Mundane News

[classic33]

Sadly true but I have no idea what could be done otherwise.
People have more money and time now but I wonder how many visiting these places are simply ticking boxes and have no real interest in the place they are visiting.
I consider myself lucky as I travelled and visited most of the UK before tourism became a menace.
Now I am in the slightly unfortunate position of being a prisoner in what has become a must see area due to pressure of numbers of visitors.
This has happened fairly suddenly over the last decade.

Folk wanting to visit areas new to them is nothing new. The West Highland Railway was built to bring tourists into the wilder parts of Scotland. Queen Victoria included.

What we're seeing now is the growth in people "staying at home" for their holidays. Visiting areas new to them, away from the built-up areas that are their normal areas.

I remember being royally cheesed of that a road I'd cycled down a little over an hour before was now closed off, due to the An Post Tour of Ireland coming down it and being made to wait with everyone waiting on the tour coming past. When all I wanted to do were get home with the shopping.

 

[MikeG]

My grandparents, parents and all the farms I worked on as well as later at university all referred to hens as the ones laying eggs which if not eaten turned eventually into chickens.
I agree that other birds can be named for sex but it does not alter the point that referring to domestic poultry people understand what is meant by hen and chicken.

My daughter got her ethology PhD working with chickens. She has 6 scientific papers published in her name, and has co-written dozens of others, most of them on the subject of chickens. She is one of the world's leading experts in chicken behaviour. I take scientific rationalism over regional colloquialism as my starting point.

 

[classic33]

This. Exactly this. Keeping chickens is something of an inconvenience, but we do it mainly to help our grandkids understand where food comes from. We've always grown our own fruit and veggies (annoyingly we've just run out of last years potatoes and onions), but they're a bit less exciting to a 3 year old than birds and the eggs they produce.

Especially when they're in collusion to deny you your daily egg!

 

[classic33]

My daughter got her ethology PhD working with chickens. She has 6 scientific papers published in her name, and has co-written dozens of others, most of them on the subject of chickens. She is one of the world's leading experts in chicken behaviour. I take scientific rationalism over regional colloquialism as my starting point.

Was it you or the chickens that taught her her first naughty word?

 

[MikeG]

Was it you or the chickens that taught her her first naughty word?

I think it was the internet.

 

[classic33]

I think it was the internet.

Them there chickens aren't all innocent.

 

[biggs682]

Second cuppa went down well

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

My family, all bar the current generation, were/are farmers. My grandparents referred to them as hens, even the cock. Unless they wanted the cock kept seperate.
Maybe its a regional thing, it's certainly not a generational thing.

Maybe it is a regional thing. Though I'm from an urban background, I learned that the hen was the species and chickens were the youngsters. The fact that hen could refer to all chickens and to a specific gender didn't really matter - we do the same for the generic /dog/ which becomes gendered when opposed to bitch, for example. While @MikeG has a logical Mrs Hen Chicken, Mr Cock Chicken and the Chick Chicken little ones structure, I don't think it's always followed.

Random French fact: les noix is both all kinds of nuts and specifically walnuts.

 

[PeteXXX]

We've already discussed this at length. Chicken is the name of the species. Hen is the name of the sex. Hen chickens lay eggs. So, some chickens (the female ones called hens) lay eggs. I don't have any males (cocks, or cockerals), so I don't need to distinguish which sex of chicken I am talking about.......so I am completely correct to say "my chickens should be laying more eggs".

Of, and if we are to be pedantic, a hen could be a goose, or a pheasant, or an ostrich. If I were to say "my hens only laid one egg today" you might think I was talking about an emu.....so I use chicken to avoid that confusion.

OK?

No mention of Pullets i notice!! 🤗

 

[woodbutchmaster]

I am attempting to alter the position of a 250kg round hay bale so that it stands on end and not on its side. It is still in the same position as when l began this ridiculous manoeuvre !!

 

[Mike_P]

Rain has given way to the sun
Pressure washed the back yard of most of the muck and came in for a coffee just as the bread maker finished. Then after using the washer with the cleaner and getting completely soaked jeans from the knee down to the top of the wellies came in for a dry pair and discover it was time for a sandwich. Will there be a third good timing?

 

[Jenkins]

There's been a few drops of rain so far, but not enough to stop me getting out for the daily dose of fresh air. The rain radar seems to show it as being clear for a bit so the grass is about to get done.

 

[PeteXXX]

Pleasantish ride into town to pick up MrsPete's new car battery from the motorfactors.
They're heavy, aren't they!! 😂

 

[classic33]

I am attempting to alter the position of a 250kg round hay bale so that it stands on end and not on its side. It is still in the same position as when l began this ridiculous manoeuvre !!

Rolled along an inclined piece of wood on one end of the bale, thereby raising one end will allow you to complete the job at hand.
Or just get a tractor, with a single spike on the three point rear pick-up. Lift it, twist it, then lower it.

 

[classic33]

No mention of Pullets i notice!! 🤗

I'll hang tight on this end and let you pullet your way.