Red Mite!!

Unfortunately our chook house has been attacked, an infestation you may call it, I call it War!

The dreaded Red Mite, the vampire of the night that sucks the blood of chickens causing stress, reduction in egg laying, anaemia and in some cases even death!

This is a problem I was hoping we would never encounter, however we have and in a BIG way!

They are called the silent killers, for the fact that during the day they hide away in the nooks & crannies of your coop waiting until its dark to feed on your chickens. They appear white until they have fed, then they turn bright red! (hence the name, Red Mite!)

Red Mite leave a grey dust in the crevices they live in, we had this dust, but because I use a white mite powder on the coop, I assumed this dust was that! I have learnt my lesson!

Our chooks are cleaned out reguarly, disenfected and treated with a diatom powder, but we still managed to be completely infested by this horrible pest! As soon as we realised, the war was on!

We began by dismantling as much of the coop as possible, and giving it a damn good scrub, concentrating on every nook and cranny.
After we left this to dry, we applied an insecticide spray (keep it away from the chooks as they must not breath the vapours) to every inch of the coop, followed by a complete dusting of Diatom powder, which was also applied to every chicken.

We also had to take off the felted roof and burn it, Red Mite LOVE roof felt and can hide and breed in it quite easily. The only option to get rid of the major infestation was to send them to the depths of hell!
We have now replaced the roof with plastic corrugated sheeting. Much easier to keep clean and no hiding places for the mites!

The coop is now back together, and looking very clean, however this is not the end of the war, no, every few days we have to keep on top of it, by checking reguarly for any stragglers we didn't manage to kill in the first instance as they can breed so quickly. The average life cycle of a red mite is around 7 days and in this time you can go from a minor pest to a huge problem!

If you think you have Red Mite in your coop, get on top of it now!

Products I used:

Insecticde Spray: Ready to Use Smite Red Mite Spray (Sold widely on the internet and good pet shops)
Diatomaceous Earth (Diatom Powder): A 100% natural powder for use on animals, pets and birds against external parasites (lice, fleas etc) and internal (worms), and for general good health. I bought mine from wiggly Wigglers (www.wigglywigglers.co.uk)

I have also started adding garlic (either fresh or granules) to the chickens water. According to research, Red Mite HATE garlic, so the hope is, if the chickens drink "garlic" water, when the Red Mite feed, the chickens taste of garlic, resulting in the mites going elsewhere!
I'm not sure if it works or not, but I might as well try it!

There are LOADS of internet sites dedicated to information relating to Red Mite so if you need any further info, google it!

Have you had Red Mite? What did you use to eradicate them? We'd love to know!

Mel
@honestlyitseasy
@Tikobear

This weekend is going to be a scorcher!

Apparently this weekend is going to be the hottest yet! Yippee!! After working very hard over the last couple of weeks I have decided Saturday is my day off! I’m going to be pottering around my garden all day long if I get my way!

There are lots of jobs that have been slipping due to the busyness of everyday life. The grass needs cutting, the hedges need trimming, the beans need tying up against the poles, some seedlings need planting out, you get the idea I wont bore you with all the details!!

We are also going to organise our chicken area a little better. So plenty to be getting on with – not sure if one day will be enough!! I'll be properly updating my side of the blog after the weekend and will make sure I get some pictures up as well!

We’ve also been catching a few episodes of spring watch, tonight’s was particularly good, there was a fab piece about making a bee hotel, here is the link!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/2011/05/wildlife-gardening-ideas-helpi.shtml

Whatever you get up to this weekend, enjoy the weather, enjoy your garden and the wildlife in your garden, make the most of it – in this country you can never be too sure how long its going to last!!

All the Best!
Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

Vegetable Plants, Table Birds & Birthdays!!!!!!

Wow, it certainly has been a busy couple of weeks, hence the absence of posts from moi!!!

I have had a couple of birthdays, my hubbie to be last week and my youngest who turned 4 today! So we've been galavanting about, doing silly things like paintballing & trampoline building!!!

So just to update you, the garden is coming along, slowly but brilliantly, the grass seed has gone nuts since our rain fall and the turf is looking lush and green, can really start to picture my gorgeous garden to be! Finally!

Our potatoes, onions, carrots, radish & lettuce are sprouting through and we had our first pickings of spinach tonight (added to a lush curry!!)
Runner beans will be going in within the next couple of weeks once I get my wigwam up. Also have some sweetcorn, peas, broad beans & tomatoe plants to sort. So I gather from that the next (few) weeks or so will be super busy too!

I will have to update my "plan" seeing as the lovely Claire has been uber organised and updated hers, so not to be outdone I will be reposting mine v. soon!!!

The table birds are HUGE!!! It seems we have two rather large cockerals, who are now trying to "cockadoodledo" but it sounds more like foghorn leghorn at the minute! Bless!
The hens are doing well, even after their "attack" from my layers (the meanies actually pecked holes into the chicks during a mass attack!) They have now been seperated!

Had to re-pot the boys sunflowers today, hoping to be able to harden them off soon and get them outside, then the challenge really begins! Who's will survive the weather conditions and/or those pesky slugs??

Wagers being taken, tweet me!!!

Mel
@Tikobear
@honestlyitseasy

Jane Howorth Article Kitchen Garden and hen keeping and eggs!

Brilliant Article by Jane Howorth in the magazine Kitchen Garden issue June 2011 www.kitchengarden.co.uk about Hen Keeping and the possible importing into the UK of millions of illegally produced eggs 'hidden' as ingredients in many common processed foods, deffinately worth a read!

For more information on the British Hen Welfare Trust and how you adopt some ex-battery hens visit www.bhwt.org.uk.

All the Best!
Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

More raised Beds!

Yay! We had some rain on the weekend, our grass seed loved it! It seemed to almost spring up over night! It’s still pretty patchy in places but I think that has more to do with birds coming and helping them selves than the quality or the care of the seed.

Weekend was yet again a busy one, Spen and I (well Spen really I was just the helper) made another raised bed for over by the chicken shed for some beans and what not. We are going to mow the grass this week so as soon as that has happened I’ll post some more pictures (always looks so much better when it has had a good mow!).

But in the meantime here’s a bit of an update on progress, as you can see we’ve added three more raised beds to the original plans. Spen’s also fixed a proper lock on the chicken coop gate to avoid any more dashes from the chooks to get to the vege plots! Yay!

The greenhouse is now finished – I’ll post some more pictures of that later this week, we also have the possibility of some more windows as well so there maybe another greenhouse to add to that little area as well which will be great for the tomatoes and chillies this year! Will have to see what sort of windows are available first though before I get too excited!

All the Best!
Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

new raised beds, broody chickens and washing line comparisons???

A busy day today! Caught up on nearly all the washing, how lovely is it when you can dry your washing outside! Makes things so much easier! Whilst on the subject of washing I have to mention that Mel (the other half of honestly its easy) cane over last weekend for a cider and a chat (as you do). During her visit our conversation skills hit an all time weird level, we talked about the benefits of a rotary washing line compared to a normal washing line, good lord!!! We obviously need to get out more!!

The bloody chickens got out this morning and I think luckily I may have caught them all in time – they only managed to destroy the Kale that was springing up and dislodge a few onions, we have now purchase another lock for the coop gate to make sure this doesn’t happen again!

We have a broody silkie chicken which is sat on a few of or fertile lavender pekin hatching eggs! Yay, will give you an update on whats going on with them in a couple of weeks when I go and try and candle them.

We’ve sown some more vegetables as well and I’ll update my little diagram next week with our new additions and there are also two new raised beds to add to it as well! We are also going to try growing some peas alongside the lavender pekins run, not entirely sre if this is going to work or not but only time will tell! In theory we are hoping (in or experience the girls don’t like peas, or not cooked ones anyhow!) that the peas can grow along side them and although we will lose some of the crop to little beaks most of the crop will be ok and the chickens will help with a bit of pest control, hmmmm, nice try we’ll see if it works!!

Here are the new beds we’ve put in, We are hoping that the bean pole’s will help to hide the oil tank a bit when they have things growing over and up them!

I do hope everyone is enjoying all this extra time off we’ve been having and have spent in wisely, in the garden as we have tried to!

All the Best!
Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

PS The grass is starting to come through a little bit as well – all my hard work watering it all the time seems to be paying off!!

Happy Easter, Grass and a little update for you all!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Well it’s Good Friday at around 8am and I’m sat in my garden in glories sunshine already!!!

So with coffee in hand I shall give you a bit of an pdate as to where we are with the garden.

A few months ago we had the boiler moved which meant a trench had to be dug across the garden for the oil hose. It’s been a huge, brown, dry lump cutting through nice green grass ever since. But no more! Spen has been hard at work removing said lumpage! It is now nice and flat!

And we plan to sow some grass seed over it this weekend. There are a few other patches we want to fill in as well. To sow the seed though we needed to sort out somewhere for the lavender bantams. They have been enjoying free reign in the garden (excluding the vegetable plot after last time) for the last couple of weeks. So we’ve made them a temporary area next to the other girls, touch wood so far they all seem happy with the new living arrangements!

So anyhow we have gone for Tesco Grass Seed, mainly because there was a good offer on it. IN the past I’ve always gone and got grass seed from WIlkinsons, but Tescos’s had a great offer of two boxes for £6.00 so we’ll wait and see for the results in the coming weeks, but it seemed very cost effective.

And finally I would like to wish you all a very happy easter, I do hope you enjoy the sunshine, and spend time with those nearest and dearest to you, speaking of which the in-laws are due over today for lunch so I best get cracking on baking! And for all of you that have booked the 3 days off work next week to make it a staggering 11 days holiday for 3 days entitlement used – well done you lucky so and so’s!!

All the Best!
Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

I’m sure this is meant to be for eating out of, not sitting on top of, but our table bird doesn’t seem to care!

Toad in the Hole

In celebration of the sunshine arriving here is a last winter/comfort food recipe for you all!

Yorkshire Pudding – Toad In the Hole

Sift 125g (4oz) plainf lour and ½ tsp salt into a bowl. Mix in 150ml (1/4 pint) milk, then add 2 medium eggs, beaten, and season with pepper. Beat until smooth, then whisk in another 150ml (1/4 pint) milk. Poor a layer of vegetable oil into your tin you will be using and put it in a pre- heated oven 220 C (200 fan oven) for 5 minutes or until the fat is smoking.

Whilst the oil is heating in the oven, brown your sausages in a frying pan.

Pour the batter into the tin of hot oil, add your sausages. Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen, golden and crisp.

Things are progressing nicely in the garden – spen mowed the grass in the back garden yesterday – it’s amazing what a difference it makes. The home made out of recycled windows greenhouse is slowly being filled. Tomato seedlings are doing well, as are the chillies! Such a great time of year – everything greening up and sprouting new growth, you’ve got to love it! Right now I’m off to enjoy sunshine with friends, yippee!! Have a great weekend everyone, enjoy the sunshine!

All the Best!

Claire

Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

We’ve also got chicks hatching out in the incubator this weekend – our very own lavender pekin bantams , very exciting – will post more about those tomorrow, they are pipping as I type!

Oh for the love of chickens!!!

After carefully plotting out my raised beds and actually sowing some seeds (as you will have read previously hopefully) I was devastated when my partner text me when I was at work the other day saying the chickens had escaped out of the coop and had been scratching around in the beds. I honestly thought they would have demolished the lot. But I am pleased to report not all is lost! When I went out to collect the eggs today (I’m off work at the moment) I have green shoots appearing in the raised beds! So there are at least some seeds left in the beds! Hoorah!!! Not all is lost!

We’ve just started to sell our chicken eggs at the garden gate as well, We already have 2 or 3 regular customers but we are hoping signs on the back gate and front gate will encourage a few more!!

Also listed a few of our bantam lavender pekin fertile eggs on ebay – will let you know how we get on selling them!

We’ve got an incubator full of eggs due this weekend – chicks – ahoy!!

All the best!

Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

What to fill the raised beds with .....

When I went out to our area for raised beds the other evening I noticed a few of my carefully placed plant labels had been moved. I expect the culprit is Henrietta who is a Bantam Modern Game Chicken who insists that the coop area is not somewhere she should be and jumps up on the chicken house roof and over into the rest of the garden which since I have started sowing seeds is forbidden for the cheeky little chickens! She seems to be the only one that does this, what a rebel!

So before I forget what I’ve planted where I’ve drawn up a little plan!

Now I am by no means an expert in growing vegetables and this is the first lot of vegetables we are attempting at our new house (the ground was like clay when we first moved in we’ve been improving it with lots of chicken manure and stuff over the last 12 months).

I’ve also got some chillies and tomatoes started off in the house and now that the cold frame area is nearly finished (just some last minute touches to do should be fully operational by the weekend!), I can really start getting cracking on seedlings etc. We are going to try and grow our own ginger this year as well, never done it before so any tips would be very welcome!

All the best!

Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup

The Cropredy Plan

Not to be out done by the other half of Honestly It’s Easy ;) I have created my own colourful plan of the garden!

There are a few changes that are going to be made over the coming months;

The chicken enclosure is going to be extended – reviewed plans will be blogged about in the coming weeks. The cold frame will get finished this week, nothing like recycling a bit of junk out of the garden! And the massive pile of rubble will be sorted out at some point hopefully.

The grass on this plan looks quite extensive but to be honest where half the lawn has been dug up etc it doesn’t look that green at the moment so we are going to try and sort that problem out as well.

I’ll get some more detailed plans of the raised beds sorted out as well – at least then I’ll be able to remember where I have sown things even if my little labels disappear or get moved!

All the best!

Claire
Xx

Twitter:
@CropredyChicken
@Honestlyitseasy
@steelsyrockitup