Blackcurrants

Hi All

she who must be obeyed has been busy picking the blackcurrants. This year has been a very prolific year for them.

Sharon picked 21 kilo's of them on friday and over the weekend she sold 15 kilo's at £2.50 per kg. all the money raised from the fruit and veg go into our winter coal fund.

We have a Stanley solid fuel cooker which also does our hot water generally I try to use wood where possible but coal is handy for the winter as it can be shut down and just left to burn slowly providing a steady heat through the day and night.

Next up will be the gooseberries and the cherry plums, victoria plums, pears and apples and some rhubarb.
Also some of the surplus veg from the polytunnel.

This is the blackcurrants she who must picked last night to replace the ones that sold.

Speak Soon

Mark :)

Grow Your Own Clothes

Heres something a little different we all think of growing things like vegetables to eat or flowers to look at but what about growing your own clothes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18301669

Please let me know what you think.

How To Teach Chickens To Use Perches

Hi Everyone

I recently got asked a question on my facebook page which seems to be a common question i get asked so i thought i would share it with you today, it about how to teach your chickens to use perches in the coop.

This question comes from Lee Haunch from the UK who recently (June 2012) bought some 17 week old hens from us but found they were sleeping in the nest box instead of the perches. This is actually a very common question.

Thank you very much for yor help today. Maddie and Oscar are delighted with the new additions to our family. Mabel, Delilah and Camilla are cosy in their new home, just got to convince them to sleep on their perches and not in the nesting box.

Answer

Young hens sometimes need teaching to use the perches. You need to do this once it is dark by placing them on the perch one by one. Once it is dark they will not move. If you do this for a few nights they will eventually do it themselves.

It is never a good idea to let hens sleep in the nestbox as they still poo while they are asleep.

When they then start laying (especially if its early in the morning) they will lay the eggs into the poo which is not good as the egg shell is pourous and can absorb the bacteria.

t is never good to let birds sleep in the nest boxes as they still poo whilst asleep. When they start laying ( especially if it's very early in the morning) the eggs are then laid into the poo!!. Not good as egg shells are porous and will absorb the bacteria.

I am going to do a series of articles  on Chicken Ailments And Diseases this time I am going to cover Sour Crop.

 Chicken Sour Crop Prevention and Treatment

  A chicken's crop is just below its neck and at the center of its chest. This is the chicken's food storage and also where the first stage of digestion takes place. Often, a chicken eats more than it could digest, when that happens the chicken develops a ...sour crop.

 

Detection and Symptoms
You would know if the chicken has sour crop if there is a bulge at the center of the chest of the chicken (often bigger than a gulf ball) making the chicken very uncomfortable and moving the head in a funny sort of way. When you open the beak, there is often a sour, foul smell. When you touch the chickens crop and there is that hard yet squishy feeling, sour crop is setting in if it is not yet impacted.

What complicates this is that even when the chicken appears to be lethargic; it will still try to eat even when the crop is full, then the chicken suffers more.

 Prevention of Sour Crop
The crop is a vital organ in chickens that you have to keep a close watch on. As chickens are likely to eat just about anything, sour crop usually occurs when chickens feed, the crop will normally bulge.
But then a healthy chicken with a crop that is working well will have emptied the crop overnight. If the crop has not, there is something wrong with digestion. To aid digestion, the chicken feeds on grits. Grits are bought in any farm and poultry supply store, the grit is then mixed with the chicken feed that aids digestion.

 

  Normally, healthy foraging chickens will swallow small pebbles. They know what to select and what is good for them. However if the chicken is not let out of the coop for long periods, they miss this digestion aids. Another thing that is common to most animals is to eat a particular grass for a particular illness. When the chicken has sour crop, the chicken feels the illness and will forage for grass. This often complicates the sour crop, as long strands of grass are harder to digest.

 

  To prevent the onset of sour crop, check the chickens once in a while as the crops are likely to be empty every morning before they feed. Observe also the kind of grass that the chicken feeds on when they have a sour crop so you can chop the grass into smaller sizes and feed this to the chicken to treat the sour crop or when a similar problem occurs in the future. Once a month, mix one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to every liter of water in the chicken's water supply. When you do, buy the vinegar from poultry shops or your local chicken accessory supplier and not those sold in the supermarkets as this is distilled and so some of the vitamins and minerals are removed during the process.

 THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM MY SOON TO BE PUBLISHED BOOK. I hope to finish it on sunday then it will need formatting, editing and proof read.

Smallholding Blog Apology

Hi Everyone

As you can tell I have somewhat negleted my Blog and have not posted anything about our smallholding for some time which is a shame.

However I wish to take up the mantle again and start posting more regularly about life here on the smallholding and in particular Help articles about all different aspects of keeping chickens.

Life over the past year has had its ups and downs as with most things in life but generally things are good and i cant complain, smallholding is hard work and sometimes I ask myself why i do it, but wondering around the place on a nice evening looking at everything we have and how lucky I really am.

So I look forward to keeping up the posts so please feel free to comment on them.

Regards

Mark

Oh For a Good Nights Sleep

A few years ago we lost some of our hens to the dreaded fox, it was my own fault because I came home from a job very late and forgot to lock them up. The next morning was a horrible sight & it made me feel very guilty. Since then it is a nightly ritual and I have never forgotten since.


Anyway last night just after I got into bed she who must be obeyed said "did you lock the chickens up" I replied "no I dont think I did"

So on with the clothes again and grabbing a torch I wandered down the drive & locked up all the chickens & ducks then back to the house & back into bed, as I then fell asleep little did I know that it would be short lived.

I didnt know how long I had been asleep for but I was sort of awakened by my terrier barking his head off, I tried to ignore it but he just kept on & on. I couldnt stand it any longer and a quick look at my watch showed it was 02.30 am. I thought right Im gonna kill that bloody dog & just as I got out of bed My Rhodesian Ridgeback started going crazy really crazy and letting off a real ferocious bark.

I realised I had not shut the main gates & on looking down the darkened drive I swore there was a sort of vehicle parked in the shadows. My heart stated racing & I thought it might be burgulars, I went downstairs & was allready to unleash my 3 dogs on them.

As I opened the back door I saw my Rhodesian Ridgeback still going mad but not at the gate he looked like he had something penned in the corner as I shone the torch I could hardly believe it, there all rolled up in a ball was not a burgular but a" hedgehog" I got a shovel scooped him up & put him over the fence. What a night, with the dogs now quiet it was back up to bed to have another go at sleeping.

How to Recycle Things To Help Live Green

Recycling is one of the easiest as well as most effective ways that you can help the environment. There are plenty of different projects at home you can separate from your trash for this purpose. It is convenient if you buy plastic trash barrels and label them for individual products. And by learning how to recycle you will be helping reduce your carbon footprint.



You should have one for glass, plastic, and cardboard. If you drink soda from cans then have one for those aluminum cans as well. Find out where you can take each of these full barrels to be recycled when you need to. There should be centers for them locally around town.



You will often find receptacles out there that allow you to place these items into at collection spots. They are just huge containers that will get emptied out on a regular basis. This is perfect when the community doesn’t have any other method for taking in the items to be recycled.



If your community doesn’t offer them you need to see what you can do to get them in place. You can contact your local officials in person or with a letter asking them to consider offering them. Explain your concerns that without such receptacles in place people won’t be encouraged to recycle in your area.



The concept of recycling can extend to your schools and place of employment as well. Do your best to get this important issue recognized everywhere you can. In many instances people just need to be educated and then reminded about the benefits of recycling for our environment.



Your information can motivate them to take part in it. Don’t overlook the importance of letting children know either. They are often very excited by recycling and find it to be thrilling. They can often help encourage their parents to take part in such efforts as well.



Buying products that have been recycled such as paper products is a great way to show your support for these efforts. You will notice some greeting cards are made from them. Even supplies such as napkins used in fast food restaurants can be made from recycled paper.



It is also very simple to carry around a large mesh bag when you are going to shop for a few items. Rather than getting a paper or plastic bag from them you can place your purchased items into your own bag. Look for one that is durable so it you can reuse it over and over again.



I hope you found this short article on how to recycle of some use, so get out there and reduce your carbon footprint.