The Unintended Keeper ( Diary of a keeping blagger )

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Fingers crossed the bird flu doesnt ruin your season , would be such a shame.  Not much you can do about it though with migratory birds hitting our shores.

[Sausagedog 7,381]

4 hours ago, Stavross said:

I didn’t explain that very well, your thinking “ do you know birds can fly high, stav ” the shoot that’s been hit with the flu is just outside a town that has a bird flu control zone in place, they have signs up saying “ bird flu control zone end “ as you start to go up the hill onto the moor, there’s no control zone up there because there’s no chicken farms

i was reading something the other day that said one shoot was told to kill all their birds that were in the pens because of bird flu, it didn’t really say if they did but I would of thought you’d just release them, a least then they become wild

I meant that I have an impression your shoot is on an elevation. I don't know really as I'm just going off the pictures.

I'm assuming there is no intensive farming and associated vehicles. I'm assuming little or no stubbles for flocks of geese duck and crows etc etc.

If that is correct you maybe safe mate.

[Stavross 15,353]

37 minutes ago, Sausagedog said:

I meant that I have an impression your shoot is on an elevation. I don't know really as I'm just going off the pictures.

I'm assuming there is no intensive farming and associated vehicles. I'm assuming little or no stubbles for flocks of geese duck and crows etc etc.

If that is correct you maybe safe mate.

Yeah, your not far off, we don’t get geese up there and what crows we do get tend to be way out in the fields, it’s not often you see them around the woods in any numbers, we do have the ever present woody’s but who doesn’t, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed I’ve it heard of any problems on the top yet

[Stavross 15,353]

I decided to go up mid afternoon today to see where the birds are heading back towards the pens from, I’m happy with Gordon’s pen as they are in the drives I would expect them to be in by now, not so much with forestry pen, I’m now cutting back on the feeding at forestry and feeding more in the drives surrounding the pen, with only 4 weeks until the first day I really need to push them further out, I have got a few more adult birds kicking about and just as I was heading back to the farm about 5pm there was a group of 8 adult cocks pecking at the wheat I’d scattered on my way to the piggeries, also now the oats are through they have made their way back onto that field so no doubt the lad who farms it will be telling me how much damage they are doing also the beast are on the countdown for the chop, shame we have just about made friends now

[Stavross 15,353]

First batch of the bramble gin ready getting bottled for the first day, I’d better get a shifty on I’ve got another 3 bottles to do

[si brown 8,486]

1 hour ago, Stavross said:

First batch of the bramble gin ready getting bottled for the first day, I’d better get a shifty on I’ve got another 3 bottles to do

You can make them some Yorkshire wine if you want… got a call other day about a chicken muncher!

went looking in the lost garden with the dog and found this

must thrive on neglect. 

[shovel leaner 7,650]

On 17/10/2022 at 19:35, si brown said:

You can make them some Yorkshire wine if you want… got a call other day about a chicken muncher!

went looking in the lost garden with the dog and found this

must thrive on neglect. 

I used to have a vine in a greenhouse in a house I had years ago . My father -in - law , who is a really rough old paddy wanted the grapes to make wine out of  .  I didn’t want them so he took them and made some  “ wine “ . He proudly came around with his first vintage bottle , and eagerly poured me a glass and was looking straight in my eye for approval and validation . It was all I could do to not squint as it was really horrible and vinegar like . I’m no wine expert , but I knew it was “ Shit wine “ . 
          Now I’m not one to speak I’ll of the dead , but my wife’s dad was someone who probably only had a bath maybe once a week . He couldn’t believe that there were people who shower every day . So when he told me that he’d crushed the grapes in an old plastering bucket with his feet , I felt that feeling before you are sick when your mouth starts to water and you start to swallow , and you can feel your stomach is rejecting what you’ve just put in it . 
          “ so , what you tink of da whine “ ? “ Oi tink oim ganna do some more next year “. 

 

[si brown 8,486]

6 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

I used to have a vine in a greenhouse in a house I had years ago . My father -in - law , who is a really rough old paddy wanted the grapes to make wine out of  .  I didn’t want them so he took them and made some  “ wine “ . He proudly came around with his first vintage bottle , and eagerly poured me a glass and was looking straight in my eye for approval and validation . It was all I could do to not squint as it was really horrible and vinegar like . I’m no wine expert , but I knew it was “ Shit wine “ . 
          Now I’m not one to speak I’ll of the dead , but my wife’s dad was someone who probably only had a bath maybe once a week . He couldn’t believe that there were people who shower every day . So when he told me that he’d crushed the grapes in an old plastering bucket with his feet , I felt that feeling before you are sick when your mouth starts to water and you start to swallow , and you can feel your stomach is rejecting what you’ve just put in it . 
          “ so , what you tink of da whine “ ? “ Oi tink oim ganna do some more next year “. 

 

Ffs recon I’d of barrfed

I’ve worked with a few old school paddy’s who use to kip in the vans and spend the digs money on booze!

can’t stand wine or Champaign.. did my last wedding toasts with a bottle of becks!

very civilised us Yorkshire folk

[shovel leaner 7,650]

14 minutes ago, si brown said:

Ffs recon I’d of barrfed

I’ve worked with a few old school paddy’s who use to kip in the vans and spend the digs money on booze!

can’t stand wine or Champaign.. did my last wedding toasts with a bottle of becks!

very civilised us Yorkshire folk

He was probably one of those paddy’s in the vans . An incredibly hard working man . He did very well for himself and had a good building business. But he looked like he didn’t have two pennies to rub together. I worked for him for a while and the stories and the laughs the lads had , very often at his expense. Characters like him just aren’t around anymore . 

[Stavross 15,353]

23 minutes ago, si brown said:

Ffs recon I’d of barrfed

I’ve worked with a few old school paddy’s who use to kip in the vans and spend the digs money on booze!

can’t stand wine or Champaign.. did my last wedding toasts with a bottle of becks!

very civilised us Yorkshire folk

When I was mechanicing we had a couple of contracts moving large steel section and it was 2 pairs of drivers, 2 paddy’s and 2 Polish, they all worked unbelievably hard and you never had any problems with them, they used to leave the yard on Sunday evening and return the following Friday, they were given £12 a night stop over and I sure they took it as a challenge not to spend it on frivolous things like a shower or soap, when they came back into the garage the place would empty because no one wanted to have to get inside them 2 trucks, I used to just see who pissed me of the most that shift and give the job to them, the Polish one was the worst, it was full of empty bottles of vodka, an eye watering amount of hardcore porn ( 2 blokes in a small space, weird) and they used to piss in empty bottles and put them behind the seats, once someone tilted the cab and one fell out and smashed on the dash, he just put it back down and pushed it out the garage and I put a sign on it saying bio hazard and refused to do the work to it, they just collected it and carried on with their job

oh yeah, and champagne is disgusting it’s like a fart in a glass

[BenBhoy 4,706]

8 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

but my wife’s dad was someone who probably only had a bath maybe once a week .

I'm only gonna stink again tomorrow  so what's the point?? 

Going to church this morning for my daughters harvest thanksgiving service, mrs already said "nobody will sit next to you!" Seems a bit ironic in a service thanking farmers for their food!!

Edited October 20, 2022 by BenBhoy

[shovel leaner 7,650]

3 hours ago, BenBhoy said:

I'm only gonna stink again tomorrow  so what's the point?? 

Going to church this morning for my daughters harvest thanksgiving service, mrs already said "nobody will sit next to you!" Seems a bit ironic in a service thanking farmers for their food!!

I could write a book about all the scrapes and shenanigans he got into and managed to drag me in with him . He just didn’t play by the rules . He was your original cowboy builder. Building regs …. Don’t bother with that . He once got me to do a stud wall over  acro props on a load bearing wall . I still drive past that house and cringe . 
          We once did a screed in an extension. When the screed arrived the driver said the retardant in the screed gave us a few hours to work before it went off . “ Dat meant we could all go to da pub for a “swift point or two “. Jesus we got back and it was as stiff as hell . Nearly killed our selves. When we left the job the customer got us to carry their piano into the extension. We put it down and it started rolling across the floor . He packed the corner with cardboard and left smartish . The stories are never ending. 
           He had a couple of houses which he had DHSS lodger’s in . The hassle and punch ups were weekly events . Then he got sent down the road for claiming for people who had been dead for years .

[Stavross 15,353]

Well it was an absolutely filthy day up at the shoot today, I’m managing to feed the birds into the drives now, cutting the feed down at the pens so they are getting off roost and going on the hunt for feed before the majority of them head back around the pens to roost, apparently next door had their first day yesterday, from what I’ve seen their birds aren’t quite ready but if they want to stir them up that’s up to them and I’m willing to feed them into my drives now I’m starting to see them on a couple of my boundaries, what I want now is some hard weather but at the minute that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, hopefully we’ll get a week of frost sometime in the next 3 weeks

 

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

1 hour ago, Stavross said:

Well it was an absolutely filthy day up at the shoot today, I’m managing to feed the birds into the drives now, cutting the feed down at the pens so they are getting off roost and going on the hunt for feed before the majority of them head back around the pens to roost, apparently next door had their first day yesterday, from what I’ve seen their birds aren’t quite ready but if they want to stir them up that’s up to them and I’m willing to feed them into my drives now I’m starting to see them on a couple of my boundaries, what I want now is some hard weather but at the minute that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, hopefully we’ll get a week of frost sometime in the next 3 weeks

 

Frost ....you will be lucky .

Forecast for plenty rain the next 2 weeks

[Stavross 15,353]

20 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Frost ....you will be lucky .

Forecast for plenty rain the next 2 weeks

Alright windy Willis, don’t piss on me chips, I’m ever the optimist the weather looks more like spring than autumn for the next couple of weeks, temps not getting much below double figures over night  
 

I seen a few fallow today over the piggeries with a prickett and a slightly older buck at the back of Gordon’s pen if you fancy a walk out at the beginning of November, at least then we can shoot most of what we might see, with next door starting to shoot they will move further over out the way of the disturbance 
 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Stavross