Recent content by That old chestnut

Don't rush to take the eggs away. The hen will be a good judge of when to give up. One of my broodies abandoned her unhatched eggs after 36 hours, but the other one perservered for much longer. Chicks hatched on 1st, 2nd and 3rd day and hen carried on sitting, two more hatched on days 5 and 6...

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I have to say even as a biologist I am now completely lost over what point is or isn't being made here! I am not going to get drawn into this discussion, but a lot of twaddle is being spouted.

We were walking our dog yesterday (we our young children) when the footpath we were following took us through a field of cattle. Walkers were coming the other way through the field without a problem, but the cows were showing too much interest in our dog through the fencing and so was she. I...

Oh, I'm not saying it's not worth £90, it's just I wouldn't want to pay that every 3 months. It's made me realise how lucky we are with our groomers and their charges. I'm self-employed as well and my expensives are very high including staff wages. Something my clients don't consider so I...

I would definitely bath her at home if I had to pay that much. To be fair, we did pay £50 the last time she went as she was in the process of dropping her entire coat the minute we had a warm day. It took the two of them almost 2 hours and it seemed we left an entire dog's worth of fur over...

Wow £90!! We have a Leonberger who is a similar size to a Bernese and we pay between £30 and £35 for the full works for her; bath, thorough groom, nails clipped if necessary, fur between pads and around ears trimmed, ladybits tidied up etc. Our groomers own 3 Leos so we are happy they know...

We have a giant breed dog and I haven't attempted to bath her myself since she was six months old. She goes to the groomers every three months and they do it. She has fairly long, thick fur and can sniff mud and water out a mile away. She tends to stay in the garden or the kitchen until she...

I feel for you. It is one of the hardest and bravest decisions you will probably ever have to make. In your heart you know it was time and that you did the right thing for Joey. I had to do the same about 5 years ago with my 18 year old mongrel. She wasn't my first dog or my last, but she was...

Thanks for your replies. The D'anvers are in a separate coop anyway, but the male is quite aggressive so I will wait until I can sex them before I reintroduce them. Both hens are sitting really well and I am having to lift them off a couple of times a day for food and water (and a poo!)...

Off topic here, but just wanted to point out that having niece and aunt in the same class doesn't point to inbreeding in any way, it just means the mother had an older child who happened to have a baby the same time she had another baby herself. I guess in some inner city schools the older...

I've got a selection of hens (light sussex, buff orpington, silver laced wyandotte, araucana, a couple of gold lines and a few crosses from these) running with a couple of peckin bantam cockerals. For the last 2 years I have hatched a number of batches out in the incubator with some success. I...

I'm sure you would find homes for them whilst they are cute puppies, but can you be sure they will stay in these homes as they grow up. There are many dogs in shelters due to unplanned (and sadly often planned) pregnancies between different breeds. Personally I love a good old Heinz 57 and my...

I read this with interest as we all want to do the best for our pets. However, I'm not convinced that Riaflex is superior. The actual amount of the active ingredients aren't listed, only the mass contained in a certain volume of the product. Without knowing how much a 2.5ml scope weighs we...

We have used 'Joint Aid' for our giant breed dog from when we brought her home as a pup. Our breeder recommended it as, although all health checks etc. were carried out on her parents, you can never be too careful with large dog's joints. She is only 18 months old so far too young to know if...