Aaaaah Dead Perch!

This photo is bad. But not so much as it appears. The fish are in an old strawberry box, it's not blood!  

But they are dead and were found at the bottom of the tank only hours after watching them happily swimming around. I thought it might have been a lack of oxygen in the water - which had been topped up with some tap water. I had also thrown some caterpillars into the tank, but could not really see any evidence of these when I cut them open to investigate. Half the fish were wiped out and the other half appear to be okay. The goldfish in the adjoining tank were fine also.

I am leaning towards a lack of oxygen that I just happened to catch in time, afterall, I had turned the pump off for a while to patch up a hole in the pipes. Still a slight disturbing mystery though. Anyway, the pump was turned back on and things appear to be normal. The only other thing that had changed was I planted more seedlings into some of the beds. Corn, cucumber and tomatoes. Well washed of soil and healthy so I don't think that would have done anything either.

Regardless, nothing is wasted. The four fish were taken out and poached and fed to the chooks who absolutely loved them. Especially the little ones who were trying fish for the first time.

Late December 2011

This post is a quick one about summer. Christmas was nice and relaxed with lots of summer fruit and family company. I have been working a fair bit too so the days have gone by quick and my days off have been spent keeping the garden trained as it is turning into a sprawling jungle.

Despite working my wife has managed to get a few shots of the garden before we started to harvest some of the edibles. Most of the sunflowers have done well this year. A mixed bunch though. The Giant Russian have been out-grown by the local seeds given to us that we grew out and kept from last year.

 

We have also started to harvest the babaco fruit. Two so far. I'm glad to say that the taste is rather unique and I will be happy to keep growing the trees and propagating a small forest of them. More posts to come...

Extra Finds

Some surprise finds in the garden. Lily flowers coming up in the hedge garden, jelly beans coming up amongst grass and self-sown tomatoes, melons and herbs. Oh, and a gratuitous pic of the corn, cos I enjoy it so much!

Growing Chicks

The chicks are now just over a month old and have a bunch of feathers growing along their back and wings. They are very adventurous and keen to get up high on objects around the garden. I took this as a sign and removed their cage yesterday and put them in the strawyard with the other chooks just before twilight. Jenny was keen to get up on the roost and one little chick followed her. The others were not so up front so Jenny reluctantly joined them on the straw for the night. Tonight there are three up there with her with one of the ground due to a sore leg which 'she' did not seem to be too fussy about so I have left her to rest for the night and will investigate in the morning. I couldn't see any point in stressing her and the rest of the chooks right before roosting time.

After only a month they are acting like adult chooks in many ways. Running, flying in short bursts, taking dust baths and scratching around. They are still peeping like chicks. The rest of the chooks do not seem to mind their presence in the coop so I figured it was probably a good time to get them in with them and that way they can be in the dark a little longer rather than stirring at 4am in the morning!

Clarice is the solid little layer at the  moment as Penny is clucky and Stella is only laying every second day or so. Penny and Clarice sleep in the nest overnight, with Stella on the roost with Jenny and the chicks that can make it.

On the Table - Summer Fruit Salad

This was breakfast the other morning. Fresh stone fruit with home-made yoghurt, a little bee pollen and some raspberries straight from the garden. Just delightful! Such as welcome taste sensation.