Animals
- If At First You Don't Succeed......
Ok.Another lesson learned...the hard way! When relocating a possum from your henhouse,make sure you give him a very long ride to his new home.Otherwise.... he will return. Yes, ole Solomon knew a good thing when he saw it,and made the trek back to the...
- Much Ado About Roos!
Well, it's finally happened.After nearly two years,all of the Roos have found the hens. Let me "recap" for you.... Two summers ago, I bought a dozen Ameraucana chicks...a "straight run" as they call it....unsexed.Well, the odds were not in my favor...
- Rooster Update
Ending up with more roosters than we had planned on has given us a few challenges. We have experimented with living arrangements in an effort to keep all of our chickens happy and unstressed. What we have learned is this...... Some roosters are naturally...
- Chicken Reorganization
Yesterday morning I decided it was time to start to move the "baby" chickens to their permanent home with my other layers. These "babies" were hatched in August and have lived in my smallest henhouse (which I use as a brooder house) since then. Now that...
- What To Do About Rod!
Well, the routine with Rod Stewart has been the same each day. Every morning, as the sun rises....I open the door to the fancy chickens' coop so that they can spend the day in their yard. As the door opens, they all rush out, with the exception of...
Animals
Playin' 'Possum
For the last several evenings we have noticed at close up time
that some of our hens have been reluctant to roost in one of the henhouses.
Invariably, we either find one or two outside huddled in the yard,
or the next morning we find a couple outside.
Thinking perhaps it was time to clean out the henhouse,
I set out with my shovel and wheelbarrow yesterday morning,
and started moving shovelfuls of bedding, manure and feathers.
As I moved the plastic container of grit aside, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye.
Suspicious, I grabbed my camera for a closer look.
There he was, Solomon Possom...
staring right back at me with his beady little eyes.
It seems ole Solomon found the accommodations in the henhouse to be
quite to his liking.
After all, who can resist a warm heat lamp to chase away the nighttime chill,
as well as a breakfast of fresh eggs?
Not that I blame him...
but of course he couldn't stay!
And because possums are nocturnal,
it's no wonder the girls chose to sleep outside.
I can just imagine him loudly chewing and talking to himself,
as he spent the nighttime snacking.
And because possums are nocturnal,
it's no wonder the girls chose to sleep outside.
I can just imagine him loudly chewing and talking to himself,
as he spent the nighttime snacking.
After chasing him around the henhouse for about a half hour,
(He tried his best to elude me...even hanging upside down behind the nesting boxes!)
hoping to get him to run out the door,
I gave up and went to get the "varmint relocator" out of the barn.
This has become my fool-proof solution for unwanted critters.
Just get the little fellow headed in the right direction,
set the can back up on its end,
cover and relocate.
I didn't have to transport ole Solomon too far,
just into the woods, where he scurried off (into that pile of logs)
faster than I could snap a picture.
Sammy spent the next several hours on possum guard duty...
making sure that little critter didn't head for the henhouse again.
And since we all know what gossips hens can be,
I am sure that everyone now knows ole Solomon has moved on,
and the girls can move back in to the henhouse once again!
- If At First You Don't Succeed......
Ok.Another lesson learned...the hard way! When relocating a possum from your henhouse,make sure you give him a very long ride to his new home.Otherwise.... he will return. Yes, ole Solomon knew a good thing when he saw it,and made the trek back to the...
- Much Ado About Roos!
Well, it's finally happened.After nearly two years,all of the Roos have found the hens. Let me "recap" for you.... Two summers ago, I bought a dozen Ameraucana chicks...a "straight run" as they call it....unsexed.Well, the odds were not in my favor...
- Rooster Update
Ending up with more roosters than we had planned on has given us a few challenges. We have experimented with living arrangements in an effort to keep all of our chickens happy and unstressed. What we have learned is this...... Some roosters are naturally...
- Chicken Reorganization
Yesterday morning I decided it was time to start to move the "baby" chickens to their permanent home with my other layers. These "babies" were hatched in August and have lived in my smallest henhouse (which I use as a brooder house) since then. Now that...
- What To Do About Rod!
Well, the routine with Rod Stewart has been the same each day. Every morning, as the sun rises....I open the door to the fancy chickens' coop so that they can spend the day in their yard. As the door opens, they all rush out, with the exception of...