Welshfred
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Everything posted by Welshfred
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Excellent! Incubator or mother bird?
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Well one popped out early on Monday, 2 on time and one late one yesterday. 4 out of 18 is disappointing, having said that 18 would've been a challenge! Leaving the incubator run another 24hrs just in case but 4 doing well in the brooder now...
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Pick up some chick crumb if you can but they're prob onto spiders etc already too. The crumb will give them the best balance for their age
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I'd be inclined to protect as much as possible but take your cues from the mother. So if you pen her in but she's desperate to get out with the chicks then let her do her thing. Rats, stoats etc will be the greater risk than geese which are at least mostly vegetarian. It's always a gamble at that age but the chicks will benefit from fresh grass or other greenery from the first few days. Good luck!
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I'd be happy with 50% from 4 eggs, in the wild as it were. I've had 70% from an incubator (usually lower, 0% recently so trying again. Hatch day is Tuesday... Hopefully... Talking probabilities though I wonder what your odds are for 2 hens, 2 roosters or one of each!
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1920-48
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Translation please?
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The Brits of course. Our dabs are all over the history of the region. U have done some research I presume? U know the history?
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That we made a right mess of reorganising all the regions' borders in the mid 20th century. And then left the locals to sort it all out when things got difficult.
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And with the reinstatement of supplies of the bunker busters from the US
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Try and collect eggs regularly to remove opportunity but there is a way to put her off - empty an egg of egg as tidily as you can, fill the empty shell with English mustard, stick back together ( no glues required, just don't make the mustard too runny) and replace in the coop. She'll have a go but she won't like it. It can work although not guaranteed. It's so annoying though so worth a go.
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Is Oranging Up a thing? It is now...
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Very expensive authoritarian vanity project....
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I only say pollard rather than coppice because it'll spread less at ground level and you get a nice interesting gnarly trunk quite quick, in just a few years.
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I would pollard to a convenient working height (3-4 ft?) then repeat every 1-? years depending how big you want it. And how much stuff you want to harvest each time. The waste you could chip for paths or mulch, shred for compost, weave for garden hurdles, dry for the log burner etc etc etc depending on size. Then you keep the tree for all its benefits but avoid the normal growth cycle of goat willow which is grow fast, grow big, fall over, keep growing fast and big, falling over, repeat, repeat, repeat. Great habitat, shit in a garden. Keep it small. No idea about the roots though. Dig some holes to check?
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Very nice. I recognize most of those but not the round one bottom left, looks a bit like nasturtium or garlic mustard but not quite. The green leaf at centre I guess is a mustard, there are loads but looks a bit like Wasabi Rocket, a must try if you haven't already.
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Cut sideshoots back to one bud too, otherwise they will take over. I cut back in winter to 2 buds, one as insurance, then choose the best as the keeper for the year when they get going.
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I've wondered the same. When I've covered heaps they dessicate and don't rot. Now I leave them uncovered but with a base layer of stems an thin sticks which I feel allows any excess liquid to drain away. Plus a cover like carpet encourages rats to bed in.
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Maybe this, although not quite what it's designed for but is very good for sticking tunnel plastic. Clear Joining / Tunnel Repair Tape | LBS Horticulture WWW.LBSBUYERSGUIDE.CO.UK Peds is on track though, you'll never get it drum tight with a join. Send the plastic back and buy a whole piece...
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"But the coking coal that was to be produced from this mine would not have been of a high enough quality to be used in the Scunthorpe steelworks, with at least 85% of it earmarked for export. This is because of its high sulphur content." https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/14/rightwing-media-blames-ed-miliband-uk-steel-crisis-net-zero#:~:text=But the coking coal that,of its high sulphur content.
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No
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As above but make sure your selected trees have crown space. You can thin again so don't be too drastic, shade will keep brambles down. Maybe start some pruning on the best stems too. It looks good. And watch out for squirrels...
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What a tool...
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Tips for dealing with newly planted woodland?
Welshfred replied to smallguy's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Btw what have you planted, just out of interest? I'm currently tending some pure sweet chestnut and some in a mix with oak over about 2 acres, planted between 2012 and 2023. Most of the 2012s are very well established but it's been hard on a bad bracken patch where I neglected the early cleaning and have had to do successive waves of beating up... -
Tips for dealing with newly planted woodland?
Welshfred replied to smallguy's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
That will depend on the "weed" regrowth. If there's bramble or bracken you'll need to clean around them once or twice each summer for two to three years or until they are clear of the undergrowth. Then you can also spot any losses and beat up accordingly. On one of my summer rounds this year I put red ties on the canes of any dead ones to spot them easily for replacing. Although as I go round doing this with the low winter vegetation I'm finding some I missed amongst the 7 foot high summer bracken forest. I'm tempted to use the red ties on all of them at planting stage next time.
