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| Finished | Used to describe an animal fattened and ready for slaughter |
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| Flushing | This is the raising of nutrition levels in ewes prior to mating in order to boost the chances of conception and succesful lambing. |
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| Flyblown | A fleece that is full of blow fly eggs. |
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| Footrot | A bacterial disease of sheep, encouraged by wet conditions |
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| Gadfly | A blood sucking insect which parasitises livestock in the summer months. |
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| Granulation | Honey which changes from a liquid state to a solid or creamy solid state |
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| Heifer | A cow older than 1 year which has not yet calved. |
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| Hoggett | A yearling lamb, i.e. a lamb of either sex that is over 1 year old therefore too old to be defined as lamb. Also referred to variously as Hog, Hogg and Hoggerel. Said by aficianados to have a far superior flavour to lamb. |
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| Moult | Chickens lose all their feathers naturally in the autumn, these are gradually replaced by a new set. Some may go almost bald overnight, they'll all drop disconcerting quantities of perfectly good looking feathers all over the place. The reasons for the moult are variously reported to be - putting on a good thick coat for the winter, and putting on the Ritz for the spring mating frenzy! Either way, birds will probably look and sound a bit sorry for themselves while moulting and it's more important than ever to look after them with good food and good shelter - even though they won't be laying any eggs at this time. |
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| Nucleus | (pl nuclei) - a three or four frame stock of bees |
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| Out Apiary | An apiary sited away from home |
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| Pig nuts | No, not pig testicles but a preformulated pig feed available from animal feed suppliers. |
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| Piping | High pitched sound made by a virgin queen bee |
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| Point of Lay | Sometimes abbreviated as POL, refers to hens that can be expected to start producing eggs in the next few weeks. A hen generally starts to lay at about 20 weeks, POL hens on sale may be anything from 15 weeks old |
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| Pollen | Coloured dust on the anthers of flowers which is their male element. Pollen mixed with honey is bee bread for young bee larvae, supplying the protein necessary for good health |
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| Pollination | The action of the bee in transferring pollen from one flower to another to pollinate or fertilise |
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| Porter bee escape | A device to allow bees to pass one way only; used to clear honey supers |
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| Pullett | A female chicken |
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| Queen Excluder | A slotted sheet permitting the passage of worker bees only and not the queen or drones |
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| Re-queening | Giving a new queen to a queenless stock |
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| Robbing | The act of one stock of bees stealing the honey from another stock |
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| Scour | The general name given to diarrhoea in livestock, can be caused by various factors. |
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| Skep | A straw or reed basket beehive |
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| Smoker | A fire box with bellows in which a roll of corrugated paper, rotten wood or old sacking slowly burns to produce smoke used to control or subdue bees |
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| Steer | A castrated bull of more than a year old. |
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Glossary