the daydream fund challenge thread

Itismehonest

alfie_1 wrote: »

i remember when i used to breed rare breed pheasants , i had a beut pair and i went to feed one morning and it looked like they had been in a lawn mower accident...i have ,and hope never to again, seen anything like it..... MINK !! they had anialated them . everything every where...
im no shooter but i sat and waited that evening [i left the remnants in the aviary] and hey ho ,they came up and along the tall old brick wall and i wacked em with my gun ! bit like a fair ground game ! i knew there was mink further down the beaulieu river but had never had a problem till then and never again after ??

Yes, this was one year when the water levels were well up. It must have followed the stream up the hill from the river in the valley.
Ours was sneaky. It was obviously picking off the nearest thing it could find & taking it off. It must have been really clever because the hen house was less than 30ft from where we were sleeping & there was never a sound! It had stolen a number of chicks & a couple of banties but picking on a large duck which it couldn't so easily drag off was it's ondoing. There was no way it could squeeze it through the small hole at the bottom corner of the shed door. It must have had a good try though as it succeeded with the head end &, having waited until it thought the coast was clear, was on its' way back for the body when the door was open.

DH cornered it & shot it in the shed. The neighbours were :eek: "You cornered mink?!". He probably wouldn't have done it that way if he'd stopped & thought about it ......... vicious little b*ggers.

alfie_1

sorry pic is so big but so is mabel..........

Lotus-eater

alfie_1 wrote: »

sorry pic is so big but so is mabel..........

Mmmm sausages

Rummer

Oh she looks so happy all snuggled up in her straw

Davesnave

Itismehonest wrote: »

DH cornered it & shot it in the shed. The neighbours were :eek: "You cornered mink?!". He probably wouldn't have done it that way if he'd stopped & thought about it ......... vicious little b*ggers.

They are. When I was a teenager I sent my dog after one and she came off second best, though I didn't see the actual fight. Dog came back tail between legs though.

But you can't keep a good dog down. Months later, the dog went partially into a riverside hole after another. It left via a second exit, straight up my back and into a bank-side tree. That was :eek: !

lostinrates

The geese will not come in to night, and i am not going top go swimming.


The gate isn't hung very high, they must have really shimmied under with determination!

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

these are some of the ones we got

http://www.7sheds.com/8%20x%204%20ken&run.JPG

That's a great shed company! Looked at their site.

Our shed co is similar. Personally, I'd not use anything else but a shed for the main chicken house 'cos grovelling's no fun and I like the nest boxes inside, detachable for cleaning etc.

But it costs! Luckily, DW did a little job last year which paid for the latest shed. That's still in the barn in bits being Creocoted, and it's far too muddy to think about making a base for it yet. At 10' x 6' it will need stabilising too, I think, so I'll concrete a couple of 5" posts behind and in front of the long sides, just in case.

Mind you, it should be possible to get at least 20 years from a shed. Looked at over time, it's not a huge cost per year.

alfie_1

Mind you, it should be possible to get at least 20 years from a shed. Looked at over time, it's not a huge cost per year.

my dad has a garden shed 8x6 that must be at least 50yrs old. hes had it 48 years and he bought it 2nd hand !!:)
as a child i can remember it being the winter quarters for all our guinea pigs [hutches] it then moved house with them and then when i was 17 i bought a foal and didnt tell my parents ! i waited till they were out and then cut the door in half and put the foal in it !! they came home to find all the tools and mower in another outhouse... my mum just said on seeing my foal..."i knew you were up to something"....:D then made our tea !!:rotfl:
it has been refelted several times and is treated every other year...admitedly it leans slightly now .....

Davesnave

Caution being my middle name, I've just returned from a fun time outside, draining down the water pipes to the troughs and taps. We have 10 taps, so if I start by opening the top ones and end at the bottom of the slope, there's a good chance the system will empty itself.

Wish I'd looked at the forecast a bit sooner!

choille

Well, yesterday was glorious & we got several sacks of seaweed from the top of the Loch & a load of driftwood too. The wild goats are dropping kids like some drop 'h''s. One had one as we walked the shore - amazing.

Very cold day & still so dizzy it's annoying me now.