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Lovely photos Shadrach. Henry is a very hansom chap. Does he have girls? I notice your green feeders are falling apart as ours are. I think they are not made for clear skies and hot temperatures- poor UV resistance. We have scrapped most of ours and bought local which are not as well suited to...

You were there the same time we were Icemaiden- when we arrived they were re-lining 'the pond' and hadn't started on the buildings. The pub at the lock was renamed the Barton Turns, but everyone used the original name of The Vine. Used to be a very busy place from 1840 to 1960 with four pubs...

I've remembered- the cleaning agent was Caustic Soda (Sodium Hydroxide). It's used as a drain cleaner, so it may be possible to buy it?

People used to clean their motorbike engine parts in something, and I can't remember what. But if left too long the Aluminium just dissolved to nothing. I can't remember because I didn't ever use it.

We used to live alongside the Trent and Mersey canal Icemaiden. Apart from the rats, mosquitoes, the smell of the rancid water and the diesel fumes from the boats, we used to be woken at dawn in Summer by boats moving through the lock to avoid the hour long queues during the day- not a nice...

I can recommend a small stove @LadyA - a Jotul 3. We had one in our rental and I was sceptical about it because it didn't have an ash pan, so I thought it would clog up. But it turned out to be so efficient the ash burned to a fine white powder which rarely needed removing. Looking at your photo...

We also have a wireless thermostat Margaid. It is 'intelligent', so learns when the boiler needs to be fired before the thermostat says the temperature is too low and therefore maintains a very even temperature. Ours runs at 55C because our heat 'emitters' are convectors, not radiators...

We've spent a lot of time thinking about energy savings- prices are going crazy here as well with another 15% going on gas and electricity in January. Wood pellet prices have doubled and are difficult to find. Oil rose 70% but has dropped back a little now. First thing to establish with...

Acsites is also known as 'water belly'. So she will have a swollen abdomen like egg peritonitis. We've had one who emptied her abdomen over two days flooding the coop and then went on to lay for years. Your chicken looks like she has a tumour. We've had a chicken with an internal tumour that...

What a wonderful experience for you @bigyetiman . They have covered events here in France as much as they have in the UK; four channels on the funeral procession. Nothing to do with the few Brits left here (only 100,000 legally resident from an estimated illegal 2 million pre-Brexit) but because...

They do use push fit fittings here. With a maximum mains water of 10bar they would disintegrate, so they fit a pressure regulator to the outside tap. In our case we haven't a regulator (and one would be impossible to fit) but our pressure is reduced to about 5-6 bar because of the distance to...

As a child in Wolverhampton we went out to see the Queen drive past our school. We stood there for ages, then I noticed I had an undone shoe lace. Tied it up and then asked "when will we see the Queen?". The reply was "Oh, she's just gone past."

We have to buy water for drinking here, something we hadn't budgeted for when we bought the place. The water is excellent 10Km North, which is where we lived before, but here it exceeds the pesticides limit, so we won't chance it. Costs about €150 extra a year and every year the levels are...

Brazing is similar to soldering @Icemaiden , just using an alloy that melts at a higher temperature than solder. So it is much stronger, but still doesn't melt the components being joined. Typically about 750C, so within the range of a Propane blow torch. They use it to join Copper pipes here...

It may be that France and Germany rear their males on for meat? Unlike the UK the meat birds here are reared to at least 12 weeks. In the case of our neighbour it is 14-16 weeks as he has 4 barns each with free-ranging pastures, so the barns are emptied one at a time (perhaps 500 in each) over 2...

That is an absolute disgrace @Icemaiden . On a positive note there aren't many variations on a wood chisel, so that isn't a problem. There are stone chisels, or brick bolsters, or wood turning chisels and I'm sure you would quickly tell the difference. The most important thing with woodwork is...

We tie fine mesh plastic potato bags over the end of the feed pipes and throw them away when full. We do have a big problem with leaves, which then settle to the bottom and clog the filter on the pump.

I ahd a similar experience @Marigold . Whilst studying 3rd year Thermodynamics and Fluids HND we had to do Mechanics of Machines. The tutor, the head of the subject, was a joke. Spent all his time drawing diagrams that made no sense to me. Result a total fail with 27%. So I had another chance to...

I wish I'd not had to learn German, French, History and Geography. If I needed to know that stuff I'd have taught myself. What I needed to know is how to grow things and fix stuff. So I went on to do a degree full of stuff that's fairly useless (but not all of it because I have survived here)-...

Hello YDL and welcome. I don't visit or post very often so might not be much help. Good inexpensive books to get first are by Katie Thear. First is 'Incubation- a guide to hatching and rearing' ISBN 0-9061-3725-X. Second is 'Starting with ducks' ISBN 0906137-30-6. Eggs are turned 180 degrees an...