I was away during the half-term week in Wales. I thought I'd share with you some of the fantastic photos my brother took of the day at Welsh Mountain Zoo..
I also visited Chester Zoo on the way home, if any of the pictures are good enough then I'll post them on the blog at a later date.
Good Night,
Martin
In yesterdays paper there was a lovely picture of a hen with her brood of..... ducklings!
Apparently the owners mistakenly placed duck eggs under the hen instead of chicken eggs, resulting in a lovely group of ducklings. Cornflake doesn't seem to know the difference though....
Have a good day,
Martin
No, don't have a heart attack! I do not have any guinea fowl, and I will not be getting any either. But I would just like to tell everyone how fantastic their eggs are, I bought 18 from a local place last week, and I have had some this week and they are delicious. They are just a little bit bigger than a bantam egg. The one obvious thing is that you can't crack the things open! The shells were so hard, they required several huge SMACKS and I mean SMACKS in order to crack a little chip in the thing. Normally with the hen eggs it's one or two tame taps and it cracks, but these were something else!
After I had eaten them I baked the eggshells in the oven for about 10 minutes so that they were nice and brittle and I smashed them into small pieces and eggshell bits and gave them to the chickens. Emile has quite weak shells and so does Alice, so these were a welcome calcium boost and hopefully their own eggshells will harden up soon! They aren't delicate or anything but they aren't as hard as the other girls eggs, if you drop one of their eggs there is a good chance it will survive.
Guinea Fowl were something I did consider hatching last year and selling on, but thankfully I didn't as the noise they produce is horrible! These strange birds are definately a thing for the future, but not just yet.
I'm off to Wales next week, near Abergele so that will be a nice long drive on Sunday night, not. But I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing week away. We've got a few interesting things packed into the week, and talking of packing.... I suppose I'd better do some.
Have a good day,
Martin
The ducks have been outside in the run all day, they have really enjoyed being outside, I've brought them back into the brooder now so they don't get cold overnight. I'll keep doing this, weather providing for a couple of weeks until they are ready to go outside on a full time basis. I haven't come up with any names yet, so any suggestions are more than welcome.
Last month, I bought a new chicken to replace Florence who died in September last year. She is a lovely looking girl, despite her common ginger appearance she has some lovely white markings on her back. Ever since she has arrived she has laid an egg every day, often in the most unusual and hard to get to places, under bushes in old rabbit hutches, under the bbq, the list goes on..
Recently she has developed some naughty habbits. Despite clipping her wings she refuses to stay in her pen, she constantly hops over the fence and into the rest of the garden, eating plants as she goes along and digging holes in the lawn. She has turned the decking into a potty and she is constantly sqwarking, setting off the rest of the flock! She is a little devil. But hey ho, we like her all the same.
Chickens, you've gotta love them!
Have a good day,
Martin
Well the metaphorical ladder to self-sufficiency that is.
After keeping chickens, having an allotment, keeping quail and bees, it is now time to step up the ladder to self-sufficiency and diverge in to a new area. My girlfriend, Amy, has had ducks for a few months now and reared one of them from a tiny, fluffy, yellow, duckling, and it has been very pleasuring to help her look after it The arrival of a Cayuga Duck and Drake increased egg yield and potential for fertility and further ducklings amongst her group of ducks, that was until a few days ago when the drake vanished out of it's run and away, we don't know what time it went or where it has gone to, but it has vanished and has not been seen since. The 2 remaining ducks are doing well though, and the cayuga is laying a lovely, greeny-blue coloured egg each day. The aylesbury, which was raised from a duckling should be laying in a month or so.
I've never personally kept ducks before, never as fully grown adults or a ducklings. But that has changed. As of today I am the owner of two Blue Indian Runner Ducks (or drakes, fingers crossed they are ducks!). They are currently little baby ducklings, only a few days old, and I purchased them from a breeder who sells his stock at the Henley on Arden Poultry Market on a Wednesday. It is important to look for signs of ill health when buying from a market, as disease can spread easily, but the ducklings look very fit and healthy and since they have come home they have been wallowing down chick crumb and guzzling water.
Keeping ducks is the logical step onwards from keeping chickens and bees. I only want a couple, the odd egg would be nice. I am hoping for either two ducks or a pair (one duck, one drake), the bonus of eggs will be a welcome addition to the yield. If they are both drakes I doubt they will stay with us, they may be sold or I may even rear them on as growers for meat. If I decide ducks really are not for me and my small town garden, then my girlfriend will either take them, or I have seen these Blue Runner Ducks go for £35 a pair, so that is quite a large mark up on the few pounds I paid for them. I am really excited about my time with ducks, something completly new and refreshing.
As I type they are sitting quietly under the heat lamp in the home made brooder. I missed having chicks this year, but hopefully these ducklings will rekindle my desire to keep chicks and raise them next year.
Also at the market, I bought 18 guinea fowl eggs, so tempting to incubate, they fetch a fair bit, but it would be completly impractical in our circumstances, and their loud gobble will certainly tip the neighbours over the edge! I collected a 20kg bag of corn, bran and wheat for the chickens, it costs £4.50 on average at auction, more than a half price saving of what it sells for in the shops. I managed to get some good, strong butternut squash plants for 30p each too, which saves me the hassle of buying then growing from seed!
Poultry, Produce and egg markets are not all bad, there are some real great bargains to be had, especially if you know what you are doing and looking out for!
Enjoy your day,
Martin
After keeping bees for almost a year now, I can hand on heart say that it is a truly rewarding and extremly interesting hobby. The result of keeping bees should be many a jar of honey, but in recent years the honey yield has depreciated and so has the number of honey bees, not only in the UK but worldwide. There are many diseases circulating through hives in the world, the Vorroa mite is a hive destroyer whereas the more recent CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) is also wiping out colonies of bees, most profoundly in the Americas.
Starting with bees can be expensive. It cost me about £250 to get started with bees, the cost of hive, frames, suit, tools, association membership etc. soon adds up. I was fortunate enough to have a fresh nucleus of bees given to me by the local bee keeping association, but if you look on the internet now, associations are finding it more difficult to supply bees to new keepers and the price of bees and hives with bees has soared through the roof. But in general it is a price worth paying.
It shocked me the other day to hear that somebody phoned the council when they discovered a swarm of bees, only to be told by the nonce on the end that the only solution would be to gas them. Excuse me, do you watch the news. RECORD LOW NUMBERS OF HONEY BEES!
Thankfully, yesterday afternoon my grandad's neighbours did not call the council. They live in sheltered accomodation and the warden thankfully called a beekeeper to remove them. It was the most interesting thing, I have never seen anything like it in my life. The beekeeper who was collecting them was not present when I arrived but I got up close and had a look, it was amazing and the buzzing was deafening.
The beekeeper who turned up had come from about 10 miles away, and he was very friendly. I told him how I was a beekeeper and he was as pleased to meet me as I was him. It was the most interesting process, a waiting game.
It took about an hour to gather all of the bees, and I obviously took photos of the whole process...
On first inspection...
10 minutes later, he's back with a smoker and skep.
They were not budging from the branch, so he cut it off, look at all the bees! If you look closely, they look like lots of little dots, no way was I going any where near at this point, especially as I was wearing no protection.
He went off for a while. Will they go into the skep? The waiting game begins..
After about 45 minutes, the main bulk of the swarm was inside the skep, only the last few straglers were making their way in now, as you can see..
All in! The beekeeper asked me if I would like them, but I told him I do not have a spare hive. So off he took them to his home where he has a hive ready and prepared.
Being so close to somebody collecting a swarm was unbelievable, the gentleman was so kind and offered me lots of good advice.
He stressed the importance for people to start up in the hobby. Beekeepers will be in such demand in a few years time, and I guarantee you that honey prices will soar through the roof, you watch.
Our entire agricultural system depends on the honey bee, and therefore it is important we do not ignore the importance of this tiny creature. I know you won't, but they will, they being the government. There are many a petition going around to make a force for more funding into bee research. With your help, by signing this petition you have made your difference.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Honeybees/
Have a good day,
Martin
I had a really enjoyable bank holiday monday, and come Tuesday I was dreading going back to school, after one day.
On Monday we travelled up to Northampton to pick up a rablu for my aunty, it was in perfect condition and we got it for a bargain price. We had travelled for an hour there and we were starving, we couldn't find a place to eat in sight, but we were travelling down one road and Amy spotted a sign saying come and see our new lambs and chicks with an arrow pointing to the right, I checked my mirrors and quickly braked, switched on the indicators and pulled in. Down the long, windy path was a little nursery, a lovely cafe and a farm shop. We had a snoop round the farm shop and then we paid a pound to go and see the petting farm. We also bought a bottle to feed the lambs with, one each.
The lambs were adorable and so were the young goats, there were also lots of ducks and ducklings and some beautiful Cochin chicks, I almost popped a couple in my pockets. It was such a relaxed environment and we spent an hour there, doing various things. The set out of the petting farm was second to none, it was so cosy and the animal pens and vegetable patches were in close proximity, and it was so quiet and calm.
When we approached the lambs, they could see us coming and were straight up against the fence demanding their bottle of milk.
Amy went first..
I couldn't wait to have a go...
The bottles soon went, but we stayed watching them play with each other and they let us stroke them for some time.
Look at their sad faces when it was time to go..
We returned the bottles and set off on our drive home, we were only driving for twenty minutes when I saw a sign for another farm shop. You guessed it, braked, indicator, pulled in. It was extremly busy, and I soon realised why. It was free, they had a huge free range chicken unit, lots of sheep in fields and lots of pigs. The most amazing thing was that all of the pigs were kept in the woods, they looked so happy and content, and I am sure that their quality of life will reflect in the meat they produce. They kept the rare breed, Gloucester Old Spots and sold the meat in the shop, we didn't buy any, but we bought some delicious freshly made toffee cookies, a little bit naughty with the change for life idea, but they were very nice indeed.
The forest was split in half, it seemed that younger ones were in one half and then sows were in another.
I have just noticed something in the top right of this photo, I was just trying to take a picture of the pig scratching it self on the post, honest.
The pigs were very used to people, and they came right up to us when we approached the fence. Just like all pigs, they loved having their back scratched.
Last photo of the day now, a face only a mother could love?
Well, I would love to tell you the name of the two places we visited, but Amy has the leaflets and information, so I will have to get it off her.
The moral of this post, if there needs to be one? Is that great produce comes from great places, and not only should you encourage these infant industries by buying the produce they grow, raise and sell but you should also visit them. Many farms are free to visit or cost only a couple of pounds, they are really interesting places and obviously fantastic for children. They are also good for your health. Not only does their produce cut out the packaging, e-numbers and additives but if you choose to look round there is a chance you will be walking for a couple of miles. Fresh air, cute animals, excercise and great food. A winning combination.
Enjoy your day,
Martin
These days we are confronted by the media and politics of this country every day on the benefits of being healthy and the gruesome concequences of not being healthy.
I have to admit, I am not the healthiest person in the world, but I would like to be. Recently I've changed my eating habits drastically in an attempt to loose weight, but not only is it what is on the outside it is what is on the inside too. I don't want clotted arteries, cancer or heart disease! If we all aim to be a little healthier we could prolong our lives by years! It's not just about what we eat, but what we do aswell. This is why I have started doing a simple batch of excercise each day, wether it be walking, running or cycling. Excercise is not a chore but something that can de-stress us and take our minds off everything else for a period of time, it should be enjoyed, not feared.
This is just one way I wish to change my life, but since I last sat at a computer and created a blog post I have changed my life; started sixth form at a new school, passed my driving test, got an amazing girlfriend and a whole host of other things.
I'm still the young enthusiast, and my dream is still self-sufficiency. I hope to be on here regularly now, telling you what I've been doing and what you can do.
And the first thing you can do is sign up for the free 'Change For Life' kit free from the NHS. It contains brilliant ideas on how to be more healthy and has fun games and a sticker chart to keep track of what you are eating. I may be 17 but it still excites me putting the stickers on the chart at the end of the day!
You can get your pack here: http://www.nhs.uk/Change4Life/Pages/default.aspx
Please do it, it's worth it, and it is free.
I will get round to posting some pictures from the weekend later.
Enjoy your day,
Martin
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Claret said:
That sounds lovely Martin - you will have to give me the details so that we can visit them.Oh, and... read more
on Bank Holiday Monday - Out in the fresh air -
Claret said:
Great to see you blogging again Martin. Your enthusiasm is infectious as always! read more
on Change For Life
That's very interesting Martin, thanks for that post and the photos. I'd love some bees one day when I have... read more
on Bees