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Hen-Gen

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Island of Fetlar, Shetland Islands
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Well there we are. My breeding flock for 2022 and a couple of Buff Leghorns hatched from eBay eggs. In April I need to buy some Welsummer eggs to hatch and rear for a neighbour and some Barred Rock eggs to provide a cockerel for myself. And in 2023, well maybe some Houdan eggs! ?.
 
Great snap shot of your time with livestock, love the Guinea pig
 
Thanks bym. I should be honest though and say that why the sheep, chickens and Weimaraner are photos of critters I bred the cairn terrier, the fawn and white Gloster canary and the tortoiseshell Guinea pig are google images cos I had kept no photos of my own stock.
 
Must have been a jolly household! Years ago, an old tomcat of mine had killed what I thought was a rabbit on the back lawn. Then I noticed the colouring was wrong for a wild rabbit. It was a guinea pig! A very dead guinea pig. Never found out where he had got it. I did ask around the neighbourhood, but no-one had guinea pigs.

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You just don't see cairn Terriers these days do you. Nice little dogs. Are they now on the Kennel club endangered breeds?
Our neighbour used to have Airedales, another breed you never see.
 
I don’t know about the current popularity of Cairn Terriers. Dogs are as prone to fashion as are most other things. What I would say though is that Cairns are immensely tough and practical little dogs and relatively trainable. They deserve to be more popular.
I think I’ve said before that I once looked after a students Miniature Dachshund while she went on holiday. It was a boring, lethargic little lap dog. After three weeks living with my Weimaraners it had turned into a hard bitten hunting fiend with boundless energy for seeking out rabbits. It certainly changed my view of Dachshunds. Also when it arrived it ‘would only eat chicken livers’. This is a totally unsatisfactory diet for a dog so it’s frozen livers went as a snack to the Weimaraners and it soon began eating a proprietary brand of dog kibble. I think this is where it’s sudden zest for life came from. (God bless Eukanuba).
I’ve not seen an Airedale in years. Another lovely breed. Hard to keep their coats in tip top condition though. They really need to be hand stripped rather than clipped. Maybe that’s why.
And one final thing while I’m on a dog rant. All breeds, from toy dogs to wolfhounds, need raw meaty bones to chew on. Good for their teeth, good for relieving boredom. I get the impression that nowadays most dogs don’t see a bone from one year to the next.
 
Our neighbour, who had the two Airedales, plus 2 Labradors, and Border Collie, always gives her dogs the bones from the cattle she has taken to the slaughterhouse, every dog she has owned as she is now 80 it's been a fair few all have had tip top teeth. Bit of a trip hazard large bovine bones lying around though

She used to hand strip the Airedales, she lost her last one in 2021, and hasn't replaced her as they are hard to rehome if anything happens to her, so she has a new Labrador and a Border Terrier. Both of whom have homes to go, just in case. She is hale and hearty and can hurl a straw bale onto a trailer with great ease still
 
Hurling a straw bale anywhere is more than I have ever been able to achieve, from age 11 onwards! But your neighbour sounds amazing, what an extraordinary lady. BTs are great dogs, as are Labs, and a stripped BT is a real pleasure to behold.

I wanted to ask HG, which of your many breeding projects has given you most pleasure? I ask because today we had an unexpected visit from a neighbours dog, a young Serra da Estrela, which is our 'local' native shepherding dog, tasked with looking after goats and sheep in the mountains but now more usually tasked with guarding the house/land. This particular male is chained up when the house is unpopulated (thats the norm here) but given the owners have hens/cockeral/guinea fowl and we are in the middle of nowhere, lack of notice about 'strangers' isn't exactly an issue! Anyway, another neighbour has had a couple of these dogs, but nothing prepared me for the magnificence of this one. He was huge/in the prime of young life (about 10 months old)/with a shiny, swinging, double coat and huge presence. I have no idea how 'well bred' he is, but he was fabulous, very positive and life affirming, although not home bred.
 
To be honest, MrsBiscuit, I’ve enjoyed all my animals in different ways. But for me the best has been chickens. Easy to keep, lots of young from which to choose the next generation and fascinating genetics. Contrary little bu…r/s. Feather pecking, egg eating for no apparent reasons. And breeders tend to be down to Earth decent people. The bitchiness in the world of dogs is a definite problem. I hear the world of cats is even worse!
 
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