Flock of a Feather

Coyote!

Good morning, blog readers.

This is an announcement. There was a coyote out by the coop this morning. If it hadn't been staring at my chickens, I would have said that they were majestic. They were an awesome coyote, with a full winter coat and a well fed look.

Casper (see image below) was let out to the balcony. His barking immediately frightened the coyote, which ran off into the woods.

Casper the dog.

The girls were shocked by the incident, and still were when I went to check for paw prints.

. . .

The coyote was first sneaking around under a tree,

but then decided on coming out into the light of day.

As evidenced by these supposed tracks.

Of course, the girls were completely oblivious to it all, even when the coyote was in the open, until the coyote started running. Then they started doing a warning call like there would be no tomorrow, which there wouldn't have been (for the girls, anyhow) if we hadn't noticed.

But today's a beautiful day.

The Bears

There were bears by the coop last night.

There was a big, possibly mama, bear that was attempting a break-in for some chicken. They moved a ton of dirt and broke part of the fence. They were caught in the act last night. They left once after discovery, and then came back for more yelling. They left again, and then two sets of eyes were spotted in the woods, so it was either the mama and the baby or two babies. This bear must have known about electric fences, because she just dug under the fence and broke part of it too. Now we have to patch up the hole and be on high alert. All the girls are fine and were absolutely oblivious to the fuss last night. They didn't even notice. When we went out to examine, they just yelled at us, telling us to let them out.

I wonder if this was going through the bear's head. . .

Stay tuned for more posts, and happy beginning of scratch week!

Chickens and Pumpkins

October

is the time for pumpkins

and chickens.

This year, my flock of four are ready to celebrate the season (hopefully with pumpkin piñatas). Honey is more pumpkin-like, so in her honor I present to you my master piece.

Here are some flower pictures from the yard.

This one's a bit frazzled.

. . .

Anyway, I brought the girls some more food

which they rushed to get

and then left, except for Lily.

I have a good no-chicken-attacking-birds defense.

This stick.

Which doubles as a roost and a raven-whacking weapon.
Just in case.

When it's time to go in

I get the treats.

It's the end of grub week, so last day of grubs before scratch week.

The girls look to me for tasty dried bug larvae.

I wonder

if they actually care about me

or if I'm just the 'Treat Fairy' to them.

Happy Grub Week!

. . .

Now onto other subjects.

The fall is coccidiosis season. We have found signs of a possible coccidiosis out break, but no one seemed too badly affected aside from Lily, who has just recovered from being lethargic for a couple days, possibly due to 'coccidiosis season'.