Caz

Our cockerels had a lot of leg meat - we actually got three meals out of one, roast, stir fry and a curry but not much breast meat. Our butcher actually recommends cockerel for Christmas dinner - the ones he sells are free range and have as much meat on them as a small turkey but are more succulent. Caz P.S. My small cousins named the two ducklings we raised this year - they are not going to be eaten. Only one of the chickens has a name - she got attacked and I had to nurse her back to health - she is laying well and young so I don't have to worry about it yet

Rather sadly I also note the obvious anthropomorphism of neutering in the article by refering to guinea pigs having a "hysterectomy" rather than being spayed/neutered (technically they undergo an ovo-hysterectomy), which was obviously intended to manipulate the readers view of neutering any animal and cast it in a bad light. Caz

I was actually going to voice my concern that you were planning to eat a hen that had died unexpectedly - those go straight in the wheelie bin for me - just don't chance it as you don't know what it had. I was more relieved to hear that you had killed it. I started keeping chickens in March this year and so far have raised and eaten three cockerels and six guinea fowl (although some of them are in the freezer for Christmas). It was a steep learning curve but we bought a dispatcher so their necks are broken instantly and properly and I taught myself to gut and pluck (isn't google a wonderous thing). My mum and gran have done it but I live too far for them to show me. We intended to get a few chickens for eggs but some of the youngsters we bought turned out to be cockerels and started to fight as they reached maturity, no one takes on unwanted cross bred bantam cockerels there are always hundreds going in free ads etc so rather than kill them and let them go to waste we ate them. They were roughly six months old so pretty much full grown but still tender. Older ones are usually stewed or turned into soup according to my gran as they can be a bit tough. We then deliberately raised some guinea fowl for food (horrible birds now we have kept them we decided they will never be pets). Next year I think we'll do goose for Christmas. I like the River Cottage philosophy - if it has had a good happy life (ours are all free range), being fed excellent quality food (organic is just a bit too expensive for us at the moment but we plan to swap soon) then eating them is a privilege and certainly much better than supporting Tesco cr*p. Our other meat comes from our local home kill butcher (buys from small local farms that raise for them and are killed and processed at the butcher's family abbatoir). We are getting 3-4 eggs a day from our youngsters over winter but they still don't cover their own costs in feed and bedding/housing etc but we are happy to pay out extra to ensure we are eating top quality, thoughtfully produced food! I compost all their poo and bedding and will use it to raise the vegetables that go with them at dinner. Caz

Simple solution employ a giant orange squeezer at the entrance to the plane to dejuice fat people so they fit - like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Or cut them in half so one half goes on one seat and one on another . I have never booked a flight where I haven't been sat next to my co-travellers when the tickets arrived. Caz

That's so daft! You could have scrambled egg for breakfast, then the next day have a pasta dish with egg in then the next day have lemon surprise pudding (with shock horror three eggs). I have actually started keeping chickens to ensure a supply of good quality healthy eggs and chicken meat - perhaps an egg a day from battery farms is bad for you...morally anyway ! Caz

That's one basic problem I have with the claim that vegetarianism is more economical per protein requirements. Surely we would have to turn over a lot more fields to vegetable production to sustain a totally vegetarian population but much of the farmland currently used for animals is used for animals because it is unsuitable for growing crops e.g. hills etc where sheep can graze but you can't get a combine harvester! Would we then have to clear more flat land such as forests etc to get more rich soil to grow in? Or would we then rely more on imported produce? I am going about it the opposite way. Instead of turning vegetarian I have started keeping my own chickens, I have been enjoying my own eggs this week as the broody hens returned to laying and when the babies they came with get bigger a couple of the cockerels will be dispatched, cooked and eaten. With me safe in the knowledge they had a happy, free range life, fed on the best foods and killed quickly and humanely before ending up on my plate. The remaining cockerel will be kept to service the chickens and provide with me future generations of chicken dinners. For any of you veggies worrying about the Waitrose eggs thing a baby chick only begins to develop once the egg is incubated (sat on by a chicken or in an incubator) so even if fertilised, a life wouldn't develop unless it was kept warm so eating it straight away is not killing a baby chicken especially as not every egg is sat on, hens don't go broody over every egg they produce! I also think most male chicks from battery farms are sold on for snake food (dead) but veggies shouldn't be buying battery eggs , those from our local free range egg place are grown up and sold for food - cockerels can be nice big birds and give a dry old turkey a run for their money at Christmas. Caz

Just realised in my previous post there was a typo MHC4 should have read MCR4, he has now been referred to the leading specialist on genetic causes of obesity and hopefully getting the relevant tests done soon. Caz

TBF I can see why they are doing this in Camden as my OH works there. Everyday he passes drug dealers with big bullbreeds/rotties etc with huge studded collars encouraged to bark menacingly at passers-by. The dog control orders are sadly penalising the good dog owners as these idiots won't care a jot about breaking one more law. My OH said the other day a bloke was selling staffie puppies out the back of a van (billed as pit bull pups) - he just wanted to buy them all to rescue them, he also sees rottie pups etc sold in the same way - we look at Sadie and think how lucky she is she didn't end up there. Caz

I hope it isn't one but tbh there are far worse things lumps can be - when my bullmastiff got one on his knee I was bloomin' pleased to find out it was a benign histiocytoma and not a malignant cancer. I had it removed because he kept kocking it and it started to bleed a bit but only because he was under to be neutered otherwise the vet said its removal wasn't really necessary. Caz

Nope - he hasn't! At the end of the Tonight with Trevor MacDonald documentary he mentioned the boy was going for tests later in the week to see if he had a hormone imbalance that could cause this - the hearing was set before the tests were done . Also working in research into obestity and diabetes at a top university I am aware samples have been requested for testing for leptin/MHC4 receptor mutations which can cause compulsive eating and obesity, these tests have not yet been carried out. He has normal siblings brought up on the same diet, he has abnormal excess height and he steals food (in some cases in children with the mentioned mutations locks have to be put on the cupboards and fridge to stop them eating). Yes there are some kids whose parents do overfeed but to get this obese there must be an underlying genetic reason. The family were from a deprived background and with the mother suffering from depression so what the house was dirty and the diet was poor - loads of kids in the UK are similar situations but don't get as big. We can all sit back in our nice middle-class homes and judge believing what the media want us too! There have been previous cases where highly publicised "overfed" children were found to have genetic causes but the media never bothered to update the public when these were discovered. Caz

This is apparently a true story - only it was for his 40th birthday! http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007030596,00.html Caz

Sadie looooves black labs - she used to have a couple of friends at our old park - unfortunately this now means whenever she sees a black lab she runs at it full pelt ! However the male black labs always try to hump her - even neutered ones and it gets just a tad embarassing for both us and the lab's owners! On one walk I had two lab brothers both trying to mount her at the same time she is spayed! Caz

For the dairy component it is usually natural yoghurt full of "friendly" bacteria . Mine get some chucked in with their veggie puree. They also get to lick out yoghurt cartons when I have finished with them but apart from that and cheese as training treats they don't really get gallons of dairy stuff. Raw eggs are fine for Buster whole - except the time he ran in with it in his mouth then just as he reached his bed he crunched it and raw egg went everywhere - mm. Sadie has to have hers opened otherwise she beautifully licks the egg clean and leaves it in the bowl. They also get eggs mixed in with their veggie puree. Caz

A lot of people round here seem to use them but mainly during the day so the dogs get to be outside in a kennel and run while they are at work but they come in in the evenings. I know Sadie would love an arrangement like that - her previous owner kept her in the garden all day and she is hard to persuade to come in but Buster whose previous owners rarely let him out will literally run out and pee in cold weather then turn right around and stand by the back door again until I let him in ! Caz

I have had nothing but trouble with mine and they just seem to eat batteries - Sadie's in particular seem to go wrong. I have a K9 fluorescent collar with red LEDs that still works perfectly but the large size just fits Sadie and we can't get one big enough to stay on Buster so got the blinkers instead. Think I will be looking for an alternative as soon as the last batteries die instead of buying more batteries. Caz