the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

I've had a buzzard fully grown maran, be warned! Garden eyes balloons are very effective. As are cds. You have to move these sort of deterrents often though to keep them effective. This year i'll put the cds on hangers to make this easier I think.

I have a few dozen pre-drilled Cds ready to go, and I put 'eyes' on them too, so I'll add a few soon as it will cost nothing. Thanks.

alfie_1

rhiwfield wrote: »

Thats what I did at my last house, the only problem was grating the top of the head as you walk in the run .

Not sure but I thought pheasants were a transmitter of gapeworm.

just an idea that i used.... i got a pole 7FT ish, stuck a flowerpot on the top and wedged it up in the middle of the pen to hold the wire roof up. it makes it easier to walk in and supports the weight of the wire, stops it sagging.....

alfie_1

downshifter wrote: »

Ok so that's even more reason to keep them out. However the hens go out into the garden when I'm there to watch over them, and the pheasants go there too. Not sure how I can always protect them. What about other birds? If bird flu came back I'd keep then hens locked in but wouldn't want to normally.

Still not sure about the roof - maybe a mesh sheet such as you use over plants would be ok.

Thanks

DS

you ahve to be carefull with fine plastic mesh as it can sag and becomes brittle after time and can break. bit of a false economy.
i used the builders big heavy duty wire fencing panels [you see them round building projects] about 10ftx6ft. i scrounged a whole load of "damaged" ones for free and use them as chook pen and my european eagle owls aviary. like lots , i leave chooks in thier 20x10 pen if im out but bthey are free range if im here. i have an underground spring? that fed into a ditch but i dug it out, widened it and they love that as its like a stream for the web footed!!

alfie_1

as you can see we have SNOW ! i went to scats and got feed yesterday, slow motion slide into the loading bay:rotfl:.
i have a renault kangoo van and she gets me anywhere!! shes 3 years old end of jan [ got £2 1/2 grand off cos i got it last day of plate change so would have been an 08 a day later. i dont give a fig what the plate says just my purse. funny when i bought it , i toured all the garages trying out all makes and ended up in the 1st garage i went to :rotfl:. th salesman says what sort of business do you want it for and i just said " my dogs and a bale of hay".
they have asked me if i want to trade it in but i said NO, it will have to be 4 legs up in the air before i give up on a motor !!:) dont see the point. shes brilliant and a new plate no. doesnt make it any better!
well its snowing as we speak and im going to venture out soon . Mabel the pig is not happy with the snow! the chooks are staying in thier shed, goosegoggins i swear would go out in a hurricane if it meant he could put his butt into water!!:rotfl:
if i can find it i will put pick of BLUE my owl on.....

alfie_1

sorry im on a "roll" here....
when i lived in beaulieu, i had lots of exotic pheasants etc. i had a beautifull male golden pheasant that daily used to go up the lane behind me visiting all the houses in turn to get FED ! used to take him half the day and then hed come home!!
when he died of old age i had so many phone calls asking where he was that i only then realised how many houses he visited !!

Davesnave

Rozee, thanks for your comment on Photobucket. I can't respond there because I'm not on Facebook. The answer is it was last on at £260k with West Wales Properties (the only agency that sent a woman in heels to show us around a small farm!:rotfl:) and it will be less than that next year!

It is a sad story, that one. I think we might have had it at the right price, if this hadn't come along. We'd have rented, had it gutted and started again. To give you an idea, one of the 'improvements' was a changed layout, where one had to go through the conservatory to get upstairs. Wouldn't have been quite so bad if the conservatory hadn't been a leaking temporary structure, that looked like it would fall down any time....:(

choille

Just went to shut the hens in & I found a dead Scot's Grey in the house. It was one of my original ones - poor thing. She wasn't that old.

It's really cold - coldest I've felt it. OH is away out at neighbours. I declined as I just feel so cold & don't want to get ready - put cold clothes on! How lazy is that? And slither up there & slide back in these conditions.

Alfie - your house is something like out of a fairy story - amazing looking. I saw one of those owls in a supermarket promoting harry Potter or some such. It was weird to see that there. It felt cruel.
What eyes they have on them.

Someone posted about pheasants eating grain. I would eat the pheasants defo - very tasty. Once they find food they'll be back. They are bad in a garden as they take out young seedlngs, as bad as pidgeons.

Nice to have the caravan to myself for once - apart from two cats.

stitching_witch

choille wrote: »

Just went to shut the hens in & I found a dead Scot's Grey in the house. It was one of my original ones - poor thing. She wasn't that old.

That's really sad for you. I've got Pandora, our Sussex Star, in the living room at the moment as she's been so cold and not eating today. Mind you, I don't want her to get too used to it, and go back to the others and tell them they too could have a day in the warm watching TV.

Davesnave

Sorry to hear about the loss of your chicken, choille. I expect it was the weather. Ours seem to be accepting the cold more now, and it was quite cosy inside their house today, but they stayed out much more than two days ago.

I built a wind-break around the pop hole, which shelters that from the prevailing wind. They use it as a day perch! Nine of them can get up there, but any more and someone falls off. As soon as the snow's gone I'll pop some tyres in and make a small tower with them so some can perch on those and keep their toes warm.

Cds installed in the orchard, lir. Definitely working; scared DW when she went down in the dark with a flashlight to lock up!:rotfl:

alfie_1

Alfie - your house is something like out of a fairy story - amazing looking. I saw one of those owls in a supermarket promoting harry Potter or some such. It was weird to see that there. It felt cruel.
What eyes they have on them.

thankyou, i love it... when i 1st moved here i learnt children thought the house scary cos an old grumpy man lived here [in squalor!!] so i put up "blue" tiny lights following the roof line at xmas and now its not scary and looks friendly. the kids like it now and some call by in the summer to visit the animals.
as for BLUE my owl she came from same place as MABEL the pig ! have no idea what they where thinking getting them in the 1st place. blue is too old now to train to fly free [really need to get them going young to trust them loose!]
iv had various rescue birds of prey over the years to either release/keep.
why do i have untold patience with critters yet my BF drives me mad ....often....!!
tomorrow i want to spend time with RUBY, he wants to go to portsmouth xmas shopping ??? im trying to think of a good enough reason not to go.... he looks hurt when i say no to things and makes me seem selfish.....maybe i am, but i still dont want to go!!!

p.s. sorry to hear about your chook, always upsetting when one goes...