Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

pink_poppy said:

That's a posh home, I hope they appreciate it. How many are you getting??

We're only hatching 7 Cream Legbars, which is all the incubator takes. Assuming one pegs out and 50% are boys, that will give a grand total of 3. Legbars can be sexed at a day old. I don't like what has to be done, but it's far better than having a couple of fierce-looking almost grown cockerels to dispatch. Been there, hated that.

That's only the wee house for the young birds, They have a little run with that and live alongside the bigger birds, but can't then be bullied by them.

We'll try to hatch some Vorwerks next; a nice inquisitive and perky breed.

in_my_wellies

Davesnave said:

pink_poppy said:

That's a posh home, I hope they appreciate it. How many are you getting??

We're only hatching 7 Cream Legbars, which is all the incubator takes. Assuming one pegs out and 50% are boys, that will give a grand total of 3. Legbars can be sexed at a day old. I don't like what has to be done, but it's far better than having a couple of fierce-looking almost grown cockerels to dispatch. Been there, hated that.

That's only the wee house for the young birds, They have a little run with that and live alongside the bigger birds, but can't then be bullied by them.

We'll try to hatch some Vorwerks next; a nice inquisitive and perky breed.

Don't do what my nan's neighbour did and get it the wrong way round. As a 9 year old I can still remember seeing a run full of very beautiful, noisy cockerels. No idea what happened to them but I doubt they went to waste.  

Davesnave

in_my_wellies said:

Davesnave said:

pink_poppy said:

That's a posh home, I hope they appreciate it. How many are you getting??

We're only hatching 7 Cream Legbars, which is all the incubator takes. Assuming one pegs out and 50% are boys, that will give a grand total of 3. Legbars can be sexed at a day old. I don't like what has to be done, but it's far better than having a couple of fierce-looking almost grown cockerels to dispatch. Been there, hated that.

That's only the wee house for the young birds, They have a little run with that and live alongside the bigger birds, but can't then be bullied by them.

We'll try to hatch some Vorwerks next; a nice inquisitive and perky breed.

Don't do what my nan's neighbour did and get it the wrong way round. As a 9 year old I can still remember seeing a run full of very beautiful, noisy cockerels. No idea what happened to them but I doubt they went to waste.  

Ah, we have the interweb thing now with real pictures, so no excuse to get the chick ID wrong!

Another blooming hot day, this time with added wind. I suppose I should be glad that business is booming and the stock is reducing, but I'd rather see some wet stuff for our wildlife and less pressure on the seaside at the weekend. It'll be a free for all now.....

greenbee

We used to keep our cockerels until they started waking my dad up too early in the morning. Then they went in the freezer...

Agree with you about the rain Dave. We could do with wet weekends and nice weather during the week - much like normally happens when I'm only home at weekends! 

I've got a late start at work today (working US hours) so have been clearing a bit more water parsnip from the stream. It loves the hot weather, and there is still a bit of water in there (mostly because unlike my neighbours I don't remove any sign of life from the water) as well as lots of invertebrates and tiny weeny fish. I've got some chalk and flint (my sister-in-law is emptying and digging over all her borders, so the rubble is coming to me) that I can use to build some shape into it and help improve the flow, and have ordered some plants to supplement the things I'll move. Once I've cleared the channel I think I need to deal with the roots - there's a lot of soil on the stream bed which is full of roots, so I think I need to attempt to dredge it. On the bright side, the soil will come in handy for filling the raised beds! 

I have a lot of stream to deal with, but I'm trying to do a bit at a time and keep it under control - much as I attempt to do with the rest of the garden. Obviously the weeds don't always comply with that. 

I've been let down by my handyman - he's coming back to do the greenhouse at the end of next week, but was supposed to be here this week to do another raised bed and the compost area. So I've ordered a raised bed kit from a supplier I don't approve of, because it can be with me tomorrow, and will spend the weekend clearing the ground, building the bed, and sorting out the compost area. I may not be able to move next week... 

in_my_wellies

Streams are hard work. Mine averages only 3" but never dries completely.  It goes through the middle of the garden so I have both banks to control, 3' - 4' mostly grass slope each side. I would like to make the banks more interesting and wildlife friendly but just now I'm leaving as is. No fish although last August I discovered a 7" Koi carp happily taking cover in a deeper bit. Impossible for it to have swam here - marsh upstream and a grill downstream from my property. I was worried for it's safety so called a friend with a pond. It showed signs of damage caused by a beak so we concluded that it was one very lucky fish that had escaped from a passing heron/bird and just happened to land in my stream - but then again that sounds so far fetched it might have been a local playing a joke on me.  
So today I've had a sorting out day - dealing with all the left over bits and pieces there isn't room to plant in the row. So my plot has gone from neat straight lines to bit dotted everywhere. And I sold a couple of dozen that wouldn't fit anywhere to good homes.  
I coppiced a tree which gave me several 2.5 - 3m poles which I've used as a frame to cover a redcurrant. 
greenbee - so annoying when the handyman doesn't turn up but hopefully you will gain lots of satisfaction by doing the job yourself

greenbee

@in_my_wellies - I have both banks on one side, and one bank on the other. My neighbour opposite has abandoned the site (too wet to develop) so doesn't do anything other than grow nettles. It can be several feet deep, but at the moment there's not much water in it. It's also fairly wide (the front is artificially created and is far too canal-like which I need to fix), and I don't want to think how many feet of it I have to maintain. Too many! At the front, the garden bank is mostly meadowsweet, ragged robin, dierama, a variety of medium sized irises (siberica, laevigata) and primulas (the candelabra ones are finally doing something this year) in the grass. The hedge side is mostly mares tails, primroses, brambles and thistles. And the water is full of water parsnip... and water voles

I've done a lot of digging today. The last foot or so has a lot of grass in it, which is hard going but I'm hoping the hot weather will help dry the soil from the roots so I don't fill up my garden waste bag with soil which will be too heavy to move. I have at least got the garlic chives out at long last. And there are some roots from the old apple tree (taken out 3 years ago) to cut off. 

I think I need to plant some more courgettes - I may well have overwatered the first lot as they haven't germinated so I suspect they have rotted. I love courgettes. And courgette flowers... There's no such thing as too many courgettes!

Davesnave

Oh, I have stream envy now! Mine's completely dry. It's banks do have 3 kinds of fern, primroses and and lots of geranium phaeum, plus all the usual wild suspects, but I tend to write it off now until autumn and focus on the garden.

I agree there's no such thing as too many courgettes. Planted another 3 today, making 5 so far.

greenbee

Feel free to come and sort my stream out Dave! Most of the nature has been removed upstream, and was here - I'm trying to bring it back, but have come to the conclusion I'm going to have to do a tiny bit at a time. 

in_my_wellies

greenbee - Apart from the nettles your stream sounds perfect. I don't mind a few nettles but they don't stay in the one clump! Mine is 45 degree thick grass which I mow as far as I dare but then have to strim. Then the grass gets on the water.....
I planted all my old packets of seeds to see what came up. I didn't think seeds from marrows, pumpkins, courgettes, etc had a long shelf life but surprisingly most of them came up so this morning I had to find space for 13 varieties because I'm too indecisive to discard any. No wonder my plot gets in a muddle. I have 4 ordinary courgette. Only the giant pumpkin failed.
One coloured sweetcorn has germinated. That dates back to 2011, brought back from working in India, I found the three seeds in the suitcase I was throwing away. No brassica so far but I fear I cooked them in the greenhouse

greenbee

My stream is far from perfect! It’s FULL of bl***dy water parsnip which is invasive and unattractive and impossible to control. It could be lovely, but will take a lot of work and several years. My neighbours hate it - they don’t like nature, and aren’t keen on water voles as they damage the banks. Anyway, it’s a project!