THE SECRET Behind the Words....

[Davaroo]

Did you know that in Tudor England they used to throw chickens down the chimney?

When you had an old hen that had stopped laying well, you tossed it down the chimney to clean it out... a poor mans chimney sweep. It was supposed that the flapping, fluttering hen would knock all the soot and carbon loose from inside the flue. It was also hoped that the fright this gave to the hen would start her back laying!

If it didn't, then you hired the bird out to your neighbors to clean their flues. They paid you a pence or farthing or whatever bit of money you had settled on - and down the chimney went the hapless hen. After a few of these episodes, the poor bird was about done for, and so you gave her to the person who hired her last - as a bonus!

Thus was born the promotional giveaway.

 

[Chicks_N_Horses]

I love it!! That was so neat.

IDK about tanning animal skins in PEE !!!!!!!?????? LOL We brain tan hides...not pee on them

 

[Lunachick]

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Poor chooks....maybe time's are a changing for those feathered friends we all know so well...

hence, BYC and all of us suckers on here................

 

[boaz]

I wonder what the outcome would be for a hen stuck in the chimney? We seriously need ours cleaned and have far too many roos. Never thought of this as a way to have them earn their keep. Thanks!

 

[babylady4]

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Yes they used to use urine to tan leather. The bacteria present in the stale urine cause the urea to break down into ammonia. For this reason tanneries were located at the farthest edges of town- the smell was terrible.....

 

[Brick243]

Those were alot of fun to read. Explains how different sayings were started. Pretty interesting.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

I enjoyed those. I am a sponge for trivia....

I have always heard of using brains to tan a hide.

As in:
"Every creature has just enough brains to tan it's hide."

 

[FrizzleFreak]

The whole tomatoes are poisonous thing-there's more to it than that.
Tomatoes are related to Deadly Nightshade, very closely. The plants smell and look like Nightshade.
Also, it's generally not a good idea to eat red anything that grows naturally-one of the most common warning signs of poison.
Tomatoes, before they were bred for consumption, were very bitter and acidic.
And, for a long time, tomatoes were only for the rich, as they were imported from the Americas. So, who knows what other things might have been in their food-arsenic can be so easily mistaken for sugar.

 

[Davaroo]

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You can also soak them in hardwood ashes, and let the lie do the work. Plenty of ways to skin a cat, so to speak.

 

[Davaroo]

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Uh... Id be careful with that! A properly designed chimney hardly has room for a chicken in it. It was recounted to me in England, and perhaps chimneys were bigger there, back then.
If you try it, I claim no liability if the bird gets stuck!