I think Farrah is molting. Her butt is showing, not many feathers left on there... I can tell where she slept on the roost last night because there are a million brown feathers underneath. She looks real haggard. The other chickens appear to be doing fine, no lost feathers from them yet.
The rats... They're still here. Traps have been set, and now we just wait I suppose.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Rats and Eggs and Escaping, Oh My!!
Busy month for both me and the chickens.
We have been having some troubles with the chicky-pies. We had some escapes from the neighbour's side of the run. It was quickly discovered and boarded up, but it's slightly nerve-wracking to go to the compost to by met by 4 of 5 chickens. Some of the chickens have had problems going up to roost at night too. Farrah hid out in the Chunnel (chicken tunnel, the green tube) instead of roosting. Some of the other ladies did this later on. It's kinda weird.
The chickens have uh...some new uh...'friends'...
We think there are some furry little not-so-cuddly things scampering around eating the eggs. We haven't had many eggs as of late, and have checked the 'egg vent' of the ladies to make sure they're still laying. After some expert advice, we set some conniving traps and presumably caught one? I dunno. I don't know if I want to know. Blech. Regardless, I just picked up 4 eggs from the coop, so that's pretty darn good. Maybe they just changed their laying habits. I'm not a chicken, I don't know these things. We haven't had any soft shells lately which is good. Yay chickens!
We have been having some troubles with the chicky-pies. We had some escapes from the neighbour's side of the run. It was quickly discovered and boarded up, but it's slightly nerve-wracking to go to the compost to by met by 4 of 5 chickens. Some of the chickens have had problems going up to roost at night too. Farrah hid out in the Chunnel (chicken tunnel, the green tube) instead of roosting. Some of the other ladies did this later on. It's kinda weird.
The chickens have uh...some new uh...'friends'...
We think there are some furry little not-so-cuddly things scampering around eating the eggs. We haven't had many eggs as of late, and have checked the 'egg vent' of the ladies to make sure they're still laying. After some expert advice, we set some conniving traps and presumably caught one? I dunno. I don't know if I want to know. Blech. Regardless, I just picked up 4 eggs from the coop, so that's pretty darn good. Maybe they just changed their laying habits. I'm not a chicken, I don't know these things. We haven't had any soft shells lately which is good. Yay chickens!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Escape!! (times TWO!)
Well it took them this long to escape, but they did all get out in various stages...
The first escape was pretty interested. I went outside to get some mint for my raspberry-mint iced tea, and saw four chickens eating bugs around the compost bin. I called for backup (Avi) and we put them all back in, thinking they squeezed underneath the netting gate, as they were some suspicious Farrah-coloured feathers there. We reinforced the gate and went back inside.
I remembered my tea, and ran out to get mint. I found myself looking at three more chickens outside, eating bugs from around the lovage (looks like celery, tastes like...something). So we put those three back in, and did some sleuthing. This is what we found:
A hole!! I did some research, and found that at least Farrah's head will fit out if enticed, and while it may be a bit tight for a chicken-butt, if they really wanted to, they could get out through there. So, the wood was placed between the pallet and the netting, and a rat-trap will be placed there tonight to see if it was gnawed through by a rat or something else. It didn't look as if the chickens would have chewed that, as it's more gnawed than pecked. Plus I think it is improbable. Plus, they live a happy life in the fence. Why would they even want to escape?
Although now that they know about the G-A-R-D-E-N (Shhhh they might be listening!) maybe they will explore more often. We'll find out.
Two eggs, One broken shell.
The first escape was pretty interested. I went outside to get some mint for my raspberry-mint iced tea, and saw four chickens eating bugs around the compost bin. I called for backup (Avi) and we put them all back in, thinking they squeezed underneath the netting gate, as they were some suspicious Farrah-coloured feathers there. We reinforced the gate and went back inside.
I remembered my tea, and ran out to get mint. I found myself looking at three more chickens outside, eating bugs from around the lovage (looks like celery, tastes like...something). So we put those three back in, and did some sleuthing. This is what we found:
A hole!! I did some research, and found that at least Farrah's head will fit out if enticed, and while it may be a bit tight for a chicken-butt, if they really wanted to, they could get out through there. So, the wood was placed between the pallet and the netting, and a rat-trap will be placed there tonight to see if it was gnawed through by a rat or something else. It didn't look as if the chickens would have chewed that, as it's more gnawed than pecked. Plus I think it is improbable. Plus, they live a happy life in the fence. Why would they even want to escape?
Although now that they know about the G-A-R-D-E-N (Shhhh they might be listening!) maybe they will explore more often. We'll find out.Two eggs, One broken shell.
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