Essential autumn preparations for your chickens (part one)
When I went into our chicken run this morning I spotted that we had intruders. There were three neat front doors behind the chicken house. These doors are about 1 ?” wide and mean one thing. Rats. This is an invasion that cannot be ignored. Rats clearly enjoy a great social life and breed very rapidly. They are intelligent and if they find a good supply of chicken feed and fresh water they will not leave willingly. There was an old guy in our village who would point a shotgun into a hole and fire. I use poison. A lot. Starting when I see...
read moreRats
The rats are back.As soon as the corn is cut the rats return. It’s war. We’ve tried everything to keep them away. One year we supplemented poison with rat traps (a giant version of a mouse trap) but they were very difficult to set. Then we hosted a rat shoot. Great fun but not effective. Another year we just hoped that they’d get fed up with living here and did nothing. We spent Christmas with rats that threw wild parties in the kitchen ceiling. Now I’ve found a poison that works quite quickly. We keep a large drum of...
read moreNewts
The newt pond lies in an overgrown corner of the garden. It wasn’t planned as a newt sanctuary. Initially the pond was installed for treating sick fish. At six feet across, the pond holds roughly 100 litres of water. The big pond holds about 8000 litres. I reckoned that it would be much cheaper to treat ailing fish in a small space until the fish experts at Byways Water Gardens pointed out that a sick fish can be treated in a large washing up bowl. So I put a couple of goldfish in the pond to keep the mosquitoes under control. When the...
read moreMy Mum raised Frogs and Toads, whilst I worked in London
When I found the cottage fourteen years ago, Danny had not drifted onto my horizon. Shortly after moving into the cottage, I had to work down in London. I had been offered a free studio in a prime location and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. Even though I have no children, I had responsibilities, one highly intelligent, independent mover and shaker who assured me he could do everything except prepare his food. My old dog, Fly. My Mother obliged with the childminding duties. My Mother loved staying in the cottage. She explained that...
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