can't wait to see what they look like ...

Thanks for that Al. Have never seen them in the flesh (so to speak) so wasn't sure about the wood. Have a few tins of C*prinol Sh*des with not enough left in them for the hen houses & rabbit hutch, so I can use them up at last.

Mo wrote:What is a pallet collar?

Not sure, but they have 4 sides, seem to be hinged at the corners & seem to be about as deep as some of the cheaper raised beds you can buy

Getting there slowly... Have the undergrowth cleared from most of the veg area, though have left 1 corner wild & weedy to provide cover & food for beneficial creepy crawlies & beasties like toads, etc (have also planted some buddleia & various herbs for the bees & butterflies). S...

Want to have some raised beds in the fruit/veg garden, mainly so the children can have their own area to grow some of their own things (did have normal beds for them in the previous veg garden but they kept trying to extend them so they'd have the biggest & it caused all sorts of squabbles ). Wh...

Thanks Mo - looks like the shoots are coming from below ground so looking like a crab apple. Shame really, but as I wanted to have a total of 2 crab apples it's not a complete loss. Been more busy trying to reclaim the strawberry bed & get the new veg garden started (no mean feat as the area's s...

Getting back to fruit & veg gardening after a year of doing nothing (for various reasons) & the 3 years before that becoming more hit & miss as time went by... Strawberries seem to be ok (at least the few I've discovered under the invading brambles & goosegrass as I get the garden cl...

Been away from DTL for a while for various reasons (just life in general) & am now making a fresh start now life is getting back to normal. Am having to start from scratch (my lovely big allotment-sized veg plot now no longer exists & was incorporated into the feathered menagerie's enclosure...

Is great to be back

Am back after a long absence... Still have the chickens.... The remaining "old" gang - Barbara & Margot (Leghorns), Speckle (Speckled Sussex), Target (Light Sussex), Glitter & Sparkle (daughters of Speckle & Frankenstein), Rocky (son of Barbara & Doobs) & Isabel (ex-com...

Please, please if you're buying pre-packed salads & giving them to your poultry as a treat make sure you wash them thoroughly. Have just found out that Kryten (our new gander) has died from listeria & after lots of tests & checks on the enclosure & our other feathered beasties the on...

It has to be Barbara & Margot the Leghorns. They've never liked sleeping in the hen house & spent most of their 1st summer with us either sleeping near the top of a tall larch tree or roosting with the young pheasants in the woods just down the track (though Doobs Orpington used to put his f...

Diesel-soaked rags hung high up just outside the enclosure fencing along with rotting meat/animal fat. Just using the diesel-soaked rags for now & it's working well. Been trying to work out the total area of the big enclosure - it's quite an irregular shape but averages out to around 85 feet wid...

Diesel-soaked rags seem to be doing the trick - have seen a stoat not too far off but it seems to be keeping away from us. Local fox seems to be giving our place a wider berth too

Been busy of late what with new job (just a lunch time superviser at a primary school, but I also volunteer in 1 of the classes & have been doing extra hours as the teaching assisstant's been off ill) & the festive season. There's been a change to our chicken numbers... Pancake & Tufty o...