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hedgerow pete

Queen Bee
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
Messages
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Location
UK, Birmingham, Sandwell. Pork scratching Bandit c
Hive Type
National
been at the allotment all day to day getting the last of the winter jobs done so far we have oiled all the padlocks and hinges, put down a rough brick path in the duck pen because its getting so slippery i will end up on my backside sliding into the pond one day, both chick and duck pens have been washed out clean with jayes fluid and new bedding added as normal. I have a problem with red mite at the moment because the girls cant use the ground as a mud/dust bath they are finding it difficult to keep clean so we sanitised the pens and i have put a curve box inside the one covered area with a bucket of dry soil for them i have also added a tub of red mite powder into it as well to help when they fluff up, and worst of all the duck pond was drained and washed out and is refilled, tommorow we just have the green house and main shed to muck out. how are you lot getting on
 
I was pumping out the moats that have formed around my veg beds. Luckly they are well raised, so the things I have in the ground (new or old) like winter onion and garlic sets, along with parsips, leeks are all well raised out of the water.

I am still clearing up leaves, the big willow is still dropping them, most others have finished.

My hens also need a dry dust bath, but red mite is not a problem at the moment, I had it bad in the summer.
 
i cleaned out my hens tody, ive noticed that one if the hens has got scale mite, any ideas of treating it??

TB
 
My allotment site is too muddy and so slippery it's impossible to do anything at the moment after 4 weeks of almost constant rain. I have raised beds, so there is no standing water in the beds, but around them deep puddles everywhere. Lots to do before spring, but not made much progress at all in November.

I checked the entrance to my hive on the allotment and it was choked with dead bees. I cleared most of them out (and there were a lot). After that, the bees seemed to get the idea, told me to go away and started to clear out the dead themselves. I'll put a suit on next time!

I think I might get a tyre and fill it with sand for a dust bath in the chicken coop as the ground is sodden even though it has a roof.
 
I have a problem with red mite at the moment because the girls cant use the ground as a mud/dust bath they are finding it difficult to keep clean so we sanitised the pens

What you want is an Omlet Cube or Eglu (now called the Eglu Classic) because there is the new Eglu go.............................

....

....

....

I will get my coat!:svengo:
 
I have a problem with red mite at the moment because the girls cant use the ground as a mud/dust bath they are finding it difficult to keep clean so we sanitised the pens

What you want is an Omlet Cube or Eglu (now called the Eglu Classic) because there is the new Eglu go.............................

....

....

....

I will get my coat!:svengo:

hahaha-024.gif


Funny..........

If red mite can't hide in the wood joints because the house is plastic they will just hide somewhere else, like in the bedding, or I've heard in the faults in the plastic.

Yes vaseline for scaley leg mite............

Frisbee
 
I have also been helping the farmer over my back fence clear out some of the drainage ditches.

I shoot on his land so always nice to help out.

Off out next saturday for a pheasant.
 
my allotment in on Muswell hill..1:6 hill in north london close to Alexandra palace exhibition centre...the heavy rain has caused soil erosion

i drain it across the slope so run off does not erode the soil from the cut in terrace beds

this time half my soil has gone,washed away down the slope and out on to the road, i have japenese winter onions liying flat on the top with roots exposed six inches becuase of soil washed away and all the drain channels are silted up
 
Deforestation causes that - or so they say, nearer the equator.

Is your plot actually 1 in 6 or is it water running down from further up the hill that is the problem? A shame after all your effort and that happens. Seems like gardening can be like beekeeping!

Regards, RAB
 
part of my allotment is on a slope. but i always leave something growing there either crops or mustard, or weeds these hold the soil back . where as the others around me are fanatical about keeping thier plots weed free so they suffer from erosion the one blokes plot must have lost loads this year. This Is why the raised beds I use are so good as they hold the soil back and you can walk around them durring the winter time when its wet, pulling leaves out for the chickens. I always grow a load of brassicas for the chickens over winter, just a big handfull of old seeds I have collected from the cabbages, in this way the girls get some greens for winter nosh
 
Not been to our allotment for a few weeks - but went over the weekend to harvest a couple of Parsnips - and they were enormous ! Leeks seem to have receovered with the wet weather and Sprouts a plenty, although some haven't formed well and look more like mini cabbages on the stalks.

Amazed to be able to harvest a couple of Globe Artichokes too - from my oldest plant - the greenery is still abundant and very green - no frosts yet.

Ground is sticky - quite free draining silty soil but the muck heap is a mud bath so gave up spreading it. Bloody weeds still alive everywhere - need a good frost to kill the top growth of before I try and think about mulching more or using woven plastic next year to keep them at bay.

I haven't planted any onions this winter - half of them rotted in the summer so will just try the spring sown ones instead. Also not planted any spring cabbage either.

Both chicken runs at home are a quagmire, 8 left and only 3 laying at the moment. Red mite which was awful in the summer seems to have disappeared for the moment - it doesn't like damp conditions. I treat with surgical spirit sprayed everywhere.

regards

S
 
Interesting comment about the onions rotting. I tried some of the new autumn sown sets, planting them in about September or October 2008 I seem to recall. They almost all rotted off and the few that survived rotted in storage in a week or so. We have raised beds and our ground is very sandy and free draining so I wasn't expecting this. Will be going back to spring sown sets for 2010. Had our best ever crop of butternut squash but some of them are starting to rot in storage too.
 
hahaha-024.gif


Funny..........

If red mite can't hide in the wood joints because the house is plastic they will just hide somewhere else, like in the bedding, or I've heard in the faults in the plastic.

Yes vaseline for scaley leg mite............

Frisbee

Ill rub that on my Bees then it may stop the verroa:hat:
 

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