My journey to a debt free life

Lifeisforliving19

Hi, been following you as ploppy 57 but had to change my username as password had a wappy today and wouldn't work or let me change it...lol. So following your journey still, but under a new name. My new diary is LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD, if you want to pop over.


Never occurred to me that chicken don't lay so many eggs in the winter, shows what I know about country living....:rotfl: I just buy FR eggs from the Greengrocer and he gets them from the local farm. I really should find out where the farm is and cut out the middle man.

foxgloves

Awww, poor chickens OBL. You threatening them with the casserile dish reminded me of family stories of one of my great, great aunts, who when she needed to feed extended family, would head off down the garden with the chopper & chase the oldest, least good egg layer among her chickens. She apparently also grew the best rhubarb because it's where she shovelled out the earth privy!

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge wrote: »

Re: your journals... have you looked into the Bullet journal method? I tried it a in a modified form a couple of years ago (couldn't get the hang of the symbols) but I got the book on Kindle recently and am gradually working my way through it. Reading it from the originator rather than Pinterest where it's all amazing artwork has given me a new insight into how it its meant to work.

Hope you are feeling better today.

Hi Cherry,my DD uses bullet journals and I thought it was too much of a fuss ,who is the originator? I will have a look

Onebrokelady

HairyHandofDartmoor wrote: »

That podcast about minimalism sounds really interesting, but I wouldn't want to take it too far either.

I love the idea of you threatening your chickens with the casserole dish :rotfl:. I buy free range eggs and it's one of the few food items where I don't buy the cheapest, but I do wonder exactly how free the chickens really are, they're probaably cooped in up in some horrible crowded barn but at least I know they're not in cages. When/if we ever have a larger food budget I'd like to buy eggs from chickens that really are free to run around outside and indulge in normal chicken behaviour like scratching in the soil.

Hi Hairy,normally if it says free range on the box they have to have a large area to roam around during the day then at night they are kept in large sheds, then you have barn eggs where the hens are loose but in a barn all the time with lights on tomake them lay more as they lay according to light levels, then there are the new enriched cages which are slightly bigger than the old battery cages although not much bigger,I think each hen has about an A4 piece size of papers worth of space each,they have to have perches and areas to dust bath but they aren't at all good for the hens
The hens go into the farm at 18 old weeks where they are forced to lay all the time until they get to 72 weeks old then they are removed and slaughtered unless they are picked up by a rescue and a new Batch moves in to start all over again, they go for over 30 days without being cleaned out and the ammonia that builds up is awful and damages their lungs,that's why people wear face masks in the sheds
This is why I don't like buying eggs,Sainsbury's do woodland eggs where the hens are allowed out all day under the cover of trees,this is their preferred habitat then they are shut in at night,left to their own devices in the wild they would roost up in the trees

redofromstart

The traditional description is that they don't lay between bonfire night and Valentine's Day - but it depends on age, breed and the weather. My local farm shop was selling 20 for £1 last week, due to the relatively good weather they had a stockpile to clear. When I read about yours it makes me thin' I should get some again, but luckily you post about clearing them out which reminds what a pain that was.

Onebrokelady

Lifeisforliving19 wrote: »

Hi, been following you as ploppy 57 but had to change my username as password had a wappy today and wouldn't work or let me change it...lol. So following your journey still, but under a new name. My new diary is LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD, if you want to pop over.


Never occurred to me that chicken don't lay so many eggs in the winter, shows what I know about country living....:rotfl: I just buy FR eggs from the Greengrocer and he gets them from the local farm. I really should find out where the farm is and cut out the middle man.

Hi,loving the new name,I will pop over to your diary and subscribe

If they are left to lay naturally the breed of hens I own now have a break in the winter because they lay according to the light levels,so when it's longer nights and shorter days they stop laying for a bit,they also sometimes stop laying if they are moulting as their body puts all its energy into producing new feathers rather than eggs

Battery hens that have been rescued normally carry on laying every single day no matter what happens because they don't know any different and their bodies have been forced to lay by keeping them in sheds with daylight lamps on all the time, this is why they are usually so weak and ill when they come out the sheds and don't live as long as non battery hens,they are simply exhausted

Onebrokelady

redofromstart wrote: »

The traditional description is that they don't lay between bonfire night and Valentine's Day - but it depends on age, breed and the weather. My local farm shop was selling 20 for £1 last week, due to the relatively good weather they had a stockpile to clear. When I read about yours it makes me thin' I should get some again, but luckily you post about clearing them out which reminds what a pain that was.

When I first started keeping hens I had ex battery hens and they laid everyday the whole year even though I would have been glad if they had had a rest to be honest, I then bought a Bovans Nero and a Colombian Black tail and they laid for most of the year with a short break in the middle of winter,the hens ive got now are a lowman Brown and the other I can't remember and they laid up until about two weeks ago,I will be interested to see how long they go without laying, I think they are both coming into their third year so they will slow down anyway

As far as cleaning them out goes,I don't mind if it's cold and dry or frosty it's when it is chucking it down with rain that I get fed up,everything just gets so muddy really quickly and it spreads everywhere,I have mine on the patio now so that helps keep the mud down

Onebrokelady

Had a lovely day at the beach today,the dog was in heaven and the weather although fresh was really nice,it wasn't too windy so that kept the temperature from falling too far,Im shattered now though, all that sea air has made me very sleepy

I was washing the dishes earlier and I decided to count my cutlery,I have 22 dessert spoon,21 knives,22 forks and 22 teaspoons,who the hell needs that much cutlery:eek::rotfl:
Guess what I'm getting rid of next:rotfl:

Onebrokelady

foxgloves wrote: »

Awww, poor chickens OBL. You threatening them with the casserile dish reminded me of family stories of one of my great, great aunts, who when she needed to feed extended family, would head off down the garden with the chopper & chase the oldest, least good egg layer among her chickens. She apparently also grew the best rhubarb because it's where she shovelled out the earth privy!

I think mine know I'm a vegetarian so they don't take me seriously :rotfl:,
I put my chickens poop in my compost bin to rot down for the garden,it's very good but very potent so you have to let it rot a lot before you can use it

HairyHandofDartmoor

Onebrokelady wrote: »

Hi Hairy,normally if it says free range on the box they have to have a large area to roam around during the day then at night they are kept in large sheds, then you have barn eggs where the hens are loose but in a barn all the time with lights on tomake them lay more as they lay according to light levels, then there are the new enriched cages which are slightly bigger than the old battery cages although not much bigger,I think each hen has about an A4 piece size of papers worth of space each,they have to have perches and areas to dust bath but they aren't at all good for the hens
The hens go into the farm at 18 old weeks where they are forced to lay all the time until they get to 72 weeks old then they are removed and slaughtered unless they are picked up by a rescue and a new Batch moves in to start all over again, they go for over 30 days without being cleaned out and the ammonia that builds up is awful and damages their lungs,that's why people wear face masks in the sheds
This is why I don't like buying eggs,Sainsbury's do woodland eggs where the hens are allowed out all day under the cover of trees,this is their preferred habitat then they are shut in at night,left to their own devices in the wild they would roost up in the trees

That does sound horrible. My eggs definitely say free range so at least the hens have a bit of freedom in the day. When I'm richer I will definitely buy woodland eggs from Mr S, if I don't have my own hens.