Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

rhiwfield

Davesnave wrote: »

Perhaps if they bred guinea fowl instead of pheasants......

If we had a tick problem, I'd keep them, noise, or no noise. (But probably noise!:rotfl:)

Jury's out on their tick control effectiveness, this is the nay camp

Itismehonest

Personally, I doubt whether they'd be effective. Particularly not in an area with so many predators. What didn't get them on the ground would get them from the sky.

It's rather like the chickens eat slugs thing. Yes, they will eat some (usually the smaller ones & not, as far as I've ever seen, the large red & large black) but they won't really make in-roads on a large scale. Neither would hedgehogs unless there were a great many of them. Hedgehogs, that is, not slugs.:)

Rummer

Ticks are horrid, I was really surprised a few years ago when our cat kept coming in with them as we are in the middle of a big city and are surrounded by homes and gardens. Mind you not seen any for a couple of years but I am always on the lookout for them.

Finally feeling as if we are getting on top of the house although there is still loads to do. I mean that from a tidying not DIY point of view we still need to restart the DIY again. The sunny weather helps though as it means I can get the laundry hung out and the smell of air dried laundry is lovely

Davesnave

I suppose the best current answer then is to drench the sheep and let them give the ticks a fatal dose of acaricide.

Must admit, I've never seen a hen eat a slug.

Our electric's due for a planned outage soon, so I'm off to do some more roofing.

Itismehonest

Davesnave wrote: »

I suppose the best current answer then is to drench the sheep and let them give the ticks a fatal dose of acaricide.

Must admit, I've never seen a hen eat a slug.

Our electric's due for a planned outage soon, so I'm off to do some more roofing.

Only the ticks on the sheep would die, Dave. What about the ones on all the other animals (from mice to stag & so on) & all those just sitting waiting in the bracken for the next passer-by?

The only way to reduce ticks is to make the environment less appealing. As we don't want to get rid of all the wildlife then tackling the bracken where they shelter is one of the few things that can be done.
However, as explained here
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/outdoors-beware-the-bracken-fronds-1167816.html
it's becoming increasingly hard to do it even for those of us who want to. People like the beloved Truss have never even wanted to try around here which has allowed the bracken to get out of hand & made everyone else's work twice as hard.
When a few more people end up with Lyme's Disease & take them to court they will probably start to sit up & listen. They're always paranoid about litigation.

rhiwfield

Davesnave wrote: »

Must admit, I've never seen a hen eat a slug.

Our electric's due for a planned outage soon, so I'm off to do some more roofing.

I'd heard it was ducks that loved slugs but dont know if its true

So is the outage anything to do with pole removal

All this talk of ticks is making me itchy

Got pigeons eating my Cavolo Nero and blackbird burglars getting thru the soft fruit netting :mad:

This sunny weather and long days is allowing the pv to play catch up after a bad winter and spring. Got some logs in the GH, it must be drying them quickly with low humidity, airflow and temps of over 100F. Will get a couple of cubic metres in there tomorrow, taking care with all that glass :eek:. The rest will go in log stores for the following winter and I'll be ordering kiln dried for this winter to stack in the garage. I'll be watching the guy doing the stacking tomorrow, barely managed to get on my feet earlier

Itismehonest

rhiwfield wrote: »

I'd heard it was ducks that loved slugs but dont know if its true

So is the outage anything to do with pole removal

All this talk of ticks is making me itchy

Got pigeons eating my Cavolo Nero and blackbird burglars getting thru the soft fruit netting :mad:

This sunny weather and long days is allowing the pv to play catch up after a bad winter and spring. Got some logs in the GH, it must be drying them quickly with low humidity, airflow and temps of over 100F. Will get a couple of cubic metres in there tomorrow, taking care with all that glass :eek:. The rest will go in log stores for the following winter and I'll be ordering kiln dried for this winter to stack in the garage. I'll be watching the guy doing the stacking tomorrow, barely managed to get on my feet earlier

Sorry to hear you're suffering, rhiw. Don't go mad & overdo it in the sunny weather.

Sorry, too, to hear about the birds raiding your produce.

Yes, ducks & geese will eat small snails but, again, not the mega ones.
Most people have ordinary common garden slugs (around 3cm long when mature). We have the large red & large balck (about 12cm)
Slug identification for those who want to know the identity of what they'd happily like to murder
These big things require something that can chew to dispose of them. They'd choke anything which has to deal with them whole -pale_

Rummer

Rhiw sorry to hear your back has gone again, it is so painful. Try to take it easy and relax in your garden today.

I started to weed the paths and gave in after about 10 mins as it is so hot guess I will be working little and often today. Think I am going to whip up a wee batch of scones so we can have a cream tea in the garden later, yum.

rhiwfield

Just checked GH aka solar oven. 110F and 5% humidity, all with lower and upper vents open so decent airflow Must be working!

Might be easier though, to buy seasoned logs or not buy half way thru the summer

I read the news story today about insulating inappropriately and heat deaths. My old duplex apartment in London was south facing, big balcony windows facing due south. The saving grace was that the bedroom was downstairs facing north. Shorts and a thin t-shirt were de rigeur both summer and winter as heat could not escape, temperatures were very unpleasant on those hot, lifeless sunny days and stifling nights

Davesnave

Hmm.....just got £50 off my car insurance by going with the Dog instead of Old Fogeys United. DW reduced hers by £70.

Take it easy rhiwfield. At least it's a good time to be sitting down with a good book, laptop, or whatever. I'm waiting for the temps to come down a bit, as I'm literally like the cat on a hot tin roof ATM. Yes, I wanted dry for this job, but.......:o

The hay is being turned twice a day. should Should be dry and baled in no time.

Oh, the electric was nothing to do with the Pole. That's probably being quietly ignored, as the person responsible for moving it in the first place has probably been selected to move it again.....:mad:
I will give the 8 weeks, then more grief. Didn't want them here before haymaking anyway.