Water Butts!

[the.fee.fairy]

Right, someone start praying to whatever deity takes your fancy for rain - my water butt is as low as it will go!


There are some flukey looking things in there - i thought they were slugs, so i was trying to fish them out (i am still at war with the things!) and they were squirting water at me! Then, i dropped one back into the water and it started swimming. Anyone got any ideas on whether these things should be allowed to live there? Or whether they're damaging the water in any way/eating my plants sneakily at night?

Anyway, there's also a pile of...stuff...i dont kniw what at the bottom of my water butt...any ideas?

I need a new one as well...one with the tap at the bottom so i can use the last 4 inches or so of water in there! Anyone got any suggestions for good makes?

[shiney]

Can't tell you what the wildlife is but we have all the crud that comes off the roof that goes into the butt. We clear it out yearly.

Our's is really low too, should have some rain tomorrow with any luck. Only a thunder storm but it'll be instant water!

[Muddypause]

Yep. My home made butt thingy ran out yesterday, so it's watering-cans-in-the-sink time. Supplies of butts in the stores are still sporadic around here, and they sell out fast. I have installed several for customers lately, but getting hold of the things in the first place can be a trial.

Shiney's right, you'll get a lot of muck off the roof - moss, decaying leaves, bird crap, next door's toys. No idea what the water-squirting things are, though - can you post a pic?

You'll find that even a water butt with a tap on will still not allow you to get the bottom 4" of water, for the very reason of all the crud in it; it's intended to leave that behind.

[the.fee.fairy]

I fished them all out earlier and put them on the compost...

I'm sure there'll be nother one there tomorrow though, i'll try to take a pic of it then.

They're like giant slugs, but they're yellowy-greeny and they swim like the worms from the X files...

I think you're right about the stuff at the bottom. It doesn't smell very nice now that the water's gone down. It smells kind of like a wet rot..

I think i'm going to wait for Dad to get back and see if he can help me take the water butt down and give it a clean inside. It might not be so stinky then!!

I'll see if i can find a pic of the flukey things on google and post it.

[the.fee.fairy]

right, i think is is one of these:



Yellow Slug Limax flavus

A large, yellowish slug, the body of which is marbled and mottled with olive-brown. Tentacles blue and mantle with thumbprint-like pattern of concentric rings typical of all Limax species. Common and widespread in England, Wales and Ireland but almost always associated with gardens and houses; ventures indoors after dark and into cellars. Feeds voraciously on seedlings and vegetables


now...how do i post a pic?

at least i think i know what's been getting into the house at night now!! And what's been eating my sunflowers!

But, i can't find anywhere that says the things swim.. Or, that they live in water.

[the.fee.fairy]

here goes:



That's one that i googled. I'll try to capture one of the things living in my water butt in a jar or something tomorrow and take a pic.

[Millymollymandy]

Are they special aquatic slugs? Wouldn't a normal slug drown in water?

Yep please send rain my way. Running out of water rapidly. My grass is going a nice crispy brown now and the tadpoles/baby froglets are fast losing their cover from the water mint as the water recedes in the pond.

[Stonehead]

We've just had a couple of heavy showers, but they put less than an inch of water in the butts - which are all empty again. We still have two 1000-litre IBCs that are each about half full, which is enough for a couple of days for the pigs.

After that, we'll have to start sharing the borehole with the beasts again. As the borehole has still not recovered fully from running dry, that would mean cutting back on clothes washing and showering again (well, we're already restricted but we might have to go back to showering every three days instead of every other day).

And Scottish Water and the politicians keep saying there are no water problems in Scotland.

Stonehead

[Shirley]

Stoney

If we can help with regards the washing etc... then would be more than happy to share our washing machine with you and you could always grab a shower at the same time... or shower with your clothes on and do both at the same time

No water problems in Scotland... hmmmmm.... well.. the river is low already...

[Stonehead]

Thanks. We're right for the next few days, but I'll be monitoring the borehole very carefully.

If the borehole keeps refilling at a rate of around 900-1,100 litres a day then we can scrape by. More than 1,100 litres is comfortable (by our standards), while less than 900 is no good as the pigs alone drink 700-800 litres a day.

Interestingly, average UK water consumption is 150 litres per person per day. We use about 60 litres each per day.

A heavy and sustained fall of rain is what we need now as this will refill the butts that we use for the weaners, chickens and occasionally vegetables (mainly to water in newly planted out seedling).

Stonehead

[ina]

Had several hours of quite heavy rain this morning - just as well I decided against watering the garden last night! All my buckets around the house have filled up, too.

[shiney]

Crikey, how many pigs have you got? They drink a lot. I did'nt think you had many.

Do you have anyone else using your bore hole or is it just yours?

We had a smattering of rain, infact I haven't checked my waterbutt this morning. Must go and check it out.

Just had a thought. Is there somewhere that you can find out just how much water each of us uses, say in, washing machines, dishwashers, baths, showers, cups of tea (I drink lots of tea!) etc?

[Millie]

We had a smattering of rain,

A smattering.......I am close to you and spent an hour watching the heavens open at 6am, huge storm and rain coming down like swords. My son woke up at 8am oblivious and said oh look mum, we had a little rain during the night

[Stonehead]

Crikey, how many pigs have you got? They drink a lot. I did'nt think you had many.

Do you have anyone else using your bore hole or is it just yours?

Sorry, I should have written use rather than drink. They drink 15-20 litres each on cool, overcast days; 20-30 litres on warm sunny days. But, there's a lot of water gets splashed out when they drink and they also need mud wallows on hot days to jelp keep them cool and protected from the sun.

With seven pigs, you're talking 100 litres each on a hot, sunny day (you have to fill the wallow with water twice a day). But with an overcast sky and temperatures below 18C, then consumption drops markedly to 30 litres a day or less.

We don't have many sunny warm days so even with our marginal water supply we can manage with up to eight pigs. When the water situation was really bad, we reduced right back to three pigs but that's not sustainable as we need to sell pork to bring in income.

Then there are the chickens - the 16 in the big run drink 5 litres a day on a hot day, while the chicks, breeding trio and spare cockerel drink another 3 litres. Add in evaporative losses and that's another 10 litres a day on top of the pigs.

The vegetables are watered from two 200-litre butts, so they get the minimum of water as these butts are also the reserve for the animals.

We're the only people using our borehole, but we have three other houses close by with their own boreholes, then there's the farm a bit further away with a borehole and well, and then there's the farm that's for sale with its borehole.

We're at the very top of the catchment so we run out first, the our neighbour across the road, then the two neighbours across the other road, and so on.

Must dash - lunchtime.

Stonehead

PS Yes, some of the pigs are inside at the moment, but the size of the wallow is the same.

[Batfink]

Our IBC's are still sat outside. Empty. Not plugged into the system - which is becoming increasingly irritating as we're sure it'll rain soon! Fingers crossed we can knock something up tonight before the Father-in-law & Mother-in-law dissappear leaving the farm in my [cough] capable [/cough] hands!!!

However, the grey water system is still working soundly, keeping the polytunnel well irrigated. And with it being so hot at the moment, we're alot more frequently than normal - so that should at least be some hope for the tomato, beans and peas in there!