Rebuild!

The tractor has a nice new home! We have renewed the old garage with a nice new tin skin so the tractor, and a few other bits and bobs, can stay nice and dry and warmish through the winter!

Doing the splits

Well splitting logs to be precise! Andrew cleared the branches over hanging the fields so after burning the smaller bits earlier this week we spent today splitting the larger bits ready for next winter.

Also this week one of the geese started laying again for some strange reason and as andrew had seen them mating we are incubating them, bit of a punt we know as very late in the year. We also now have a fancy fully automatic incubator so good way to give it a test run if nothing else!

Pecking order!

We have moved two of the chickens into a different group and it's caused a definate pecking order we arn't letting you join our group scenario! They are getting pecked less and getting to the feeder eventually but a slow process! They are still young just hope when they get to laying age they will be able to hold there own and fit in albeit still at the bottom as they will be the largest in the group when they reach full size!
The one plus is that Layer who was at the bottom before has moved up the rankings!

Chicken hunt!

We decided two of the young chickens were old enough to be moved in with the yard chickens today however when we came to put them away nowhere to be seen! After half an hour of searching we found then in the hedge row near where we had left them!

Running hot and cold!

We now have two taps in the kitchen, one only for the hot the other only for the cold! Anyone who has visited in the last year or so that will make sense. :-) Also we now have a splash back for the sink also!

Benchmark!

Or should I say setting the benchmark, we have poured the concrete into the mould which should hopefully make a bench/table out of the three tree stumps left from when we had the trees taken out from behind the house, thanks to H&A!
Once it has set we will be making the final surface out of bits and pieces into a mosaic, sounds odd I know but when finished it should be functial and fun to look at!

Potatoes and tractors!

Well the day started with pulling up the first of our potatoes which are looking very good. I also pulled up a few of the beetroot which are very tasty.

The afternoon involved us collecting a shiny blue tractor, second hand but had been very well looked after. If the weather holds out we can top the fields and get the chickens back in their big run which they will appreciate I'm sure!

That sinking feeling!

Bit of an update, we now also have a new sink in the bathroom so all that is left to do is touching up the paint on the walls and the floor! 

Part of the reason for no blogging for a while was because we were away on a NT working holiday in the Brecon Beacons which was as always great fun albeit a bit tiring and on occation a bit wet also!

The gosling is getting very big and the chicks are also more like mini chickens and will be out in the larger enclosure very soon which may be interesting to get them back into their home from! 

Showers!

Well more than one kind of shower! Firstly the kind from the sky which is a welcome break from having to water the raised beds. We have added a 'tyre' bed a 'sleeper' bed and a 'mud gard bed' the latter with thanks to Aaron filled with asparagus and rhubarb.

The second kind of shower is related to the bathroom where we are finally tiling so we can also finally fit the shower which has been sitting in a box for over a year!

This is of course on top of the daily routine of looking after the ever growing flock, sulky our silkie cross is sitting at the moment so we are letting her to see how she does as it is nice to see mums raise young... The geese are lovely to watch as a family looking after their gosling.

Gosling!!

Our two mums have hatched a sweet little gosling! All the geese are acting as a very protective family. There are still two eggs they are still sitting on but it has been several days since the first hatched so not expecting any more but they have proved good partents so I'm sure we will get more next year!

More fencing!

Well the fencing around the raised beds is finished with the addition of a large tank of water ready for all this sunshine we are going to get!? Also 4 beds are now full of potatoes. I'm hopeing to get more planting out done in the next day or so!

Sadly we have lost one of the ducks to a fox which had got in through a gap in the fence, now fixed with sonar scarers in place to make it not a nice place to visit again.

On the up side our last lot of eggs we incubated returned 5 out of 6 to hatch so we now have a total of 10 chicks at various ages keeping us on our toes!

Fencing...

No not the sword kind, got home from work to find one line of fence up around the raised beds and a war wounded Andrew who had been hammering his finger as well as the posts! I'm off work tommorow so at least he will have a second pair of hands to help him hold the posts up, will be keeping my hands well clear though!

Sunshine on a rainy day...

Today was cloudy and rainy not good for the instalation of our nice new solar panel, photos and how well it works to follow!

Tomorrow we are off to a smallholders show at the Royal Welsh showground which should be interesting!

Other news is that Dodger has more room to play as we have installed eletric fencing to give him a bigger area and the oldest of the new chicks is in his old run inside the new area so they can see each other safely. Also we have nearly finished enclosing the allotment area ready to be used safe in the knowledge our feathered friends can't damage the young plants!

A whole load of manure

That's what we were shoveling today into the new raised beds :-) Although still need to add a lot more soil to them also ready for the seedlings I am planting in the greenhouse at the moment which comprises of carrots, cabbage, leeks, onions, garlic, parsnips for starters. Also planted tomato and pepper seeds but they will be staying in the greenhouse.

New arrivals!

Well we have two new arrivals in the form of two more Light Sussex chicks one hatched before I left for work yesterday and the other had hatched when I got home. Both seem lively and chatty!

Although we have also a unwanted arrival in the form of scaly leg mite on Dodger, he must have brought them with him when we got him but only recently started showing symptoms so we have started treatment today and although kept seperate we are treating all the chickens as can take a while for symptoms to show as the mites are tiny little blighters, the fun bit will be catching Henna and Sulky to treat them!

Bed Time!

Well whilst I have been working Andrew has been busy putting in new planting beds so we will have plenty of room for the seedlings I have been sowing in the greenhouse. Looking at the amount of beds I will have to plant a lot more seeds!!

Brave Chicken

Poor Leya one of our chickens was looking under the weather today on her own lying under a bush. When I went over she made no attempt to get up so I picked her up and took her indoors, she ate food I offered her which was a good sign but there was definatly something wrong. She seemed as though she wanted me to help her, I've noticed that with the other birds when there is a problem. On giving her a check over found her right leg was warm and on inspecting her leg found her pad was swollen. Andrew took a look and we found a splinter in her foot. When we pulled it out I thought she was very brave, only whimpered a bit at the end... It was a huge hawthorn thorn over half an inch long and fairly thick. If I had been her It would be more than a whimper, no wonder she didn't want to walk or move. She seems much better now just holding it up a little as still must be sore, we will be giving her a check and cleaning the pad again over the next few days.

It's back!

The snow that is! Falling heavily at the moment let's hope it doesn't stick specially now I'm back at work. I don't think the birds are too impressed about it either. At least the new chick is inside in the warm!

Nearly out of the woods!

Well ok wood to be precise! Andrew has split all of the wood from the trees we had felled, no easy task. All we have left now is a smallish pile of wood out the front that needs processing and hopefully that will be it for the year.

We were going to put up the last three raised beds today weather dependant it's raining heavily at the moment so I shall make some bread and see if it gets better if not we will be finishing putting the water in for the washing machine hopefully another dry task!

Tresspassers!

Tresspassers!

One fluffy chick

Well we have had one chick hatch and is the iconic yellow fluffy chick and very cute although it seems like it will be the only one to hatch. Photo to be posted soon!

It's been rainy on and off here so it was an indoor job day, we managed to get most of the plumbing sorted for the washing machine which we are moving into the utility area once we have done that it will be on to tileing the floor!

Pipping time!

Well the first egg has pipped now it is A waiting game to see how they do. It's amazing how such small weak creatures make it out of the shell that even I can struggle with when breaking an egg to cook with it!

Not much happening!

Due to spending the last two days there hasn't been much happening as we have been trying to fix my computer.

In other news we have 6 eggs in the incubator and hopefully there will be some little chicks in a few days time... I'm not expecting all of them to hatch as when I candled them one looked chickless and two a little on the small size but from experience that doesn't mean a failure sometimes just late hatchers!

Busy busy busy

Well we have been very busy mainly with plaster board! At least all the main bits are done, just a lot of filling to do now.
We also now have a lovely new woodburner in the study so no longer freezing on that side of the house.

Also on the wood theme the ugly trees at the back of the house are no longer thanks to the expert felling by my sisters other half which left us with lots of wood to process. Most of it is done now just some large logs to be split and the back of the old landy to be emptied.

Finally I now have the ability to post remotly without turning my main computer so easier for me to post but I can't add pictures so I will add them as and when I go on to my main comp!

More snow and a hint of sunshine!

Well as you will see from the photo of Dodger our new light sussex cockeral who we so named as he was the only one of a flock to survive a fox attack from the people we got him from. We were thinking of branching off on to light sussex as they are a dual bird, good for egs and the table and he is quite a hansome lad, just need to get some girls for him!

Apart from today the weather has been poor so we have been getting on with indoor winter jobs which at the moment means a fair bit of plaster boarding! The photo's are from the living room and 'dog room' getting ready for the plaster board. We have now done the living room apart from a bit of touching up and painting, quite a bit more to go though!!

As the weather was good today I managed to dig over the second raised bed and top it up, just one more to dig over and 3 more to make from scratch!!

A head start!

Well we have started to prepare the kitchen celing for putting up plaster board so less heat goes into the room above! Although it will mean where I am sitting now will get colder! Can't have it both ways I suppose!

She's back!

Well after the old Landy going bang last year we wasn't sure of what her fate would be but she has had an engine transplant and is back home ready to pull her weight again!

Andrew has also fitted electrics into the BT van back ready for it's role as a workshop and I have cleaned out the green house ready for this years crops to be grown..a little while off yet but it's ready for use now!

Snow stops play!

Well we have gone as far as we can with the utility room but due to the snow we can't finish as we have to order in some plaster board to finish the job and the last bit of the road is still impassable for delivery trucks. Though it does mean we can start prepping the ceilings as we need to plasterboard them as well so will be doing one bulk order...which should be interesting!

It is still snowing but this should be the last day we hope (not that the weather forcasts have been great for this area!)

Minus 13!

That's what the temperature was here last night and not feeling much warmer now the flocks are on extra food and straw rations to help keep them snug and not feeling the cold as much we hope! Yesterday the Aylesburys had ice stuck to them after washing themselves, thankfully they sat in the sun after and defrosted themselves!

We have also been working on on back entrance way which we have been insulating ready to move the washing machine etc in there.

Snow glorious snow!

Well I know I haven't been on for a while but Andrew has managed to speed my internet connection up so should be much easier to do a quick log in and post now rather than taking ages for me to get connected!

Well lot's has been going on so I'll stick to the basics, firstly we have got a repacement for the Landy which has been named Hobson as we had little choice about the one we got but she has proved her worth already with all this snow! Talking of snow we were snowed in for several days which was an adventure in it's self (ask my Sister and her boyfriend who got snowed in with us!)

Talking of snow it has just started snowing again, what fun, but at least it looks nice...as long as it's thawed in time for me to take my car for it's service!

We are currently dry lining the 'dog room' which is going to be our utlity room when we've finished giving us more room in the kitchen.

We also now with kind thanks to my Sisters boyfriend have a BT van back as a workshop/store which will be very useful.

Also for Christmas we had one of our own birds for dinner which did benefit from the fact it was free range and well looked after rather than a factory produce.

I will try and update on our progress once a week rather than randomly but may not put photo's each time, I will see how it goes!