We have foxes in San Diego too :)… OH WAIT…sorry… you were talking about the 4 legged ones 
But I guess in London, our “Foxes” would be your “Birds”
Yes - (I think).
In England, Birds and Chicks are two slang words for women (although chicks is not used that often, as it is more American).
A fox however, usually refers to someone sly - we say “he’s as sly as a fox”.
The only thing we call Squirrels however, are squirrels
mm, I like threads like this. Doff on!
Chickens are nice animals. Very gentle. My family used to have some as pets and they’d always follow us around the yard when we did gardening or something, always snapping up all the bugs. When left alone, they’d busy themselves - happily scratching the ground with their feet in that funny way that all chickens do. They were almost maintenance free animals. All we did was feed them and clean their house and we were rewarded with at least an egg a day from each chicken.
Our chickens made a secret egg stash once though. We weren’t finding any eggs for a while so had to find out where they were hiding them. Turns out they’d established this giant egg treasure trove in a viney burrow. There were at least 50 eggs in there, and the chickens seemed quite concerned that we’d found their secret stash. They were making all kinds of concerned clucks as we retrieved the eggs that weren’t already bad (if an egg floats in water, it’s bad).
They were actually pretty ideal gardening companions. I didn’t have to fear any funnel web spiders or centipedes or whatever because before I even knew they were crawling about the chickens were already gobbling them up. They’re great for children too because of their gentle nature. My younger brothers would always play rough with them - not in a cruel way, but just like picking them up and hugging them, carrying them about and playing with them etc and we never got a single peck from them.
Wonderful pets, wonderful animals. I rate chickens 10/10 and would love to have some more someday.
- Funnel web spiders - in Germany?
- If an egg floats - it is bad?
I learn something every day
What happens if you get bitten by a bad egg? And do spiders float??
You gain chicken superpowers: you scratch the backyard and eat floating funnel spiders.
[quote=83982:@Richard Summers]1) Funnel web spiders - in Germany?
2) If an egg floats - it is bad?
I learn something every day
What happens if you get bitten by a bad egg? And do spiders float?? :)[/quote]
Hahaha, no 
I’m an Australian, but I currently live in Germany. When the egg is bad gasses form inside, making it float (as far as I understand).
Some spiders float, especially the ones that walk on water, but I don’t think that funnel webs float. They’re attracted to outdoor swimming pools and seem to like to walk about on the bottom of the pool. I’ve seen them once or twice on the bottom of pools.
Maybe you should put mini armbands (water wings) at the side of the pool for them?
We have over a dozen and a peacock and peahen
Cool!
All named “bait”
15 years ago we used to have a rabbit that I teased the kids we should rename “Dinner”
Peahen??
I must be more of a city slicker than I realised. I have never even heard of it??
Our chickens go to a chicken house at night where we lock them in and they roost. In the day time they free roam our property. I now have 3 Original Mountain Curs that keep the other dogs and wild critters away. We used to see lots of copperheads around the yard. We went out one evening just before dark and found 8. As soon as we got the chickens, they disappeared.
If I could just find something to get rid of ticks! The chickens don’t seem to eat ticks. I’ve heard Guineas do, but I think they are pretty noisy.
Mike,
We help out our neighbors with their laying hens. Last summer we ran into a little problem when the neighbors, who were used to getting 6-8 eggs per day were only getting 2. They asked if we were collecting the eggs; which we were not. Unfortunately there was a rather large, black, Eastern Rat Snake sneaking in and eating the eggs. Snake is now gone and egg collection is back to normal.
Joseph thats a great story and luckily a desired outcome for your neighbors. 
[quote=84073:@Richard Summers]Peahen??
I must be more of a city slicker than I realised. I have never even heard of it??[/quote]
Pea cock (the male) and Pea hen (the female)
Norman you’ve got to use your tools Pea Dick (the male) and Pea hen (the female)!!!
I think he wrote “peacock”, but the space caused the censors to hemorrhage. And don’t be referring to people’s “tools”.
Ranks right up there with Dick
errrr
Dick
Cool!!!