Mimi wrote:
Ooohhhh! I’m so jealous! I’d LOVE chickens (only slightly less than I’d love ducks) How many do you have? All hens? The run looks smashing. Are they laying?
3 - all hybrids so daily layers, and at 4 years old but still giving us 2-3 a day, well beyond their rated eggspan, it's supposed to be 80% year on year. Big run is part of preparing for adding more, and also easier and safer than we had before, which was a 2x4 enclosed run with 21m open loop of net, we had to let them into that and always at risk of foxes, badgers and cats which are all round here.
Mimi wrote:
Your gardens are incredible, Bik. The variety of berries alone is amazing. What are the Japanese ones like? I remember you mentioning them last year. The raspberry canes I put in last year are fruiting this year and they have what seems like a billion berries forming.
Are the bees hard work?
Ta. It's taking ages but plans are moving, slowly, turning over from "two retirees" to "two workers wanting less effort, more produce". Helen's well into rewilding, sustainable (no dig/turn) beds and so on. 5m^3 of compost plus leaf moulding, all that.
Bees are a consistent arseache, at least here. Noone else in the local bee club has as much trouble. Helen has basically given up on them again because while she split this new colony they still swarmed twice, and we spent hours failing to catch from next doors damson. I'm gently trying to nudge her through because she dearly wants to make it work.