Max, Sweetie,

You must not have "herd" any Americans from my part of the
country. I've never heard the word 'herd' spoken as anything but a homonym of heard. I will say that I have heard 'erbal, but herbal too. I have never heard anyone
say yuman.

And, we had blackboards in our classrooms years ago. Now they seem to be green. Usually, the term chalkboard was used to indicate a freestanding one, maybe on an easel.

Er--Helen, my Uncle Bennett had guinea fowl on his farm, so my experience tells me they are not chickens. They never would let me catch them, the little beggars!