The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Linzntom on September 02, 2011, 11:00:17 am

Title: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Linzntom on September 02, 2011, 11:00:17 am: Hi guys

We're city types who moved to the country last summer looking for a better quality of life. We have a converted stable block in the heart of a small south Ayrshire village and we've been busy adapting the garden to give us a reasonable sized vegetable plot and a chicken run. This year we've grown three kinds of potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, neaps, parsnips, pumpkin, onion, garlic, leeks, and courgettes. We've peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse, but our salad bed was demolished by one of our two cats :-\.

We've built a fully enclosed chicken run with a shed for a hen house at the bottom of the garden, and in the spring we hatched 6 Scots Dumpies from eggs we bought off ebay, one cockerel and five hens. Sadly, at the start of the summer a neighbour's Jack Russell got out of her enclosed garden, into our enclosed garden and broke a hole into the enclosed run and got the cockerel and three of the hens..... We have since hatched another couple of dumpy chicks (now 8 weeks and well settled) and one Scots Grey (one week old) which we need to find a couple of siblings for. One of our original hens (Bella) has been laying for about three weeks and we're now getting one reasonable sized egg a day. Her sister (Gertie) is yet to produce anything, but we live in hope.

Anyway, a local chicken breeder suggested we might find this forum helpful, so here we are... up til now we've been making it up as we go along ;D
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: HappyHippy on September 02, 2011, 02:36:33 pm: Hello from me in Lesmahagow :wave:
Welcome to the fourms, look forward to hearing more from you
Karen x
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: little blue on September 02, 2011, 07:48:18 pm: hello and welcome :)
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Rosemary on September 02, 2011, 08:36:11 pm: Hello and welcome from Carnoustie :wave:
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Miss Piggy on September 02, 2011, 08:38:06 pm: Welcome to the forum from West Wales. :farmer:
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Fergie on September 02, 2011, 08:39:04 pm: Hello & Welcome from North Lanarkshire,

John
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: tazbabe on September 02, 2011, 09:38:22 pm: (http://bestsmileys.com/hello/7.gif) from ayrshire too!

where are you? if your local you could come over for a coffee or something more interesting.....
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: SallyintNorth on September 02, 2011, 09:55:10 pm: Welcome from north Cumbria :wave:

I started with veg and choox in Exmoor, and like you lost a load (all but one) of my first hens to a local JR.

Now I am farming beef and sheep north of Hadrian's Wall and have a Jersey house cow, a pig (hopefully soon to produce), native ponies, no more Muscovies (dratted mink), working collies, hens and no time for growing veg!
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Beewyched on September 02, 2011, 11:00:39 pm: Hiya & welcome from just up the road in rainny Kilbarchan :wave:
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: Linzntom on September 03, 2011, 10:18:23 pm: Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.....

We had three new arrivals today, a Scots Grey hen and two cross bred chicks to keep our lone chick company. They seem to be settling in well and hopefully the chick will soon start to bond with them. At the moment she is quite happy with them but doesn't want to get too close, so she's back in the house for the night. Might be a while before they all mix with the Dumpies tho.

Tazbabe, I'm in Kirkmichael, just east of Maybole. How close are you?
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: melodrama on September 04, 2011, 09:50:25 am: Hello from Forfar :wave:
Title: Re: Ayrshire newbie
Post by: tazbabe on September 04, 2011, 11:47:29 am: we're near mauchline, a few miles from you.