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That’s it. I don’t really know why this colour has not been incorporated into any breed standard.

Such are the long silences on this forum that I find myself scratching around for anything to say just to elicit a response. What’s occurring? Has everyone migrated to Facebook? There was a time when Practical Poultry was alive with information and argument, in fact some that ended in suspension...

I used to know this but I’ve forgotten. How do you get those symbols for male and female to include in the text? That’s the circle with the arrow for male and the circle with the plus sign for female.

No, not I have too many but there are so many breeds out there that I can’t do all the breeding tests that I want. A lifetime would not be enough and as I’m 68 there’s definitely not time. But one that I’m determined to do, so long as I don’t drop dead tomorrow, is to use Speckled Sussex and...

So 18 months ago I imported a Black Welsh Mountain ram. He was from a top breeder and a show winner only being sold to prevent inbreeding. On his 6 month blood test (compulsory here) he was found to be carrying a disease called Caseous Lymphadenitis and was destroyed. Unexpected but not a...

What do they call that variety of chicken that is like a standard chicken except that everything, including comb and wattles, is black?

Two years ago I hatched some Blue Jersey Giant eggs. I retained one blue hen thinking I could mate her to a Dominique cockerel to hatch some blue barred pullets because this is a colour I’ve never seen in the flesh. Last year she was such a persistent broody that I never managed to recognise any...

Last weeks visitor. First one for years. Look out Harry Potter fans!

Ah. We already have our own flag. The independence movement here gets little support. And only a bit more for seceding from the union and joining Norway. The most popular option is a similar one that exists between the Faroe Islands and Denmark. Don’t hold your breath though!

.............for mankind, one giant leap for me! All my adult life a guilty pleasure fo me has been roast parsnips. I could live on them (though in reality I’d die of vitamin deficiency). By contrast I regard aubergines as the spawn of Satan. So does anyone have a recipe that makes them edible...

I’ve wanted one of these (Clun Forest) ever since I’ve had sheep but Shropshire was too far. Now there’s a guy in Aberdeenshire who breeds them. Joy!

Eight years ago now. Best dog I’ve ever owned. Never had a sheepdog before. I still marvel at her intelligence.

Some years ago in a fit of madness we (me and my cow partner) bought this cow (and her sister). Will soon be tucking into her first born. Her third, her daughter, is being kept to join our herd which has grown to eight. It all seems a long time ago and any success was more luck than judgement...

So then. How long after a hen has been in the "broody breaker" does it take before it resumes normal laying? I have a bunch of hens who all lay similar coloured eggs so I've never been able to answer this question.

I like to think that after years of chicken keeping and an educational grounding in genetics that I know more " than the man on the Clapham omnibus " about chickens. But one thing has baffled me for years so I have to ask for other peoples theories! It is my custom to hatch my own eggs...

OK, appertaining to a previous post I am not endlessly repetitive, do not have hair sprouting from my ears or nostrils and, as far as I know, do not smell of urine. But as I get older I'm only too ready to complain about young people today, fast food and poor services. Take Amazon. On June 17th...

We wrote our own wedding vows. Is this a common practise or do most folk go along with the standard ones?

As with most years back in March I bought some eBay eggs to hatch alongside my own. All the chicks are now 10 weeks old. Lavender Araucanas look like what they are. The one Copper Black Maran that hatched is black and has feathered legs. But the Cream Lebars from three different suppliers are a...

Anyone been watching it? I learnt a lot from Chris Packham. Enjoyed it tonight where that woman introduced the public to skuas. Glossed over some of their worst traits like pecking the eyes and tongues out of newborn lambs. Particularly enjoyed the nightingales. Never heard one before.

Awoke this morning to wall to wall sunshine and not a breath of wind. And my first ewe had lambed, twin boys. Twenty three, three week old chicks happy in their shed. My co- owned Galloway cattle all healthy and contented. Alls well with the world. But I daren't leave the ewes because the birds...