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the daydream fund challenge thread

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  • choille
    choille Posts: 9,710 Forumite
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    Well my hens free range & get scraps & veggies - porridge, whatever else is going in the morning & they seem well. Mrs Hopperty is ancient - no eggs just yet but she will lay a few when the weather & light picks up I have no doubt. I just buy mixed grain - sometimes a big bag of bird seed as it's only a couple of quid a bag dearer & they get a handful of that too. The little uns get chick crumbs. When they start laying they gat some layer's mash.
    Each day they get boiled peelings - yesterday's veg peelings that have been boiled. They like them & means there's no waste.
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    choille wrote: »
    Well my hens free range & get scraps & veggies -


    yep mine get scraps too...when we have any. TBH, I just dont see to be generating much atm. I'd put ''chicken safe scraps'' as part of a variety a sort of natural supplement to the diet...like hay/beet/grass pellets...alfa etc for others.

    And my dogs get scraps. But then...I also often crudly balance the animals diets myself....and don't pay ££££ often for others. Some exceptions though.
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 35,776 Forumite
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    Not sure I should post on-line but am excited.

    We have permission to keep bees!

    A group of us have finally got agreement to let us set up an apiary. Now need to get my bee-keepers course organised ASAP as must do that and get my membership and insurance sorted out.

    Been wanting to do this for a couple of decades but had nowhere safe.

    So expect a bit of bee prattle over the next few months.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    RAS wrote: »
    Been wanting to do this for a couple of decades but had nowhere safe.

    So expect a bit of bee prattle over the next few months.


    you've bee-n wanting to do this, don't you mean?

    DH went on a course ready for this year....but we don't have the readies for equipment now :o next year maybe?
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 35,776 Forumite
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    you've bee-n wanting to do this, don't you mean?
    :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

    That's bad.

    We may be making some of our own kit, certainly will be making kits up. Decided on bee-keepers hoods over white boiler suits rather than full suits so the clothing is quite cheap.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • choille
    choille Posts: 9,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    RAS - That's wonderful buzzing news. They did courses in Ullapool but we didn't go for one reason or another but it is something I would like to do. They don't have that virus here I don't think.

    Funnily enough we just got a new client & she bee keeps to the point she sells the honey at a local farmers market. I think she has been doing it for many years.

    Many moons ago I had a BF who decided to keep bees but he didn't feed them in the Winter & they died. So that's about my knowledge - you have to feed them a sugar solution in the Winter & leave them some honey too or either or or....Good luck with it - how exciting.

    Well it was brightish & very cold today - everywhere sheet ice & incredibly slidey. I slithered about cleaning hen houses - gosh they get grotty at this time of year & very little besides doing the basics.

    Only one bid of £1.50 on my ebay booty - hardly gonna Paint Ma Wagon at this rate. Must stop checking for bids in an OCD fashion.
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 35,776 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I first thought about keeping them a long time ago but in the mid 90's my Scottish friends included a couple who kept bees pretty seriously. Which was when I learned how to prevent them swarming.
    Was not allowed to have them and then varroa (it is a nasty little "blood-sucking" mite which leaves the bees susceptible to other nasties including viruses) took hold and that put me off even asking for a while. They seem to have it more or less under control now, as long as you are vigilant, mainly semi-natural treatments like thymol and oxalic acid. Someone else I know locally had almost no varroa this year.

    If your local lady keeps her hives away from others, which would not be hard round your way, she could be completely varroa free. I know it has got into much of the central belt and above. The other problem we have is some of the agricultural sprays; they knock hives out. Again, not likely to be so much of a problem in your area.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • alfie_1
    alfie_1 Posts: 5,837 Forumite
    1,000 Posts
    is that right that this forum is gonna be shut on the 15th for the day!!! typical ....just when we want to wish choille all the best with thier SUN....
  • RAS
    RAS Posts: 35,776 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    alfie_1 wrote: »
    is that right that this forum is gonna be shut on the 15th for the day!!! typical ....just when we want to wish choille all the best with thier SUN....


    Oh.

    We will need to get on early and wish choille best SUN day before they close.

    I was planning to post late afternoon.

    And just to make it great, it is due to pee down here on Saturday. Need to get the fire stuff under cover before it starts.
    If you've have not made a mistake, you've made nothing
  • lostinrates
    lostinrates Posts: 55,283 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    OK...well...perhaps its nice it won't be on...if we are out with our fires;) what bout a fire at dusk knowing we aren't on to chat but burning our little choille pyres of luck and good wishes?
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