This is the best news yet!
I have rainwater in my vegetable patch!
And wearing a grin from ear to ear J
We have lots of rain water in storage, (I think about 15,000 gallons) so this will make good use of it.
Hubby has been busy catching up on much needed jobs around here.
Apart from putting a tap in my garden, he has installed chicken nipples in the hen house.
He bought the nipples off eBay, and put them into poly pipe, but he is not completely happy with it. The water is seeping out around the nipples so he is thinking of replacing the pipe with something else. Hubby took the main water supply away, and being the inquisitive type, the chooks soon worked out that water came out of the new bright shiny things in the hen house...the bricks at the bottom are for the baby chicks to stand on to reach.
Hubby asked a mate to pick up one of these barrels while he was in Adelaide to use for water storage for the nipples.
The barrel is hooked up to a rainwater tank behind the shed.
To the barrel, he added a float.
Hopefully with this setup we will cut down on our water bill.
For those who have not seen. This is our chicken pecker. We purchased one of these a while back to try and stop the sparrows and pigeons from eating a lot of our grain. It stops the sparrows, but the pigeons are still tall enough to reach it. The chickens didn't take long to figure out how to use the pecker. They are clever birds J
We hang the grain bucket from the roof with wire.
I previously blogged about it
Hmmm think it is time I raked out their pen again J
In the hen house, we have two more broody girls.
We are waiting for the delivery of some fertile eggs from a chicken breeder.
We do own a rooster, but are wanting to bring in fresh eggs and try some different breeds.
The rest of the girls are doing what they do best...
This was the view from my lounge room window the other day.
A lovely day for a dust bath in my (dying) front garden.
I have not been watering the flowers to save water.
Drinking the run off water from the hot water service.
We collect it and use it to water plants to stop wastage.
The baby chicks were out and about enjoying the day.
I could just sit for hours watching them...
There was a bee buzzing near the chicks, but they somehow knew not to touch it...
A couple more visitors have passed through...
This fella didn't like me getting too close for a photo...
This is his warning sign to nick off!
There is also a snake hanging around, but he has proved to be very elusive.
It has been really windy on a few occasions recently, which is typical for our Spring...
It has been strong enough to cause some slight damage around the place, but not anything too bad...
There are more winds due today.
It has only been two days since our last wind bashing. Gusts were very strong, between 75-100 km/hr (46 - 62 mph?) at times.
It picked up dirt and debris and dumped it all under my verandah!
I am getting quite used to sweeping up the mess J
Remember my outside thermometer/clock I painstakingly painted?
Well this is it now, thanks to a big gust of wind!
I guess I can use the pieces on top of my olla's in the garden J
Hubby has declared war on the sparrows!
He is so sick of them nesting under the verandah and pooping on every thing...
They make a terrible mess!
So this is what he has come up with, cylinders made with gutter guard and zip ties...
And he is placing them all the way along the verandah...
He needs to find a better way to secure them because the strong winds and sparrows (we call them spoggies) keep knocking them down.
He uses this contraption and a ladder to put the cylinders up into the spaces.
He has completed about half way around the verandah.
So for now he has won the battle, but will he win the war?
Time will tell J
What has been happening in your neck of the woods? I hope the weather is being kind to you J
xTania
Maybe the screen cylinders could be held in place with cable-ties through them and around the beams.
ReplyDeleteI love the chickens I could watch them for hours also x
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've got the water sorted - well done. Nothing nicer than the feeling when watering your veggies with the cleanest water around :)
ReplyDeleteAnd - love the sparrow deterrents - we need to do that along ALL of our fascia boards...
I love your baby chicks!
ReplyDeleteThat lizard is awesome and very outback looking!
I like your new water system for the chickies as their water gets so messy and I have to fill it up. All that would freeze in the winter but would be great the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteIm frustrated at the moment as my work mates bought me a water pump for my garden for Christmas. It is still sitting in the shed waiting to be hooked up to our 2000L tank that is full and going stagnant im sure. Meanwhile i handwater or use town water. Grrrrrrr Shouldnt complain as he has so many projects on the go and the weekend is only two days. Im might have to "hire a hubby" to sort out a few.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Lynda! It has taken me a few years to finally convince hubby that having rainwater on storage is a good idea, but you have to actually use it. If he wasn't going to connect the house up, could I have it for the garden lol! You know what? It didn't take him that long in the end, so why procrastinate in the first place?
ReplyDeleteBaby chickens are so cute, I love watching them too. I hope that snake doesn't get any of the chickens or eggs.
ReplyDeleteAnne xx
You have been busy, Tania...hubby too :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in the middle of the drought and weren't allowed to use town water from outside taps and had to bucket water or pump it from the water tanks, we let a lot of our flowers die and planted heaps of succulents which thrived in the dry weather.
That lizard looks scary. I nearly walked on our blue tongue lizard the other day and thought it was a snake!
Looking good! I don't blame you on the chickens, I could watch those things for hours.
ReplyDeleteAwww the baby chicks are so cute! Isn't it so much fun to watch them explore? Like you, I could sit and watch it for hours.
ReplyDeleteI love your rain barrel! We had one at our old house next to our garden and it worked really well. We haven't been able to set one up yet at our current place, but hopefully soon we can get one up and going.
Tania, it is always interesting to stop by and see what happens Outback!
ReplyDeleteYou are trying to conserve water and...here on the Pacific NW coast we don't know what to do with it!
Gale winds (33 to 60 m/hr) have plagued us and deluvial rains keep us indoors (no worries since we are in dry dock and have no ferry to reach mainland).
Ex-RAF hubby says he looks forward to see your husband's 'stop the sparrows' project finished, quite nifty!
Hang in there and be safe,
That's one fierce looking lizard. I'd give that fellow a wide berth.
ReplyDeleteIt's good you are using rainwater, maybe it will save you a few bucks and it makes you more self reliant.
Hope you can find the snake and get rid of him. Stepping on him about evening time when he's out getting the last of the days warmth would not be good.
Wow lots happening in your neck of the woods. I'm glad your water storage is full. It really was very dry in your area.
ReplyDeleteWe call them spugs round here:) They are annoying in the hen run but the blackbirds are our real hate - they keep digging up our seedlings in the garden.
ReplyDeleteviv in nz