F.U.N.E.X?

Did you ever play that game as a child? You had to try to say things but only using the names of letters and numbers, so 'Have you any eggs' became FUNEX (Eff-you-en-ee-ecks) to which my chickens, lately would be struggling to reply anything other than "I.F.N.10.E.X (I haven't any eggs). I assume kids now have no problem with this as they seem to mangle the English language well enough with 'text-speak'  (L8R for 'later' and M8 for 'mate') and it's not that different. But enough of this Radio-4 style introduction and link.

Over a year ago I was chatting to one of the users on the poultry discussion forum I used to moderate, and she suggested recording your eggs as they were laid day by day, so that you could know your monthly and weekly production figures. It seemed like a good idea to me, so we started scratching down any eggs collected on the kitchen calendar. With the turning of the year, I've been able to add them all up and here is how we did.

There were some good spuds among the latest, very late, harvest

You can see that our best month for chickens was March (211 chicken eggs) and the year's total was 1366 eggs. These are a bit variable in size but basically 'large' and Free Range, but are not organic. In old money, 1366 eggs works out as 228 'half dozens' and these are currently in the supermarket we looked in as €3.09 for the 6, or €4 for 2 boxes. Even going with the cheaper price, this is €456 worth of eggs (€704 at the higher price!). It's a bit difficult to work out the input costs, especially as in our Mickey Mouse economics we tend to leave out labour, housing, initial cost of birds and lots of other costs you would need to include if you were doing this as a real business. We also buy the wheat, barley and layers pellets as a gross amount for the whole 'farm', and the egg-layers only get some of it, shared with the growing birds and, in Winter, the rabbits. Even so, feed cost us €294 for the year and shredded straw for bedding €40.65, so we think we 'did OK' and we are happy to continue. The girls will live to see another Spring-time.

More knitting.

Our best day, incidentally, was a 10-egg score which is not quite 100%; we had 11 hens at that time. We have yet to record a genuine 100%. We had a few days where we discovered hidden caches of eggs in the hedgerows and "scored" 16 or whatever, but we don't count those to that day - we spread them across the preceding days as best we can. The best week was 46 eggs (more like 59%) but we know that many hens only lay every other day or less frequently, so the bigger scores only appear when all the planets align for whatever reason. We know we could do much 'better' by pumping the inputs or messing with day-length and lighting but that's not what we are about.

Sparks's newest 'toy', this 8 seater, disabled-access taxi. 

The two geese managed a total of 92 eggs across the first 5 months before they both went broody. Min-the-Hin (our Guinea Fowl) scored 23 eggs on site plus the famous 16 egg clutch she laid in the hedge over the lane, which readers will know we rescued and incubated after the loss of her husband, Henry. One interesting aspect of these figures is that we have got into a strong annual rhythm now, with January 2015 already looking more like December 2014 than Jan 2014, so this winter drought is presumably something we will have to get used to. We think that perhaps the chickens in earlier winters were younger and coming into their first egg-laying season according to their age rather than the day-length. It remains to be seen how this spring goes, whether we peak in March again.

Red cabbage and sausage meat 'layer cake'.
The photo doesn't do it justice. 

On a completely different tack, one of the joys of the internet to us is the wealth of friends out there who are good cooks and who are happy to share recipes and advice with anyone who will listen. Liz was on an actual cookery discussion group the other day when someone threw in a request for suggestions of interesting ways to use up that left over sausage meat. There were plenty but one which caught Liz's eye was for a 'layer cake' of sausage meat and shredded red cabbage which you assemble like a lasagna and then bake for a couple of hours.

Clothes shopping - a rare treat!

Sausage meat and red cabbage are two ingredients we have no shortage of, so Liz decided to try it out very simply, with no extra flavours, no 'spicy', no other fruit or veg. nothing in the sausage meat but ground pork. It was nice enough like that but we both said that it would be a dish open to all manner of change and enhancement - both on the cabbage side (think spiced cabbage as for Christmas or the addition of other veg) and the meat ('posh' sausages, any kind of salsa or 'lasagna' type sauce or even different meats altogether). A world of possibilities.

Sparks Junior teaches Dad how you do Lego. 

Today saw us off on a rare adventure; clothes shopping! Other than replacement socks and knickers, we've not done a whole lot of that since being in Ireland but with a family wedding coming up (more on that soon) we have a good excuse for a bit of lavish retail therapy. Off to Roscommon Town, then and the respected 'Gentlemen's Outfitter', Donnellan & Co where we were well looked after and on to some boutiques to sort out Liz. We are very pleased with our day. On the way home a check point, and various Hi-Viz clad 'Guards' flagging us down and waving ominous 'bag and tube' equipment around. After the Christmas excesses we guessed it might be a drink-driving thing and I was looking forward to being able to spring from the car with my conscience and my blood stream completely clear, answering the Guard's "Have you had anything to drink in the last 24 hours, Sir?" with a resounding "No, Sir, I have not". Unfortunately these turned out to be Customs men and the bladder/tubes were only about checking to see if your diesel was legal, colourless. road DERV or dodgy red agricultural stuff. They quickly identified our little Fiat as being a petrol car and waved us through without even stopping. Ah well.

Bull Wire

Bull wire.

We were right to hang onto those worries that the new post and rail fence might not be 100% sheep-proof and a couple of days back I ventured out on some garden errand and spotted that there were only 3 sheep on the lawn. The fourth, one of the rams, was grazing contentedly over by the pond. No damage done; he was quickly rounded up and moved, with his three oppo's, back to the East Field while we investigated the leak. We quickly found hoof prints in some newly dug (daffodil planting) soil - he had shimmied under the bottom rail where a dip in the soil gave him 12 inches or so of space. The solution this time is a single strand of 'bull wire' (it's like smooth trellis wire but thick enough to stop a bull (allegedly)) run along 6 inches from the ground, effectively splitting the bottom gap in half. I had a bit left over from the last job, so I have put that across the bottom two gaps - the taller ones. That seems to have stopped the lamb's gallop and the other three have not tried at all, so possibly I won't need to bull wire the whole 54 metre run.

Beech nuts - 2014 is a good year.

Meanwhile, now that we are through the recent list of inbound visits, we are slotting into a nice routine, especially with those sheep. Each morning they get a small breakfast of lamb 'crunch' (it's like meusli for sheep; all manner of grains, molasses-dipped meal etc) but then some more when I lead them round the corner from East Field to the lawn 'entrance' gate. They spend the day grazing the lawn and Primrose Path, browsing the hedges and pulling young ivy from the huge black-spruce trees. Then around 5 pm I rattle another feed bucket (a small amount more 'crunch') and they come sprinting across to be led back to their East Field for over night.

The very last joint of 2013 lamb - this half leg of Dora.

In previous years we have used the 'crunch' hard - 1 kg per lamb per day, to try to get good weight on but we are going easy this year. We are happy with the weight gain on honest Roscommon grass and last year's lambs were, if anything, too heavy at slaughter. I will use the crunch this year just for the training, leading them around and so that I get a good look at them a couple of times each day. When a sheep comes sprinting up from the bottom of your East Field to your whistle you can be pretty sure there is not a lot wrong with him!

The same, roasted.

By coincidence, we have just used up from the freezer, the last of our lamb joints from 2013, a half leg of the lady we called Dora. The meat has been pure delight. We can't claim organic, or even GM-free because of the crunch, but we can answer for the welfare, love and respect, the complete lack of unnecessary medication once they were here and for the respectful and professionally done 'end' in our local small butchers, Ignatius G in Castlerea. This joint did the original roast on day 1, has done lamb sandwiches for a couple of days for my lunch and my bagel this morning, and has reappeared in a risotto tonight; there is till some left. The dogs enjoyed the bones, too, especially Towser whose turn it was to get the pelvis today.

Two ladies of a certain age? Min and Squawk

The birds are mainly through their moult and have come back into lay. We are amused by the fact that the widow, Min (The Hin) our Guinea fowl has paired off with our elderly one remaining Cuckoo Marans hen, 7-8 years old and still laying regularly. This may be because they were both 'bereft' at similar times and are of similar dark colouring, but we see the two of them patrolling about, chattering to each other. The Marans is a genuine 'lady of a certain age', the Guinea fowl just looks like one with her stooped gait and lowered head position.

Opening the MAQS dose outdoors!

You'll know from previous posts that we have the expected varroa-mite problem in the hive and needed to apply the 'MAQS' formic acid treatment strips to fume the hive for 7 days. We remember from our pre-hive training days, when one of the group asked a visiting speaker whether MAQS 'seemed toxic enough' and he replied "Sure, there's a hell of a bang off it!" We now know exactly what he meant. The formic acid gel-strips come in sealed sachets in a sealed 'bucket' and the instructions say open it outside. They are so lively they stink from several feet away and the formic acid grabs you by the back of the throat.

MAQS strips in place on the queen excluder.

You have to be careful of temperature; you can use the strips when daytime temperatures are between 10 and 29 degrees, but towards the top end you have to create more ventilation or the intense fumes can kill older workers and stop the queen laying. It was about 15 degrees the day we did it, so hopefully we won't have that problem, but the strips are in the hive now slowly doing their stuff, fuming away for 7 days killing mites. The gang will be able to go into the Autumn ivy foraging and Winter, stronger, freed of their parasitic load and will, we hope, survive the winter all the better for that. We take the strips out next Monday when they are spent and we do the mite count thing again in Spring, re-dosing if required.

Rolo RIP (03-06-2012 to 02-09-2014)

Sadly, we have a tragedy to report today as one of our lovely cats, Rolo, was killed by a car last night. Mercifully this was instant. The dogs detected the poor little mite lying in the roadside ditch when we were out for our walk; I would never have seen him but for their noses. He's now buried in one of the flower beds, the site marked by a Geranium donated to us by Steak Lady when we were up at a family gathering over the weekend. RIP, old fella. We will miss you - you were a lovely boy as well as a demon mouser and ratter. Your brother Blue will miss you too, and definitely our pup, Poppy, with whom you were best friends. A short but happy and healthy life.

Make Do and Mend

Another lovely day in our current run of warm ones, brings us to the end of June and day 28 for the Guinea Fowl keets. They are thriving and seem a very happy little group despite our decision that these would never get to go free-range. They are in a rabbit run at present but we are creating them an aviary between the 'Primrose Path' and the East Field. It will be roughly 30 feet long and a 6 foot by 6 foot rectangular 'tube'. You can see from the picture that they are getting their long necked, slightly stooped, adult shape but have so far not shown any sign of losing feathers from the parts of their face which will be bald and 'splashed' with vivid white and there are no signs of the bright red 'chilli pepper' wattles which their mother (Min the Hin!) has. They have a high, piping version of the adult 'buck-wheat buck-wheat' call and amuse us every evening with a joint chorus at bedtime. We have no idea what they are discussing (with hens it is traditionally meant to be Danish politics!). They group together and drift slowly towards the pop-hole calling continuously. Bizarre birds!

Also growing fast are the pigs, now 10 days off their 3-months birthday. They are well used to us by now and well familiarised with what time meals should be - if they see either of us walking about when they think they are due one, they are up at the fence, grunting and then starting to squeal to get our attention. I tried to get a pic today of their lying-on-your-back-getting-your-tummy-tickled thing but they were too interested in the food and too playful for lying down. Of course, after supper they strolled out into the grass by the orchard and stretched out in the sun, bellies exposed to the warmth, catching the rays - if only I'd have taken the camera.

Rolo sleeping in the strawberry patch.

We did our weekly bee-inspection today. I was hoping that the colony would have expanded outwards from the original 6 'nucleus' frames across the remaining 6 of the brood box (3 either way) but we could not see sign of this. Maybe the frames were not all full, and the brood in them very young. Still, there is plenty of activity each day and we've seen plenty of pollen brought back to the hive (that is the protein to build little bee-larva bodies, so it is a sign that your queen is laying eggs each day). We will just have to be patient. We put the 'super' on anyway because we'd taken it down there with us. For those who know about these things we are not yet using the Queen excluder, so we are running the so called "Brood and a half" system. If the bees fill this, we will give them the 2nd super over the excluder, so that the top super will be just for honey. Mrs S (and little niece R) will be delighted to know that we used the smoker today properly and the bees were calm and relaxed - only a hundred or so came out to repel boarders - we were all done in about 10 minutes. Nobody got stung.

Meanwhile, Liz has diversified from the pure knitting into a bit of seamstress-ing. She is enjoying remembering her needlework classes from very young school days (so young that when you had a hem to make on a napkin, you had to get Mum to iron the creases into the hems). She has bought herself a very full kit of cottons, threads, needles, elastic and measuring tape as well as some nice fabrics. All the old saggy PJ's are suddenly as waist-hugging as new, many clothing items have been repaired for the little rips and tears from the barbed wire and I have seen an excellent fringe benefit in the work-shirt department.

Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

When I was working in the UK I had amassed quite a collection of reasonable quality cotton shirts (Marks and Sparks was the 'tailor' of choice!) and for a lot of these, the only thing which went wrong was that the collars would go threadbare at the neck crease. Those would get 'audited out' and join the rag-bag. Not any more. Liz has found that they can be very neatly and professionally de-collared and go back into service over here where no-one is making rules about wearing a tie. I also have quite a few more 'posh' shirts for going out in - we bought Jaeger and Louis Copeland and neither of these got used for work or saw much use, so I am very much the snappy dressed pig-wrangler when I feel like it. It's not all 'grunge'. We are not quite 'Make do and mend' with the wartime ends-to-middle bed sheet fixes, but we do feel a bit green and recycling-orientated. Usefully, my beekeeper suit also got elastic thumb-loops on its sleeves today - they keep the sleeves pulled down nice and tight into the long gauntlet gloves. No gaps for the stinging marauders.

Snake's head fritillary seed pod

So that's about it for June 2014. My final picture is of the snake's head fritillary seed pods now ripe and opening. These plants flowered back in Mid April, so you can immediately see why they can not survive in the wild in any commercially used grassland - grass in these parts is either grazed down hard by cattle, or it is zizzed off very short by the silage-mowers once in May/June and then again 10 or so weeks later. Plants like this simply do not have the time to flower, set seed and then ripen and shed it as they would have done in the more traditional July/August cut hay making regimes. In fact the silage boys got lucky this year and a lot of them saw good weather forecasts and left the grass which had been cut for silage on the ground, shook it through a couple of times with the hay-tedder and then baled it as hay. A lot of old, little-used equipment was getting greased up and dusted off. Fair play to them - make hay while the sun shines.