Night Gardening

I've been out with the head tourch again.

10 bags of well rotted horse muck spread on my summer fruiting raspberries and blueberries. Shame I did it at 10 at night. I think my wife thinks I'm nuts. I'll get some more tomorrow and do the same!

300 Egg Boxes

We've been selling eggs since we first had chickens (some years ago now) but I'm always fed up of asking for egg boxes or people forgetting to bring them back.

So I decided to bite the bullet and buy some, and since the invention of eBay I don't buy anything unless it's in bulk.

If you were wondering what 300 egg boxes looks like

 I ordered 300 egg boxes, 100 3ft bamboo canes and 50 8ft bamboo canes (always struggling for canes). It's going to be nice not to have to hunt around for egg boxes or try to use improvised boxes.


Clean eggs every time with their new nest box

And since the ex caged birds are in their new coop the eggs have been lovely and clean every time. I need to alter my other coop so this happens in that pen as well, as we're selling more and more eggs and no one wants to buy dirty ones!

The Shed Is Dead

Long live the shed coop.

Not pretty. I bet the neighbours were pleased to see it go!

 Last night I moved the chickens from the horrible, blue tarp covered shed (pictured above) into their new, all singing, all dancing coop. Then I dismantled the old shed in the dark, hiding the tarp like it never happened.

Tonight I went to shut in the hens and they were all perched happily inside (having figured out the ramp in no time at all) and 6 clean eggs in the nest boxes. I was quite pleased!
The old shed didn't die in vain though. It provided shelter for these birds for more months than I'd care to admit and I might yet reincarnate the side panels into another little chicken coop - watch this space!

Collecting Scion Wood

Last week I went on a bit of a mission to collect scions of wood for the root stocks I've ordered. I rang a few local farmers that I know and managed to visit a couple of orchards.
The first was in the next village to ours, I had done some work for the gentleman late last year and discovered a mutual love of apples. His orchard is only about 3 years old but he was more than happy to help and walked me round a on drizzly evening to cut a few branches off.

The scion wood collected from the first orchard

The second orchard was in the same village as ours and resulted in nine varieties that I haven't already got. His orchard is around 20 years old and must be a picture when the blossom is out. The best bit really is being guided round the orchard and hearing the stories about the different varieties. The one tree, an Argile Grise, is a cider apple he called the "Upright French" as every year it sends up lots of vertical growth.

The second orchard I visited - I love walking round a place like this and hearing the stories about the different types of apples.

Now all I need to do is wait for my root stocks to turn up. Although I'm tempted to order some more M25's (large trees) to maybe grow some cider apple trees in the hedge that borders the road.
What does everyone think - should I try 25 grafts this year or buy 10 more for cider as well?

Movable Chicken Coop Finished

I'm quite pleased with this little project now it's finished.

The old style wheels really set it off. It's light enough to be moved around when needed, but I've used thick enough timber so it will last.

Dad made the metal axle up for me as I don't really do much metal work, but he kept worrying about whether I'd built the coop strong enough to be pushed around. I think he thought I was about to attempt the Dakar Rally in it the way he was talking! I only plan on moving it 10 or 20 yards every couple of weeks when the hens need moving on to a fresh bit of grass so I think it will be fine.

I do need to make a cover for the large vent so I can alter how much ventilation they get and stop driving rain.

 Every time I build a coop I learn from the last one. This time I made the door for cleaning it only half of the front, last time it was too large and awkward to open.
I've also made the nest boxes much lower than the perches this time, as I've been having trouble with birds sleeping in the nest box and I hope this will stop this.

Having the wheels on the coop should mean I'll be able to move it on my own when I want to

Moving it out of the garden into the field. Visibility isn't great when you're pushing it!
You need to make sure your path is clear first.

A nice project which I enjoyed making (terrible really when I spend all day cutting wood for a living as well!). All I need to do now is move the hens in and then train them to climb up the ramp each night, hopefully they'll learn pretty quick!