Neal
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Everything posted by Neal
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Hi Davieboy: I'm a primary school teacher and you don't want to believe all you hear about short hours and long holidays. Having said that, I'm actually a supply teacher so I don't get all the planning and crappy paper-work so my own hours and holiday are more similar to the ideal. The other benefit of being a supply teacher is that I get to spread my pro-hunting message to more than one class of impressionable youngsters.
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A couple of weeks ago I took my Kelpie pup out for her first trip out with a ferret. I only took the jill as although the pup is friendly with all the ferrets, neither of the hobs are too fussed about dogs whereas the jill doesn't mind them. She was just shy of six months at the time and so had seen only a couple of rabbits while out mooching with the older two. As a result I only took a couple of nets along and decided that as I didn't yet know what a mark from her looked like , I'd simply put the jill to ground every time Scout showed even the slightest interest so that I'd get a better pict
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Thanks for the info. Two of mine are from 2006 so are currently in their second season of egg laying: I have no idea why they started mid-winter both years. The other two are from 2007 and one started laying a few weeks back and the other hasn't started yet. I ncidentally, mine are actually bantams as opposed to full sized chickens although the two older Wyandottes are now laying almost chicken sized eggs. The other two are a Silver Sussex, which is laying small eggs, and a Welsummer.
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I only have four chickens so my experience is hardly comparable to some of the examples mentioned above or on other threads. Mine have free range of the whole garden during the winter while there's nothing on the veg patch and are then restricted to the back of the garden, c. 25' x 25', for the rest of the year. There's a lot of shade for them due to hedges and trees but they still spend a fair bit of time sitting around, like those mentioned in the barn above. As to the question of eggs all year round, I don't know how poultry farmers engineer it but I'm currently getting two or three eggs pe
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Crikey! I can't believe some of these horror stories. I thought I was being hard done by when I got home after my last visit to the vet for worming tablets and discovered that for two dogs needing 1 1/2 tablets each they'd sold me 4 tablets ie 2 per dog. Mine just pales into insignificance compared to some of these.
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My old ferret, now coming up for eight, was always very friendly and easy going. One by one though his peers died leaving him as a solitary ferret. Over the next few months he became grumpier and more nippy, eventually turning quite vicious until I got him a couple of young house mates. He lorded it over them for a while but quickly returned to his old friendly self and is now so docile I can pull out ticks from between his toes or even one on his eye-lid without any fuss at all. Hope this gives you some hope of a return to normality.
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All my newer nets are about 2 1/4" but I have a few old hemp nets which I bought second hand along with my first ferrets which I measured today and they are about 1 3/4".
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My morning was similar; reached one likely looking hole but was unable to net it as it was fairly large and I only had three small nets left in the bag. I considered swapping one of the larger nets I'd already layed but decided against it. Lo and behold: which hole did the sodding rabbit bolt from?
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Mine are all either hazel or holly, cut from the hedgerow where I now use them.
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I'm not, in terms of morals, a big fan of supermarkets but due to the lack of real butchers (and greengrocers etc) in my neck of the woods I have to use them to a certain extent. However, I must admit that Morrisons often sell trays of, what they refer to as, stock bones which are great for the dogs as well as trimmings from some of the fish they sell too, which keeps the coats lovely and shiny; though not as curly as James Brown's.
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can you teach an old dog new tricks????
Neal replied to a topic in Working Dog Health & Training Talk
My eldest Kelpie was over seven before I took him ferreting and he soon picked it up. -
I have similar problems on my permission and have also considered trying short stop-nets. Many of the hedges are more akin to thin coppices on steep banks interlaced with brambles and, as you say, it's frustrating seeing a rabbit hop nonchalently from hole to hole while you inwardly scream, "run you bugger; run!" I feel a post-Christmas present coming on.
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I don't want to add to your quandry but I thought it was three weeks. I usually forget to take them out for an extra week though so it often ends up as four. Hope this is of some help.
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The Annie Lennox song is from the end of The Lord of the Rings; always makes me cry but I'm a soppy git. Miss You Nights always does it for me as it was played at my mum's funeral, then again, anything that reminds me of her makes me blub: Wind Beneath My Wings, Yesterday, Run, Grace Under Pressure...the list goes on.
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Thanks Kiwi. The only reason I was considering the Wapiti above the others you mentioned is the extra pockets and the full length zip. I've heard that, like Swannis, they get heavy when wet; is that true?
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How about Swazi? They are still New Zealand based. I'm seriously considering their wapiti jacket.
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Commands, Signs and Signals, and tricks
Neal replied to cúagusgiorraí's topic in Working Dog Health & Training Talk
I use the finger click too but I use it for "down" accompanied by pointing to the ground. I can then use pointing if I want to do it silently eg when ferreting or click when they're close. Come to think of it, I've sometimes used the click at a long distance just by holding my arm up and miming a click. It's amazing how good dogs are at picking up our body language, if only we could do it as well as them. -
I don't own a pair, but I believe Kammo make good gaitors.
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Commands, Signs and Signals, and tricks
Neal replied to cúagusgiorraí's topic in Working Dog Health & Training Talk
Apart from the usual ie down, stay, here etc, I find that most of the commands I give are ones that have arisen almost by accident. They are simply a case of using the first word or phrase that comes to mind and then that command gradually becomes the norm, whether by choice or default. Two examples are, if I'm walking along and the dog is just ahead of me and I want it to move forward I say a word which, to those who don't know what I'm saying, will probably sound as though I'm trying to speak Welsh: "gwon'n." It simply evolved because when I was walking my first dog through a wood along a na -
Shortage of rabbits........?
Neal replied to Rolfe's topic in Gamekeeping, Conservation & Shoot Management
None last season but I've had it bad this season, down in south east Hampshire. Had several blank days. -
Hi Stevesel, no, sorry, that's not me. I'm a non-driver with three kelpies.
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I must admit, I have a soft spot for the ears too; it must be the kelpie owner in me!
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Wow Shepp, that's a stunner. If only all half crosses turned out built like that.
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I work in an inner-city school with a high proportion of children from ethnic minority backgrounds and we've still put on a traditional Christmas nativity; after all, Jesus was Jewish!
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I'm not stupid you know; I put them down my Y-fronts!