The secret to heaps of eggs!!

Hi

Our Naughty Chooks Sequel

Its been a wild and woolly week but then I reckon that's typical Waikato spring weather. The garden centre was absolutely flattened the day that the weather man provided us with wind warnings for the Waikato. It had become quite dry though and now this wet will keep us all planting happily.

Many thanks to all those that sent me in advice concerning Harry's chook egg eating problem and there were a few ranging from black pepper, grit and to getting the eggs out to remove temptation. I even had a response from our dinks ( Double income no kids) friends in Auckland who use frozen lemons in their gins and live on the fifth floor of an apartment but the following two replies are my favourites.

Harry,What you need is a naughty rooster,they are sexy birds and give my poor chooks a hard time, but I have 8 chooks and 8 eggs every day and they have never stopped laying in 18 months or more.You need to bake the egg shells (used ones )and crunch them up and put in a dish for your chooks to eat. By the way, the breed I have are brown shavers.

Hi Guys, I too have this problem-- it can be overcrowding or fighting for nest space, a lack of something, maybe grit in their diets or just plain nasty!!! The non-gardening husband cures this with pressure to the hen's neck. Am finding the Sussex, which are really old big birds are the culprits at the moment as they run with their toy boy rooster and the Shavers. So the answer for my old girls is pretty straight forward. The other thing is to cover the front of the nest so whoever can't look in and go ohh! snack time!!. But it could be that the eggs are weaker shelled , get trod on and then snack time. Hens don't you just love them  ???  Scratching out the plants, pooping on the path just before someone arrives. Bliss.

Out at our friends for dinner and in discussing Harry's chook issues, two other remedies came up. One was to put golf balls in the egg laying box so that when they come to peck its very hard and the other was to have plenty of straw or sawdust in the egg laying box so that the eggs weren't so easy to peck as they kinda bounced when pecked

 So there you have it and now to get back on track LOL !!!

Slugs and Snails Watch

I have seen Harry out there throw slug bait out with gay abandon so that we don't have those nasty slug holes in our hostas. We came home last night and he got all excited about the number of snails that had fallen prey. We can rest easy  now that our hostas and delphs wont be eaten

Helleborus Ivory Prince  These arrived in and sold out just so quick!!  We have ordered some more in so if you want these then be in and order on line.  Big chunky plants in full flower,  looking absolutely gorgeous. Normally $19.99 pre order us to hold you them at only $10.00 each

Chatham Island Forget Me Nots I have a pic up here this week so that you can see the stunning blue. Great plants normally $7.99 now just $4.99 each. These are here at the nursery if wanting to give them a bash in the garden

Delphiniums  !! These were hugely popular so we have had to order a whole new batch in and nows the time to plant them.

Daffodil Ice follies   Pretty lemon coloured blooms and excellent to just enjoy in the pot and then plant them in the garden so that they can come up again next year.

Camellias these are huge value for the money $49.99, now just $39.99 Massive chunky plants at around 100/ 130 cm high and approx 80cm wide and busy. Perfect for filling that space or will make instant hedging. Too big for the courier so come on out with your trailer. Choose from Ballet Queen, Barbara Clark, Desire, Kramers Beauty, Nuccios Jewel, Plantation Pink, Ruby Wedding.

Lloyd and Harry

Make it a Wairere weekend where gardenings not a drag!!!!!