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Whilst we may refer to clay soil, sandy soil, peaty soil and so on, the fact remains that any sod of earth will contain larger grains as well as smaller ones. Those larger grains - the sandy bits if you will - tend to be less susceptible to binding together, so tend to remain as loose particles that can therefore stick to any nearby adhesive surface. This phenomenon is well known through the work of Professor Murphy and, given both his name and his research into soil dynamics, is commonly referred to either as Sod's Law or Murphy's Law.

Update- after a few days of pacing her run watching the chicks (and even synchronising going to bed at 6.30 when they did!)- Alice seemed to have calmed down so she was given a few chances to reunite with them. First few meetings were aggressive towards bullied chick and other mum but this got less and less each time and today she seemed to accept that chick back and be accepted back into their little family with no further signs of aggression. They all went to bed together together. Hurrah! She has been bumped down to second mum though! the kids have named the chicks (10 days old) Merry and Pipin - Lord of the Rings fans! We are guessing that one is a cockerel and one a hen. Here are some photos! They are dad- cream legbar and mum- black copper Maran.

Why is it that the application of suncream on a beach immediately results in the almost magnetic attraction of every grain of sand within 2 yards to the applied areas thus turning one into a human emery board? Just asking!

You sound as though you are going great guns! AG - I would imagine a black pepper would be cooked exactly the same as any other. I don't know if they go through any other colours before they become black? If so, you have done amazingly well to get them to this stage, all peppers are still green here...unless they are chilis! We have a variety beginning with m, can't remember the name, the pods are long and red and the heat is just right, its fairly prolific and was ready a few weeks ago, so I'll grow it again, once I find the name! I'm glad you mentioned harissa M & M, thats such a good idea. I sometimes have a slight reaction to eating non-dried chili, so I am a bit wary of it, but I love harissa. I am bored of cherry toms, and am itching to try my first pineapple variety - its nearly ready. I think many beans just don't want too much heat, and they need a decent amount of food and wet, and I think many areas were warm and dry this Spring, plus you keep having hotter days than us! I am going to try a late sowing of French beans in Sept, because I get long and warmish autumns, with longer day lengths than in the UK, so it might work. Nothing ventured nothing gained! I'm glad Hurst Green Shaft peas worked for you, MT, they are my pea of choice, easy to grow and tasty. I'm not sure what I have grown here, its a local variety, but it did quite well and the seedbox still has hundreds of dried peas left in it for the next decade I reckon! I am envious of the range of things you have grown, Valkyrie, its so varied, you must be a very healthy household. Will you enter your local show (if its on, perhaps not), you could end up with some sort of Cup! People here are very conservative, they grow stuff exceptionally well, but its always the same few crops - spuds, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, lettuce, some carrots, broad and french beans, lots of herbs. Mind you, we do all go in for fruit in a big way. And the water scarcity and extreme heat are real issues. There are a few younger people about, and they have learnt how to grow stuff well from their parents, and they are much more adventurous. I have friend who grows his own tobacco, and he loves trying new things especially as he lives with a Japanese woman, so their patch is super-interesting. I am going to try perilla next, it has a very unusual flavour.

Hello All- Some of the posts are so amusing! "Raccoons are so cute...." "I have not seen a raccoon..." "Are raccoons the animals with the cute bandit masks..." We here in the US have a serious raccoon issue....We love our Cube and the WIR. The run was not designed to protect attacks from raccoons. They are amazingly dexterous with their little thumbs (they have a pincer grasp like us). We lost three of our sussex to a family of raccoons judging by the bloody footprints on top of the coop. Completely a newbie mistake as we did not lock them inside the coop. They were dragged from below though the wires as pullets. If a three year old can figure it out, so can a raccoon! We live in an urban area in St Paul, MN and have quite a few raccoons around as well as hawks and the very occasional fox and coyote. However, raccoons are the real threat with this run. We cannot have roosters in the city, so no ability to have a warning sound for predators! We have the cube now enclosed within a walk in run. After speaking to our local DNR (Department of Natural Resources) I thought I would let you all know what I have done here to protect the girls against raccoons. I have CABLE tied (exhaustively) the upper level of the run and covered with half clear/half shade vinyl tarp. The sides of the run I placed green 1/2 inch vinyl covered hardware cloth that is two feet high. I also have an internal predator skirt as the run sits on the grass. Just some 12 inch hardware cloth cable tied to the edge. Raccoons can rip through pretty much everything but the outdoor uv treated cable ties are raccoon proof (according to the Naturalist). The areas where the roosting bars on also have a piece of hardware cloth on each end so the raccoon cannot reach in from there. Overkill? Perhaps... but we are all much more relaxed. The girls are locked in the coop every night now but raccoons here in the fall and winter can be very aggressive and hunt during off hours. This is NOT a design flaw on the part of Omlet as I have read on other posts. The run and coop are amazing.

👍 thanks Cat tails

Turn your phone to horizontal! https://www.claretaylor.com

So sorry, Andy Roo. They really pull at your heart strings. Probably was the heat which tipped the balance. She’s flying free now though xx

You're welcome. That order goes through to Cotswold Chickens Tom - I just freelance for them (and other companies) see link to my website in my signature

Hello I don't use straw bales, but they are useful in larger pens to provide them with something to do; I would spray regularly with Nettex Total Mite Kill spray (pink one) though to keep any mites down. No need for a bigger bumpa bit. I would take it off after 3-4 weeks and see if the habit has broken, and be prepared to re-fit it for a while longer if necessary. Thank you - I made those videos quite a while ago now!

Good storm here and the first rain we've had for ages - lovely

I'm sorry to hear this - feather pulling doesn't signify a lack of protein - urban myth Have a look at these videos for some help Clicky and Clicky they have relatively simple neural pathways and they easily pick up habits and it's not difficult to unlearn them either.

The same reason that you always stick the fork through the best potato 🙄

If it’s determined / a terrier I think you’d need electrified netting to be certain of keeping him out.

I’ve hatched this little one 8wks ago. Any ideas what gender? I’ve already had to rehome one as it was male and crowing but no idea with this one. Any ideas 💡

Thanks, everyone! I wasn't 100% sure you could even trim spurs - so this is something I shall look at! Thankfully both groups are in their own separate areas so are getting used to each other through a partition and going fine so far, I definitely find gradual is best - fingers crossed! Will intro properly at some point, no rush 😀 Thank you! OUCH! I can only imagine how much that must have hurt! 😬

I chose to get 3 eggs because if you only get 2 and one fails to hatch, you would have a lonely chick being looked after by mum and having hatched them, I realise just how much chicks like other chicks to hang out with. i got 3 and one failed so I ended up with two which works really well. I made sure if both were girls I could keep both (had room for them)and I found homes for cockerels (which is hard) in case all were boys (personally I couldn’t kill them). We are in Oxfordshire so I found a local lady to pick eggs up from as posted ones (such as off eBay) reduce hatch rate to around 50% so I’ve read

DE doesn’t worm them and can be an irritant to their respiratory system. Best to keep to a medical wormer like flubenvet and not to mix their food with something that is effectively very fine dust.

I am lucky they went to a good home today. i cried saying goodbye.

Hi Janty, I do not remember you from distant pass , but I do remember you from about eighteen months ago, you posted and mentioned you were waiting for a transplant. My daughter also had transplant of liver in May last year in Kings and I often wondered if you had been lucky enough to get a chance. So pleased to hear all went well, it is a tough time.

I know. Thank you. I am hopeful he may have a new home with a group home for kids.

Good result there

It could either be urate staining - so their 'wee' comes out as white stuff, which you normally see on the top of their poo. Or, if she is having egg tackle problems, then it could be some lubricant where she is trying to get an egg out. Keep it clean to avoid fly strike and if it doesn't stop, I'd get her to a chicken-savvy vet.

I would remove Alice and ignore her ranting - tit won't last. You are lucky to have 2 mums to look after them, so she won't be missed. The bullied chick will get stressed and this will affect its immune system.

Same here. Chickens are largely colour blind - they see colour in a muted, twilight sort of fashion. The only colour they can see with any clarity is red, mainly because they are designed to feed on small insects and mammals in the wild. Purple spray (used to be Gentian Violet) is fine and works very well to disinfect and disguise bleeding; it's an old farm remedy, and is commonly used on lamb navels after birth, and shearing cuts.

RIP Little Myrtle. She had been looking a little peaky for a few days; I'm not sure if the heat got to her or not, but she's gone to the big coop in the sky now.

sadly she had to be put to sleep they couldn't get the egg to come out as her oviduct appeared to have twisted, so would have needed surgery, lots of recovery and then the implant which isn't always fully effective so could have caused her to lay again (and have another egg stuck again) in the future. so we had to let her go. I miss her already and she wasn't even here very long but such a lovely little chook.