the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Cream Legbars

There was a time when the best present Dan could buy me was a chocolate bar but no more! (Actually, chocolate is also welcome anytime).

Today, 6 Cream Legbar eggs arrived in the post. They are the most lovely colour and if Dan hadn't taken the camera to London (again), I'd have taken a photograph of them. They have now been "resting" for about 12 hours so I'm just going to pop them in the incubator.

Fingers crossed!

Copper Black Marans

Of our six cheeps, I'm pretty sure we've got two cockerels and four hens. Two of the cheeps are bigger than the other four and have real coppertops. I've had alook at some photos of adult birds, and the hens are black, with the cockerels having the copper head and collar.

I think we'll keep two hens and one cockerel and sell a trio, once they get (much) bigger.

What's happening in the vegetable garden?

Well, quite a lot, really. The weather has been really dry - cold and sunny and very windy.

We've got all our potatoes in - Red Duke of York and Desiree, and Mayan Gold, because I'm a sucker for marketing. We've a few seed potatoes left, but we might find a home for them yet.

Garlic, shallots (Longor and Mikor) and onions (Hercules) are all in, along with a couple of rows of spring onions (White Lisbon) that Dan found lurking in the shed. Leeks (Bandit and Hannibal) are outside in a tray and will be planted out when they are pencil sized. It's a rotten tray (an old cat litter tray) that they are in with no drainage (but it's nice and deep) so we have to keep an eye out for both drought and waterlogging, which is what happened last year and we had no leeks at all.

We've sown beetroot - Forono, which is a cylindrical beet, in one sowing for pickling and two rows of Boltardy for eating fresh. We'll sow another two rows at the start of May, June and July too.

Peas (Greenshaft) are started in guttering in the greenhouse to spite the weevils! Three sowings of two lengths of guttering have been made at two weekly intervals and will be planted out shortly. We'll hoe the soil this week and hopefully, the hens will make short work of any overwintering bugs.

Also in the greenhouse is one gutter of green sprouting calabrese. My record with brassicas is shameful. I've never tried it like this before, so it's about ready to go out now. We'll have to get the fleece ready, or the hens and insects will have a field day. The other brassicas are due to be direct sown in a couple of weeks at the start of May. We prepared half the seedbed this weekend and sowed swedes (Marion) - best keep the sheep off them this year!! Actually, we've sown a few more than usual, for the sheep.

Dan's been busy in the greenhouse - there are four varieties of tomato (Sungella, Gardener's Delight, Sungold and Tamina) doing well. There are 12 of each variety, so we'll probably sell a few. Cucumber (La Diva F1) is up; courgettes (Costa Romanesque) and sweetcorn (Sweet Nugget) are in pots but not showing yet. I have one gutter of cauliflower (Igloo) that I'm growing as mini cauliflower, sown 12th April, but not showing yet. I'm going to do a gutter every couple of weeks - about 8 seeds to each gutter - to avoid a glut. Actually, 4 cauliflowers a week is quite a lot, isn't it?

We've prepared the seedbed for the carrots (Resistafly F1 and Flyaway F1) and should get them sown this week. I would have done them today but poultry plucking took precedence. Again, we're going to sow carrots successionally, under fleece and with coriander to fool the carrot fly!

Finally, there's salad ready in the greenhouse and some herbs (parsley, basil). The outside herbs are coming away fine on the patio, along with some strawberry plants I found discarded but hanging on to life, so they deserved a chance. Hope they show their appreciation appropriately!

The May weekend is a big one for planting and sowing, so hopefully the weather will be kind.

Mr Toad

We've sort of put in a pond - well, it's in but not filled or planted up yet (maybe this weekend!). That hasn't stopped Mr Toad moving in, though. We first saw him a couple of weeks ago - we thought he was dead but I think he was just cold. However, I caught him sunbathing the other day.

He's not handsome, but I rather like him. Just hope he manages to stay clear of the destructo-hens!

Another poultry update

We had our first egg from the new Black Rocks we bought last Saturday. There were two but one was squished. The eight new girls are now free-ranging, but don't really mix with the existing hens except at corn time. The new girls don't quite recognise the "call to corn" yet, but they are learning fast. One of the "old" BR may defect to the new flock, I think - birds of a feather and all that.

The six cheeps seem to be doing fine. I've now turned off the incubator and discarded the seventh egg. The six are very small and very, very cute - two have copper tops! They seem to be finding the water and food fine, so we'll see how they go on.

The trains are coming!

I bought the local rags today (as I do every week); both had double page articles about the re-opening of the Alloa-Stirling railway in May. This is a huge project for Clackmannanshire - the railway to Alloa closed about 40 years ago (I vaguely remember it) - and is seen a a major factor in the ongoing regeneration of this area.

The first trains will run, courtesy of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, on the 15th May. There will be two trains that afternoon making the journey to Stirlinga nd back. The outward train will be pulled by a steam locomotive, "The Great Marquess" and the return journey will be hauled by a Deltic diesel "Royal Scots Grey".

There is to be a community fayre on Saturday 17th May in Greenfield Park and the first "proper" trains will run from Monday 19th May. It's all very exciting!

All we need now is for Alloa Athletic to secure promotion to the Scottish First Division! Come on, Wasps!

Hatching eggs update

Seven hours later, the first two chicks are in the brooder, a further three have hatched successfully and are drying off in the incubator and one is pipping. Only one is showing no activity yet.

I'd take some photos but Dan's taken the camera to London. Now what can there be in London that justifies a camera more than my cheeps?

Just off to move the three to the brooder!

Hatching eggs

Our French Copper Black Marans are due to hatch today. Two were pipping last night when I went to bed; by this morning at 6am niether had made much progress so I reluctantly decided to give them a hand.

Armed with warm water and some damp kitchen roll, I started to remove some of the shell. I would have stopped if there had been any bleeding from the membrane, but both were OK. There are now two little chicks drying off in the incubator. I'll move them to the brooder later.

I'm not sure if there are any more coming - two out of 10 would be a bit disappointing. I bought 12 off Ebay; the incubator only takes 10 (who designed an incubator for 10 eggs, I ask you); Dan candled them last week and discarded three as definitely being empty and he was not sure about the rest. So two is better than he expected! We'll be keeping any hens and one cockerel for the flock.

I'll update the diary if any more hatch today or tomorrow.

Felix, Circus Cat

Felix, Circus Cat from asmallholder on Vimeo.

New hens

Well, the new Black Rocks seem to have survived the trauma of the poultry sale. We cobbled together a temporary run for them today round about their house - the fixed run is way too small and is difficult to move. One BR flew over the fence but we caught her and put her back - to be hinest, it's not a big deal and they will be free-ranging in a few days anyway, once I'm sure they know where home is. Our other hens seem completely unimpressed - even when the escapee joined them.

Seven of the BR are, well, black but No. 8 is quite different - either she's not a BR or she's a throwback to one of the parent breeds. She is quite lovely, with gold barred plumage round her neck; she's also a wee bit bigger than the others. Tess is obsessing about them - they are so much more exciting than the Hubbards.

Which takes me on to them - now they are three. We despatched another one this morning, plucked him and have left him to hang until tomorrow. We also killed him first thing, so that, hopefully, the crop and the gut are emptier than the one yesterday. Things were certainly better today armed with sharp tools and a bit more confidence.

The amount of poo these Hubbards produce is incredible - actually, given the amount they eat, it isn't really. But anyway, if /when we get them again, if the timing is right, we're going to keep them on the vegetable beds, so they can fertilise them as they move along. Need to check the size of the run and house so they fit on the beds first though.

Poultry Sale

Caledonian Marts in Stirling hosted the Central Scotland Poultry Sale today. I went along, armed with cheque book, puppy cage and cat basket (just in case). There seemed to be a good turnout, but the first person I saw was Jo Lennon, who's a founder member of the FV&WF Smallholders' Association! I had arranged to meet Andrew and Janis Sharpe, who were "just there for a look". Hold that thought! There were about 200 lots, including hens, cockereles in singles, pairs and trios; ducks, geese, a few turkeys and two pea fowl.

I was really glad Andrew was there - as a former butcher, he knew his was around the mart and the system. I got my catalogue at the office - number 59 - and headed off to view. I was trying to be very organised, marking the lots I was interested in, but after the first pass, I had so many marked, I had to go back and edit some out. There were a few nice cockerels, but I think I'll just retain one of the Copper Black Marans I've got in the incubator (assuming some hatch and one's a cockerel!).

In the end, I bought two lots of 4 Black Rock POL pullets. Andrew and Janis bought 4 Black Rock POL and two Silkies - one white and one buff, 14 weeks old. The 12 BR went in the puppy cage and the Silkies in the cat basket for the journey home to ours. Once there, we put eight of the BR in a run and the remaining 4 BR and the Silkies in the puppy cage, with food and water, for the onward journey to their new home. While the BRs looked shell-shocked, the Silkies (which are about half the size) were straight into the grub and the drink. I think they will prove to be real characters - Andrew and Janis are well smitten by them, but I've offered to rehome them should they decide they DON'T really like them. From the picture, you can guess how much chance there is of that!

Once back at ours, we despatched the first of the Hubbards. Andrew gave us a demo of cleaning and preparing the bird. First thing was to show us how to sharpen knives properly using a steel - what a difference a good technique makes! Dan's had a happy half hour sharpening all our knives! Once prepared, the Hubbard weighed just short of 5.5lbs. He wasn't the biggest, just the slowest! He was much easier to pluck than the cockerels we've killed before - don't know whether that is a breed factor or an age one. Next time (tomorrow), we will pluck the bird then hang it for 24 hours before cleaning it.

I did a rough calculation on how much it was cost us to produce the five birds (assuming all killed out today at 5.5lb) - £48 give or take a few pence, so to break even, we'd have to sell them at £1.75 per pound. Organic chickens in Tesco are about £2.50 per pound, so we're not going to retire on these birds. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and that's tomorrow, so I'll feedback following the taste test!

Settling pigs

Our pigs have been with us for just over a week now, and are settling in nicely. For those of you who are getting pigs for the first time, here are a few tips on getting them accustomed to your presence:

• Talk to them all the time. Pigs respond well to voice, so if you use a consistent call with them before feeding they will learn to come when you use that call. Rosemary uses a slightly high-pitched 'pig-pig-pig' to call them.
• Feed them around you. We feed our pigs on the ground by simply scattering their nuts - if you scatter them around yourself and crouch or stand still the pigs' desire to reach their food will trump their nervousness of your presence every time. This is a great opportunity to get a hand on their back or head so they can learn how nice it is to be scratched.
• Scratch them. Pigs love to be scratched - start with the back of the head and the back. If you work around to under their bellies they will topple over and just lie on their sides.
• Feed them treats. We hand-feed them apple slices (see vid below, apologies for the wind on the sound again, it is very windy here!) which they love.

Tamworth weaners getting apples from asmallholder on Vimeo.

As you can see there's one bold character, number 170, who is already totally at ease with us.

If I've missed anything or you've had a different experience please let us know here or in the forums.

It's snowing

Not very heavily, to be fair, but it's still snow! It was lovely here yesterdya, as it has been for most of last week - blue sky, sun, usual breeze, but warm out of it.

Dan and I had yesterday in the garden - very busy (what we did will be another post) and today - snow! And we planted out lettuce yesterday!

Hey ho, I'm off to spring clean Lorna's bedroom and maybe the front hall, if the snow stays on.