Signs of Spring?

[chartpolski 24,191]

16 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

Our local track has gone and several others. Part of the fun of non registered greyhound racing was that you could flit from track to track and nobody knew if your dog was  a) trying that night or b) any good.

Maybe I'm paranoid but there seems to be a concerted effort to attack traditional working men's hobbies. Pigeon racing is in the animal rights lobby's sights now because birds are lost. The number of countries permitting greyhound racing  is diminishing all the time. Bleeding big brother! Wales is deciding this year on whether to ban and thus close the one registered  greyhound track left in the country. Some good news though Scotland "is not persuaded " to end greyhound racing.

Pit villages used to hold regular caged bird shows and sales, probably something to do with miners taking canaries down the pit to detect gases.

Now in the many pit villages around here there’s only one still doing it and it’s dwindling, just a few old pit men and enthusiasts like me in attendance.

£1 entrance , as much free tea, coffee and biscuits as you want and an hour or two great craic with old timers from a different era.

Cheers.

[mackem 27,043]

6 minutes ago, chartpolski said:

Pit villages used to hold regular caged bird shows and sales, probably something to do with miners taking canaries down the pit to detect gases.

Now in the many pit villages around here there’s only one still doing it and it’s dwindling, just a few old pit men and enthusiasts like me in attendance.

£1 entrance , as much free tea, coffee and biscuits as you want and an hour or two great craic with old timers from a different era.

Cheers.

Does everyone still have duckets on the edge of every village for pigeons?I remember the Dorans and the Brown's setting rabbit gin traps for village moggies in their duckets.

[jukel123 8,427]

2 hours ago, chartpolski said:

Pit villages used to hold regular caged bird shows and sales, probably something to do with miners taking canaries down the pit to detect gases.

Now in the many pit villages around here there’s only one still doing it and it’s dwindling, just a few old pit men and enthusiasts like me in attendance.

£1 entrance , as much free tea, coffee and biscuits as you want and an hour or two great craic with old timers from a different era.

Cheers.

 A friend of mine keeps british birds: bullies, goldies, linnets etc. He got a morning  call from the cops alleging that some of his stock consisted of trapped wild birds. They questioned why some birds were panicked and flying against the wire of their cages. He patiently explained that the birds were only used to him being in his shed, not two policemen shining torches.  Some of his birds were not ringed, which is legal. The sale of unringed birds is illegal. Fortunately he had photos of the birds in the nest. But he was really stressed and worried by the raid. Talk about police priorities!

Edited January 16 by jukel123

[chartpolski 24,191]

18 minutes ago, mackem said:

Does everyone still have duckets on the edge of every village for pigeons?I remember the Dorans and the Brown's setting rabbit gin traps for village moggies in their duckets.

No mate, it’s a dying sport. A lot of council owned allotments wont allow pigeons .

we are lucky, the council own our allotments but give us a lot of leeway; they say they won’t take any action unless there is complaints.

Its a very small pit village and most people are related to each other and most have an allotment so there’s no complaints.

Cheers.

[Goly 872]

4 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

 A friend of mine keeps british birds: bullies, goodies, linnets etc. He got a morning  call from the cops alleging that some of his stock consisted of trapped wild birds. They questioned why some birds were panicked and flying against the wire of their cages. He patiently explained that the birds were only used to him being in his shed, not two policemen shining torches.  Some of his birds were not ringed, which is legal. The sale of unringed birds is illegal. Fortunately he had photos of the birds in the nest. But he was really stressed and worried by the raid. Talk about police priorities!

Don't see many aviaries about these days, loved ours when a nipper, gouldian, goldies, zebras, greenies, chaffinch, bengalese, canaries, etc.

[mC HULL 13,157]

8 minutes ago, Goly said:

Don't see many aviaries about these days, loved ours when a nipper, gouldian, goldies, zebras, greenies, chaffinch, bengalese, canaries, etc.

why not carry it on then  ya dosser 

[Goly 872]

Just now, mC HULL said:

why not carry it on then  ya dosser 

Cos I'm a lazy dosser lol, oh and they attract rats. Lol

[chartpolski 24,191]

6 minutes ago, jukel123 said:

 A friend of mine keeps british birds: bullies, goodies, linnets etc. He got a morning  call from the cops alleging that some of his stock consisted of trapped wild birds. They questioned why some birds were panicked and flying against the wire of their cages. He patiently explained that the birds were only used to him being in his shed, not two policemen shining torches.  Some of his birds were not ringed, which is legal. The sale of unringed birds is illegal. Fortunately he had photos of the birds in the nest. But he was really stressed and worried by the raid. Talk about police priorities!

There seems to be a push to limit or stop us keeping poultry.

The Allotment Act after the war was to ban any restrictions on keeping rabbits and hens on allotments, to help with food supply, but many councils are trying to ignore the act. 
Some councils say no hens, others say maximum of six hens , no cockerels, no other poultry, ducks , geese, quail , etc.

The government banned feeding kitchen scraps to your hens; strange; food that’s fit for you and your kids isn’t fit for your hens. Some nonsense about “cross contamination “.

The latest attack has changed the law that said if you had less than 100 hens, it wasn’t classed as a business and didn’t need to be registered, but now if you have even ONE hen you must register with the government.

I’d of thought they would be encouraging small scale poultry keeping; a supply of fresh eggs, the culls feed your dogs, the guano is fantastic organic chemical free fertiliser for your vegetables; a win - win situation, but no, it’s all about control.

Cheers.

[jukel123 8,427]

6 minutes ago, chartpolski said:

There seems to be a push to limit or stop us keeping poultry.

The Allotment Act after the war was to ban any restrictions on keeping rabbits and hens on allotments, to help with food supply, but many councils are trying to ignore the act. 
Some councils say no hens, others say maximum of six hens , no cockerels, no other poultry, ducks , geese, quail , etc.

The government banned feeding kitchen scraps to your hens; strange; food that’s fit for you and your kids isn’t fit for your hens. Some nonsense about “cross contamination “.

The latest attack has changed the law that said if you had less than 100 hens, it wasn’t classed as a business and didn’t need to be registered, but now if you have even ONE hen you must register with the government.

I’d of thought they would be encouraging small scale poultry keeping; a supply of fresh eggs, the culls feed your dogs, the guano is fantastic organic chemical free fertiliser for your vegetables; a win - win situation, but no, it’s all about control.

Cheers.

Yup. "It's all about control".

[jukel123 8,427]

One of my brothers was a Councillor. In order to execute a search warrant the police had to have the signature of a Councillor. ( Scottish Law) 

Some of the requests were daft.. a stolen bike or some equally low life crime. He occasionally  refused to sign on the grounds that " an Englishmen's home is his castle" even if the suspects were Scottish and  therefore  barely human.

Having lit the fuse. I am now going to retire and continue watching Man U v Southampton. Man U down 1_0 to a team who are bottom of the league with 5 points. It doesn't get any more painful than this.

[saluki bouy 729]

9 hours ago, mC HULL said:

i  told ya had to get an i phone for a new tracker nice compact to be fair works a treat and no big handheld needed or big collar 

What you using for tracker pal? 

[wildman 513]

23 hours ago, Chid said:

Lambs are hardly a sign of spring .

I've seen boys lambing in December.

That must be why they're called spring lambs then

[Bangersanmash 3,084]

13 hours ago, chartpolski said:

Pit villages used to hold regular caged bird shows and sales, probably something to do with miners taking canaries down the pit to detect gases.

Now in the many pit villages around here there’s only one still doing it and it’s dwindling, just a few old pit men and enthusiasts like me in attendance.

£1 entrance , as much free tea, coffee and biscuits as you want and an hour or two great craic with old timers from a different era.

Cheers.

Where this at mate. We have one local here. In local WMC 

[Bangersanmash 3,084]

12 hours ago, chartpolski said:

There seems to be a push to limit or stop us keeping poultry.

The Allotment Act after the war was to ban any restrictions on keeping rabbits and hens on allotments, to help with food supply, but many councils are trying to ignore the act. 
Some councils say no hens, others say maximum of six hens , no cockerels, no other poultry, ducks , geese, quail , etc.

The government banned feeding kitchen scraps to your hens; strange; food that’s fit for you and your kids isn’t fit for your hens. Some nonsense about “cross contamination “.

The latest attack has changed the law that said if you had less than 100 hens, it wasn’t classed as a business and didn’t need to be registered, but now if you have even ONE hen you must register with the government.

I’d of thought they would be encouraging small scale poultry keeping; a supply of fresh eggs, the culls feed your dogs, the guano is fantastic organic chemical free fertiliser for your vegetables; a win - win situation, but no, it’s all about control.

Cheers.

Its about bird flu too defra they've f****d it up from bringing birds over continent. This pass this test bull shit really. Keeping birds in quarantine. We do that ourselves when we buy new birds in anyway. I never throw a new bird in with my birds. A give it a week an run some light meds through it for stress an then pre & probiotic few vitamins too. Then there bang on. 

[chartpolski 24,191]

37 minutes ago, Bangersanmash said:

Where this at mate. We have one local here. In local WMC 

Seghill, Northumberland, last Saturday in the month.

Cheers.