Goldfish

Cat-alogued

Mocha on my fabulous Lee Valley Tool catalogue

Catio – near completion (4 photos)

Mocha on the Perch

Leaping Cats

The Catwalk – naturally

 

The Cat Door – it had a bit of a learning curve to it but Mocha has now mastered it -we are no longer her servant

 

Mocha the Birthday Cat

A new cat for my birthday!
A four year old female shelter cat

 

Fart Eggs and Other Chicken News

The new chickens, Kate and Anna, are settling in well although there have been a couple of surprises. The other day I went out because Kate was doing a lot of squawking and complaining.

Kate the Rhode Island Red/Blue Sumatra Chicken

Kate is a much different chicken than our old Beulah. Beulah was a talker and I had many back and forth conversations with her. Kate is an orator. Loves to hear her own voice and it is pretty much a one sided conversation with her. She reminds me of the American election campaign where there is a lot of noise but not much substance.

Anyway, I went out to see what her problem was – apparently nothing – and reminded her that she hadn’t laid her egg yet. A couple hours later I checked the nest and found a very small egg in it.

Kate’s regular egg and the small egg

I thought that was pretty weird and headed straight for Google. I found out that it isn’t too unusual for young chickens to produce these eggs although it was the first that I have seen. These small eggs have several names – wind eggs, fairy eggs, witch eggs and fart eggs. They are all part of a young chicken adjusting to her new egg laying routine. After playing her little joke Kate is back to producing her large brown eggs.

In the meantime Anna has turned broody and spends most of her time on the nest trying to hatch her eggs even though I remove them each day and, because we don’t have a rooster, they are infertile.

Anna the Blue Sumatra/Rhode Island Red Chicken

Hopefully she will give up soon and enjoy the last of the Summer days.  Anna reminds me of the days when we had Banties running free in the yard. Every so often one would disappear and 21 days later come out of the bush with a clutch of chicks. They were always wonderful, protective mothers and fun to have around. Now that we are seeing so many more predatory animals around a chicken wouldn’t last long running free.

To give the girls a bit of variation I have created a Chicken Chariot. This wheeled cage rolls up to their coop,

The Chicken Chariot

I open the sliding doors and they hop in and I close the door. I can then roll it around the yard so they can dig in fresh grass or soil for the day. I still need to paint the racing stripes on it.

 

 

The New Girls on the Block

A couple of months back our old hen Beulah died of old age. It was hard to replace a good and faithful chicken like her right away so we waited until a couple of days ago to purchase two new hens. Our neighbour breeds chickens so we picked up a Rhode Island Red crossed with a bit of Sumatra Blue (Kate) and a Sumatra Blue mixed with a bit of Rhode Island Red (Anna).

They are named after Kate and Anna McGarrigle – two well known Canadian folk singers. Haven’t heard many pleasant tunes from our hens yet but we’re getting two eggs a day so all is well.

Anna

Kate

Goldfish in the Mist

One of our goldfish surveying the world from it’s murky watch tower

Close Encounter

Frog Hunting

Chicken Portraits

I‘ve been out doing a lot of yard cleanup the past week and our two chickens, Beulah and Penelope like to help so I let them run free. Unfortunately they tend to spend most of their time with me, usually right under my feet where ever I go.  They took some time off today to preen and have a dirt bath so I took some shots. 

Penelope, the Rhode Island Red. The adventuresome one and a true survivor.
A rescue chicken who came to us after escaping from her former home three times.

Checking her undercarriage.

Beulah, the Plymouth Barred Rock. The thinker of the pair.
A glimmer of chicken intelligence behind those eyes I think – just waiting to get out.

Bath time – always best in the full sun.

Bathing entails a lot of dirt throwing, rolling and shaking. It helps control mites and somehow must feel nice.