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genesis



Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 27
Location: Halfway up a hill near Machynlleth
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 11:27 am    Post subject: Red Kites Reply with quote
    

Hello, We've almost bought a cottage in Wales and have been exitedly planning what goes where on the land!
We have a plan to have some hens once spring has sprung however we've found that we have a pair of Red kites nesting in one of the trees. Do you think they will go for the hens or would they be too big for pray

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Welcome to both Wales and Downsizer!

Red kites are largely carrion-eaters, so they are very unlikely to bother your hens. We have them here and they have never been a problem.

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 11:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Welcome!

genesis



Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 27
Location: Halfway up a hill near Machynlleth
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Ta, nice to be here! To be honest I've been lurking in the background for a while and talking about downsizing, but living in a semi in the city didn't really have alot to input... Now we've bit the bullet, busy selling off all the accumilated junk we don't need and are upping sticks and moving hopefully in October (just got to fix and dry out the cottage first)

Cool, glad the Kites shouldn't be a problem, i like the idea of having them as tennents.

chez



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35934
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

genesis wrote:
dry out the cottage first)


Steady on - it's WALES you're talking about .

Dogwalker has had some nesting in her field this year; I don't think she lost any to them, either.

Mutton



Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Dry out the cottage

A few tips for living there

1 buy at least one dehumidifier.
2 Consider not keeping clothes in drawers but on slatted shelves with canvas covering
3. For both shelves and wardrobes, put a small electric panel heater at the back (or other gentle heat source) and run for 20 minutes in the night (on cheap rate) to circulate the air around the clothes. Also hang with gaps between the clothes, don't cram them in.

We're in a damp part of the world and have had several instances of clean clothes going mouldy in the fitted wardrobe and in the chest of drawers. Even had mildew growing on the plastic coating on the chipboard at the back of the wardrobe - that takes some doing.

We are plotting a heat recovery ventilation system for our place, with vents at skirting board level to circulate air up through the clothes. That will be DIY. You might want to look at that for your place before you move in, no idea how expensive it would be to pay someone to do it.

genesis



Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 27
Location: Halfway up a hill near Machynlleth
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks, that may well come in handy! The cottage isn't too bad really, just a lot of mould climbing up the kitchen but looking at the outside the drain is all gunked up with leaves so hopefully a bit of TLC will help. That and a new coat of render in the spring!

Mutton wrote:
Dry out the cottage

A few tips for living there

1 buy at least one dehumidifier.
2 Consider not keeping clothes in drawers but on slatted shelves with canvas covering
3. For both shelves and wardrobes, put a small electric panel heater at the back (or other gentle heat source) and run for 20 minutes in the night (on cheap rate) to circulate the air around the clothes. Also hang with gaps between the clothes, don't cram them in.

We're in a damp part of the world and have had several instances of clean clothes going mouldy in the fitted wardrobe and in the chest of drawers. Even had mildew growing on the plastic coating on the chipboard at the back of the wardrobe - that takes some doing.

We are plotting a heat recovery ventilation system for our place, with vents at skirting board level to circulate air up through the clothes. That will be DIY. You might want to look at that for your place before you move in, no idea how expensive it would be to pay someone to do it.

earthsoul



Joined: 10 Feb 2011
Posts: 320
Location: Ceredigion West Wales
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

we have a lot of red kites and buzzards around here, and a sparrow hawk...never lost a chicken to any of them....sodding fox on the other hand....always in the middle of the day too!!!!!

I used to worry about my bantams and the birds of pray, but they have never bothered with them...bantams used to run like hell for cover when they saw them mind you!!!!

Mutton



Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Genesis - I live in a modern, insulated, well constructed house. Its not just the structure of the house (thought getting that right helps), its the air regularly being of high humidity. When I lived in the east of the country, never experienced it, move to the wet west and guess what..
As long as the air moves in the corners it is OK, whether or not it is humid. If you heap stuff up in the corners, you get condensation, then mildew. Same with wardrobes and chest of drawers.
A mixture of keeping the air moving, whether through heating, fans, or not heaping stuff up is useful.
We have windows open as much of the year as we can in most rooms, so only use dehumidifiers if we have to shut the windows because of cold.

Ty Gwyn



Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4562
Location: Lampeter
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 4:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Where in the west do you live Mutton?
I live in an 1840`s farmhouse,cork dry,even the storage boxes in the window sills.

I think you answerred your own statement,

I live in a modern,insulated,well constructed house

Maybe ,to well insulated,and not enough air circulation

Mutton



Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I was making the point to Genesis that upgrading bits of their house to stop water penetrating the structure, does not mean it will be damp free, if they live in a damp, humid part of the west.

In terms of my house being well sealed, I remind you of the bit about the open windows....... Lots of air passing through the house, with windows open back and front - but there are still dead spaces in corners, clutter, wardrobes etc which get damp.

As far as I can see as in terms of staying completely not damp in damp areas houses should be either:

1. They are not well sealed and are draughty (as designed before building regs and when houses were heated by fires and needed air flowing in)

2. They are a passiv haus completely sealed with a heat recovery system for fresh air ventilation.

Anything in between needs active management, careful planning and additional measures.

gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

@ TyGwyn : Nah, doesn't always follow. The nineteenth-century houses here are often damp, despite draughts and poor insulation.

Dogwalker



Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 1231
Location: Mid Wales
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Chez wrote:
genesis wrote:
dry out the cottage first)


Steady on - it's WALES you're talking about .

Dogwalker has had some nesting in her field this year; I don't think she lost any to them, either.


Not quite my field but next one over. 3 chicks hatched, 2 were taken by the red kite conservation people to repopulate Ireland, the male fledged here.

Lost one hen this summer I think to a fox when it went broody in a hedge, still a mystery really, no feathers around it just vanished.


Welcome to Wales, which part are you moving to.

pookie



Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4984
Location: Mid-Wales
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

welcome from me too! It's not always wet here, our land is currently scorched from the lack of water recently, though we are only just in Wales I suppose

Dogwalker



Joined: 20 Mar 2007
Posts: 1231
Location: Mid Wales
PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 11 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

pookie wrote:
welcome from me too! It's not always wet here, our land is currently scorched from the lack of water recently, though we are only just in Wales I suppose


Very local weather around here, Pookie's only 30 miles from me and we had a dry April and May but normal Welsh summer since then.

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