LL's chicken keeping adventures

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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

Post by lancashire lass »

oh foam spray, what a good idea )t' Must get the rat out first but I'll definitely look into blocking all the exits

sandy wrote:So you are worming as well eh? Made the girls pellets soggy this morning, they love ordianry soggy pellets but turned their noses up >coc< Well it was eat it or starve!


I've had the girls 3 months now so thought I ought to get it done. I'm not looking forward to the tantrums ....

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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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It's been a very distressing week knowing there's a rat (or more) making its home in the run fence, and truth is, I'm a little scared of rats. The (humane) rat cage that I ordered a week ago eventually arrived late yesterday afternoon and it looks strong and well made but the catch for the drop door is a bit over sensitive. Last night I decided not to rake all the soil around to fill the holes in the run as I have been doing and instead put a piece of cheese and a custard cream biscuit as bait inside the cage and set it up. This morning I was so convinced there would be a rat inside and geared myself up with leather gardening gloves and a big box to put the cage in as well as unlocked the car door and back gate ready for immediate departure .... only to find the cage was exactly as I had left it, the bait untouched and the door still propped open, but there were many more holes in the run }hairout{ Worse, because I was so hung up about the cage, I had forgotten to close the coop up last night so all the girls were waiting for me in the coop run making an awful racket to be let out (at least the coop run door was shut so no rodents could get inside the coop)

Plan B - after searching online about rat bait, seems crunchy peanut butter and bird seed are ideal foods or anything that has a strong odour like cheese (yeah right) so I decided to set the cage up outside the run where I thought I'd seen the rat dart behind plant pots on the patio, and there were tell tale signs of poo. Nothing for much of the day so I got a cocktail sausage and put a little piece just outside the cage door, a small piece inside and the rest behind the trip pedal - still nothing until about late afternoon and I found the cage had been knocked upside down and ... still no rat! But the bit of sausage to entice the rat was gone.

Plan C - after locking the girls up (I double checked!), I raked the soil and filled the holes in, got another cocktail sausage and coated it with peanut butter and rolled it in some mixed corn and set up the cage. This time 3 house bricks on top to weigh it down in case it went flying again but this time no enticing treats. Meanwhile I was a bit heavy handed with the sanitising powder round the run except anywhere near the cage (I don't want to mask the food smell) and fingers crossed this is 3rd time lucky - it might on the other hand be reluctant to take the bait after the earlier experience. Meanwhile I seem to be seeing bolt holes everywhere ... even the bottom of my shed door (there's no food in there at all), and gnaw marks on wood near the coop. But the feed bins are fine so fingers crossed.

This week has also been worming week using medicated layers pellets - I emptied the feeder of the normal ones and filled it with the flubenvet impregnated stuff. In a morning I would scatter a few pellets round the run so that the girls would still scratch for stuff with just enough for them to eat it all up and leave none for the rat. I would normally let them have their "breakfast" of pellets and then toss some greens and mixed corn in the run just before leaving for work to give them something to break up the boredom but with no treats allowed, I felt so guilty. Well, I can't believe the medicated layers pellets alone are responsible, but the egg tally this week is up to 26 >dowhat< I keep checking my figures but I definitely sold 2 dozen fresh eggs this week, and there is another 9 (today there were 5 eggs ... from 4 hens >coc< ), so after subtracting last week's surplus, the figures still come up to 26! And most of the eggs have been a fair size too so bang goes that theory of too much protein makes big eggs.

However, the downside is that Scary has gone back to feather eating, and with a vengeance. Up until the worming feed, she seemed to be calming down and becoming one of the flock albeit with the odd peck instead of the usual predatory killer bites. The others seemed to use the feeder without hesitation whereas Scary is definitely a scratcher and pouncer and I suspect the lack of treats and provided entertainment has racked up boredom levels. Only one more day to go and then I'll give them a welcomed treat tomorrow afternoon. It would make my day if there was a rat in a cage in the morning as well.
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

Post by sandy »

Has that darn rat being expelled yet? They are little madams when they don't get their treats arent they? Never mind it is only 4 times a year {rofwl}
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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Well I've learned something - worming the chooks increases egg production )t' I didn't think they had worms and only decided to do it because I thought it would be the best thing to do before winter set in proper. Last week 26 eggs, this week .... 26 eggs! Today I bought a sack of normal layers pellets and asked the woman in the shop (breeds and sells chickens, as well as run chicken courses) about the increased egg tally, and she thought that 4 young hens should have been averaging 24 eggs a week so probably did needed worming. I'm glad it's over now - until next time.

I had opted for the 10 day treatment (instead of the 7 - I had been advised to do a longer period if I felt it necessary) Truth is, I was actually running out of their normal feed but didn't have enough cash to buy more, so it made sense to carry on rather than interrupt the treatment and then use the last of the ordinary pellets until I went shopping. I did however, start up their treats after the 7 days, mainly to start getting more protein into the diet as Scary's feather eating was beginning to reach new heights. So on Sunday I dug up a load of earthworms out of the garden which went down a treat - and then for the next 3 days, they got a chopped boiled egg a day as well as some greens and things to peck at like slices of marrow. And it really does work as Scary seems "almost" friendly again. Last night I had pilchards for supper and saved a bit for the girls for today especially the bones that I picked out. With the sale of the eggs this week, there was enough money to buy their feed and a 2kg of mixed grit so all stocked up now.

sandy wrote:They are little madams when they don't get their treats arent they?


Definitely made me feel guilty seeing them sway shoulder to shoulder at the gate looking at me in desperation LOL. When I open the door to the run, they all spill out but leg it back when I throw stuff in there, but today Scary decided to ignore the usual ruse and to my horror had wandered quite a way off - of all the hens, she is not the easiest to coerce back, nor one for being handled, and worse, to a part of the garden where she could get out. While I watched her, the others decided to follow suit only in the opposite direction so I herded them back with intentions of going on a hen hunt but she decided that being in the big wide world on her own wasn't much fun and perhaps there was something more interesting in the run after all. Phew.

sandy wrote:Has that darn rat being expelled yet?


Mr Rattus - he broke me {cry} Every day I set the cage trap, and every day the food was gone but the trap door was still in the open position. I even set it up with a weight on the door so that when it tripped, it came down hard like a guillotine. Again, food gone, door open }hairout{ So on Thursday a visit to B&Q and got a proper snap shut rat trap - I went for the Diall ones only because of the cost (the others were ridiculously expensive) If I'd read the reviews I would never have got them (2 in a pack), but .... on Friday morning I expected the bait to be gone and the trap still set but amazingly, one dead rat! Actually, not sure if it was a rat as it was a lot smaller than I expected and more like a big mouse (pale grey fur with a white underbelly and legs) - might explain why the cage didn't work if there wasn't enough weight on the treadle to trip the door. I couldn't see it's head because of the plastic cover (definitely a )t' not to see the head) and just like a fat clothes peg, just open the trap to release it straight into a disposal bag. I set the traps again last night not expecting any more, but wrong - another dead rat. So if I could add a review, I'd definitely give these a lot more stars for easy setting, doing the job and resetting. Whether they'd work on a bigger rat I don't know. I'll be setting the traps for a while longer (might even make it part of regular evening ritual now) and I've got 3 cans of expanding foam to fill in the holes in the fence.

This week I've been doing more research on feed - I really do want to learn more about the nutrition of feed to ensure the girls get all the right things in it for good health and egg production. So I've been looking at the various grains and seeds and it has been an interesting exercise. I did introduce a little flaxseed to their treat for the benefit of the omega 3 in eggs but I've been a bit cautious about how much and how often, and it would seem this was for the best - ideally, less than 5% of the total feed is advised (I couldn't afford to feed them at that rate anyway LOL, so I can safely say well below that), as too much can taint the eggs and make them taste fishy. Curious, I always thought fishy tasting eggs were down to fish feed. Pumpkin/squash seeds get a big thumbs up as a natural wormer - of course I'll carry on with the flubenvet treatments, but it's nice to know that along with ACV and garlic, there's something else that can be used as a preventative.
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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You know I wish I had done a 10 day worming as I always have some left over! I wonder of the grey and white rat was an escapee from someones house? My neighbour put in a rat trap and me had to find the dead creature in the morning in all its glory, will suggest he gets a hooded one like you have described if he needs to use them again. I know someone put on a link to a 'good treats' guide I remember sunflower seeds being on here, girls love them. I think a bung up of the part of the garden Scary was heading for tomorrow morning?
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
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Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
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Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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sandy wrote:My neighbour put in a rat trap and me had to find the dead creature in the morning in all its glory, will suggest he gets a hooded one like you have described if he needs to use them again


there is still the yuk factor (just picking up the trap with a dead weight hanging on) but just depressing the handle and releasing it into a bag was so much easier than I expected.

sandy wrote:I know someone put on a link to a 'good treats' guide I remember sunflower seeds being on here, girls love them


There are lots of sites about good treats but I particularly wanted to learn about nutrition so that there is a good balance of protein, fats, carbohydrates etc. I've noticed lots of people go on about increasing protein during moulting and gave a few examples but I might disagree with some because not all protein is the same - it's really down to amino acid content and what is in a food that is right for the chickens particular higher demands at the time.

Yes about sunflower seeds - I mixed a bag of whole black sunflower seed with the flaxseed and gave the girls a small handful (between the 4) every other day. And I've definitely noticed a glossy sheen to their feathers especially the Black Star. Yesterday while seeing if there was something in the pets section of the local supermarket (just being nosey), I came across the wild bird bit and bought a big bag of hulled sunflower seeds and a big pot of mealworms which seemed much cheaper than at the pet shop )t'

sandy wrote:I think a bung up of the part of the garden Scary was heading for tomorrow morning?


I do have a project in mind to secure the bit immediately outside the run so that they can all wander out and have more space when I'm at home to supervise. With winter, they are not going to be out much as I'm at work during daylight hours anyway but come spring hopefully the patio will be available by then. Meanwhile Scary does seem to have the wanderlust so it might get brought forward - hopefully we get decent dry weather over the Christmas break when I'll have more time to make a start on the project.
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

Post by sandy »

Hmm not tried any other sunflower seeds but the ones from H&B think I will try those other ones now
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

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Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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Great Diary )t'

Plenty of eggs from your chickens , i am still on a blank !

The 2 x point of lay Warrens i bought at 18 old weeks to mix with the 3 ex bats are now 29 weeks old .

Not bothered on eggs at the moment they are pets , but one , just the one would be nice to shut my wife up from laughing at my egg less chickens !
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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sandy wrote:Hmm not tried any other sunflower seeds but the ones from H&B think I will try those other ones now


I'd read somewhere that the black sunflower seeds are the oil ones and supposedly good for chickens, but I'm inclined to think the naked kernels are probably a lot better - no need to digest the outer shell so should be all food. I'm still researching that - in the meantime, they get a bit of each LOL

Chicken drumstick wrote:Great Diary )t'

Plenty of eggs from your chickens , i am still on a blank !

The 2 x point of lay Warrens i bought at 18 old weeks to mix with the 3 ex bats are now 29 weeks old .

Not bothered on eggs at the moment they are pets , but one , just the one would be nice to shut my wife up from laughing at my egg less chickens !


Thank you. I'm very proud of my girls {hug} . This week so far - 4 eggs a day for the past 5 days! Normally it might be something like 4, 3, 4, 3 etc. Apart from a little tweak on their supplemented feed, not a lot else apart from the worming treatment which I think helped to kick start increased productivity. It amazes me that they are churning out eggs every day when the run barely gets any sun now, but I do get them up at about 7.00am so that I can feed them and get their coop clean before going to work at 7.30am. The girls are already begging to be let out of the coop by the time I get there anyway, even though it is still dark, and the only light I put on is a tiny LED torch light, so hardly the minimum 14 hours a day for egg laying LOL.

The Point-of-Lay warrens you have @ 29 weeks old - I'm really surprised that you haven't even had a single egg - mine will be about 32-34 weeks old now and have been laying for nearly 14 weeks (started off with the Black Star laying her first, but gradually over the next 3 weeks, the egg numbers increased to 4 a day. The Saturday before the last, there was even 5 eggs in the nest box {rofwl} - quite a feat when there are only 4 girls )

Now that it is officially dark in a morning, I need a torch to shine inside the coop when poop picking. At first I thought the girls were coming into the coop to lay eggs or were just curious of the light shining through the open pop hole, and many a time I'd have one or two complainers. However, Ginger really does come into the coop just to say hello and watches me, sometimes picking up some bedding and tossing it in my direction - more often than not, she then gulps it down. Sigh.

As for los Ratti - the beggars have sussed out that the snap shut rat traps are very bad since their friends got caught and now totally ignore them, despite a change of menu and tasty treats }hairout{ I do think numbers are down but I'd rather it was zero. I didn't want to use the expanding foam until I was sure they were gone and not just simply moved on. The most obvious place to start would be the entrance to the run but that might "trap" them inside yike* and I've even considered leaving the run door wide open so that the neighbour's cats might be able to get access (knowing my luck they'd just spray cat pee everywhere) The other downside is that Mr Fox might get in - in theory the coop itself should be fox proof anyway because it was supposed to be a stand alone thing, but they just look too flimsy to stand up to anything. I am adamant not to use poison though because I don't want them to curl up and die somewhere inaccessible. So the battle continues ....
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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It's a never ending quest isn't it !!!

I enjoy reading all the Diaries, although I'm often a fortnight behind !!

Richard )t'
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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Oh the rat is a wiley critter! Judging by the colours you described it sounds like a pet rat that someone has dumped or escaped and formed its own little mob. I do hope you get rid of the little monsters.

I recently noticed theres a new hole from under our fence from next doors shed. Its now stuffed with broken bricks and what not : although i think its a mouse: and itd have to be a brave one after what my girls did to the last one ! yike*
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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Chookaholic wrote:Oh the rat is a wiley critter! Judging by the colours you described it sounds like a pet rat that someone has dumped or escaped and formed its own little mob. I do hope you get rid of the little monsters.

I recently noticed theres a new hole from under our fence from next doors shed. Its now stuffed with broken bricks and what not : although i think its a mouse: and itd have to be a brave one after what my girls did to the last one ! yike*


I'm surprised my hens don't peck at the rats - or maybe they just stay out of the way until the girls have all gone to roost. There have been days when there is no sign of the rat activity in the run, other times it looks like a pack have thrown a party. I've moved the traps to other places in the run but still no luck. Every evening after the girls have gone to roost, I do a poop pick by torchlight in the run so this morning I couldn't help but notice the rat poo on the top pallet shelf .... clearly not confined to the floor. I've started looking at the bags of straw that I'd put on top of the coop as insulation and now wondering if something is living in them. Meanwhile the neighbour's cat was chicken watching today - and this time no alarm calls from the girls (not like that first day) I didn't shoo him away and hope the smell of cat may persuade the rats to move home - wishful thinking, I know.

Well, we've reached a new weekly egg tally record - 27 eggs! Yesterday was the only day when I found 3 eggs, all others this week have been 4 a day - amazing, and at this time of year. Today has been the first time I've seen the girls in broad daylight as it has been dark both mornings and evenings this week, not to mention I had to leave extra early yesterday morning because I was covering someone's early shift. Scary has unfortunately carried on feather eating despite upping the protein, and Posh not only has a bare bottom again (up until the worming week, a few tufts of downy feathers were reappearing) but it was also red raw. Even Baby was looking a bit more frazzled than usual under her tail, and on inspection, her bottom was also sore. I'd not had to use the purple spray before now and had relied on the bitter feather spray - today they all got the full treatment.

Well, it should have a warning on the bottle - after treating said chicken on a shelf at shoulder height, beware they are likely to shake and flick wet residues of purple spray which could land on your face. I've worked with the purple dye (Crystal or Gentian violet), and I know it is staining and permanent {rofwl} I think I'm going to need a lot more make up in the near future when going out .... Only Baby and Posh got the purple spray, Ginger was fine but they all got the featherite spray as well for good measure. Of all the girls, Ginger didn't mind being picked up and I really think she enjoys the attention.

The others didn't notice Posh (the Black) had purple spray on her bottom, but Baby the Amber got immediate attention from everyone and they had a good look at it. Even she looked alarmed at her purple rear end and tried pecking it {rofwl} Warning no. 2 - purple spray on white feathered hens is very noticeable, even to other chickens.

I mentioned that Ginger likes to come into the coop when I'm poop picking in the morning. This morning the entire flock decided to check out what I was doing {rofwl} I couldn't believe it when they all piled into the coop and stood around clucking and complaining. Poop picking with 4 hens in the way was a little difficult to say the least.

I'm also in the process of doing a little experiment - when I went to collect the eggs from the nest box during a couple of really cold evenings, I could feel the heat from inside the coop. It was as warm as a little radiator so I borrowed a couple of electronic thermometers from work to see just how warm it gets compared to the outside. The temperature probe is inside a small bottle of fluid for a stable reading and on Thursday night, I pushed the bottle into the bedding so they wouldn't see it. There was a distinct 3oC difference to outside and this was at floor level so today I've been able to tie the little bottle into the ceiling so it will be interesting to see how warm it really gets inside the coop.

Next week my order book for selling eggs is full, so I hope the girls don't let me down and stop laying after this week's amazing tally. We break up for the Christmas break next Friday and folk have been putting their requests in knowing it'll be 2 weeks before I can bring anymore into work. So I might not have any for myself until next weekend but I don't mind - the little bit of income the eggs generate has been great, and I also need to get a new bale of bedding so there should be just enough cash to get it next Saturday before the chicken shop shuts for the Christmas break.
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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Well my girls did me proud this week - 28 eggs off 4 hens )app( And the extra income has been very handy. Of course most of it went towards their upkeep - a new bale of bedding, some mixed grit and a special treat as an early Christmas present. It has shrimps and silkworms and a mix of other seeds, and the girls really loved it.

As for the rat, I think there are 2 (or 2 nests) - one in the main run and the other has managed to get into the coop run. I suspect coop rat has made a home in the boxed in section of the run underneath the nest box - I had packed it with rocks and bricks and screwed boards round for extra fox proofing but I suspect ample room for a rat and well protected from predators.... }hairout{ I will need to clear the sand and wood chips from the coop run, lay down wire mesh and lay some more paving slabs to weight it down. What has put me off is the awkwardness of the run and will mean dismantling the run (possibly even the coop to get access to screws) so not a 2 minute job. The one in the main run has dug under the pallet fence but I might be able to block that off eventually with paving bricks.

Over the weekend I've been watching the girls and seeing if there has been any more feather pecking. The purple spray certainly hides a multitude of sins as I can't really see for certain if Posh's bum feathers are the same as last week, or do I see a little more fuzz? Baby's purple splash looks quite spectacular and all she needs now is a pink rinse {rofwl} Scary's full bloomers are a giveaway as to who the phantom bum feather pecker is.

I'm off work for a week and half now, so I'd like to do a bit of a make over in the run. It would have been much easier if the rat had gone away instead of my having to waste diy time blocking entrances and relaying the flooring. Now we just need some dry weather ......
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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That rat(s) are persistent aren't they. Just a thought but if you are blocking off at ground level try pouring a bit of the ready mixed cement in any hole and then sticking a brick in. It comes in little bags at Q&B. Baby looks cute but she wont need a pink rinse, my Elsie who was white was purpled on the posterior and her feathers eventually pink. She was more lucky than Baby being the top girl so it wasn't a problem. I bet your girls are very pleased their mum will be home with them at christmas )t'
The Pink Ladies..Audrey,Ingrid-Bergman,Madeleline,Norma-Jean,Dora,Janice,Jo,Robyn,Chrissy and Joyce
The Peds…Mork,Mindy,Bell,Saphire &
Vorky ,Blueped,Ginger,Ninger &Linky

Sunny Clucker was ere July 12-21 2012
Sunny Clucker was ere July 6 2016 to Sept 9th 2017
Sunny Clucker is here , rehomed Aug 18th 2018/
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's chicken keeping adventure 2013

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sandy wrote:try pouring a bit of the ready mixed cement in any hole and then sticking a brick in. It comes in little bags at Q&B


)t' I had got one from Wickes to cement pebbles in where I had lifted a paving stone from outside the run to put one of the uprights. It sounds like a good idea though - I have noticed that rats dig holes at the base of walls/fences and when you butt paving stones to the wall and cover with soil, they are unable to dig holes in the ground. I will need to cement the base of the pallet as that is where it seems to have found lodgings.

sandy wrote:I bet your girls are very pleased their mum will be home with them at christmas )t'


oh yes - fresh greens and warm breakfast feasts are going down well - I borrowed the idea of the broth mix from Chicken drumstick and have made a big pan this morning with a little extra barley, marrowfat peas and lentils. Some of it is for my supper tonight so there'll also be some cooked veg for tomorrow ... a few of my butternut are not storing at all well, probably because of the late summer rain and cooling, so I've been making lots of soups recently and adding the cooked veg and juice to the pellets and they've really enjoyed it. I think cooking should make digestion a lot easier too. Probably one of the reasons why egg numbers reached maximum last week.

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