On the Second Day of Chickmas
And here they are, all growed up, in the same order. This is obviously before Moe decided Sam Had To Die. The boys all have to be separated now.
My chickens are a disappointment in black and white. They really are very pretty birds.
Is errbody ready for Christmas?
December 24, 2019 — 8:00 pm
Comments: 13
On the First Day of Chickmas…
As I plan to avoid anything that even remotely requires thinking or work for the next two weeks, I figured I’d give myself an easy out and post about my flock. I haven’t kept you up to date on my chooks because I thought for a while I was going to do a whole website about them, then I remembered I’m lazy and I hate to make websites.
These are my oldest three, a day or two after hatching in July of 2018. I had a hen go hard broody (that’s her), so I bought six ‘fertile’ eggs for her. She sat on them for a month and they were all duds. She was so forlorn, I couldn’t bear it.
So I got four more from someone I trusted, and two hatched. I went back to the lady and bought two chicks from the same batch. (That’s four total, but one vanished from the coop one morning. Probably eaten by bears). I got her to accept the new ones as hers.
Twelve eggs, net result: two roosters and one hen.
In order, that’s Millie, Moe and Sam. They’re Pekin bantams, like all my previous chooks. You know, with the feathery feet.
December 23, 2019 — 8:07 pm
Comments: 5
It shouldn’t be this hard!
Kitten shopping. Nobody has them in stock.
I’m taking two weeks off work, so I thought it was the perfect time to add a cat, while I had time to fuss over it and help it adjust.
Yes, we started with the local shelters, of which there are many. Brits like their cats and dogs and all of their shelters are private and no-kill.
Two problems there. First, they nearly always try to home them in pairs. It makes sense if the two are very attached, but I don’t think that’s always the case. We definitely don’t want two.
Second, most of the shelters do home inspections. Do they do this in the States now? I think it’s completely mad. There’s even advice online for passing your inspection (like hiding the wine bottles). I am not inclined to put up with that for the privilege of taking in an old stray moggie.
So now I’m burning up the classified ads. Most of those, as you can see, are purebred animals with eye-watering prices. But check out that first little sweetie — an ordinary tabby-and-white and they’re trying to get £250 for her. There’s a lot of that going on.
So far, everyone I called had gotten rid of the cat ages ago and didn’t bother to take down the ad. Or they simply haven’t returned my call.
How can it be this hard?
December 19, 2019 — 8:42 pm
Comments: 21
Muh boys
These are my two pekin cockerels. The one on the left is Mo, the one on the right is Sam (hatched on the Fourth of July). Sam is the dominant boy and king of the garden.
They’ve been raised together from hatch. They’re about eighteen months old now. They scrap and belly-bump a little, but nothing serious. I’m short of chicken runs, but luckily I’ve been able to house them together.
Until two weeks ago. The day Mo decided Sam had to die.
I didn’t know this. I came out to put them away and bossman Sam was missing. I called and called and he finally he slunk out of some hidey hole the saddest, muddiest, bloodiest rooster you ever saw.
Nothing serious. Comb and wattle injuries bleed like a bastard and he was pecked up good. I brought him in the house and gave him a warm bath in a bucket and put him in chicken hospital (a dog crate full of straw) until he’d dried out and recovered a little.
Now I spend the short afternoons making sure every boy gets some time to run free in the garden. Except they don’t; the free cockerel spends all his time trying to murder the captive one through the bars.
I have FOUR boys. Never again from the incubator!
December 12, 2019 — 9:52 pm
Comments: 22
Eeeeevulll
I belong to half a dozen chicken groups on Facebook and they’re all going nuts: FB has banned sale of animals. To include eggs for hatching, swapping chickens, roosters free to a good home, ‘pm me for more information’, the lot.
I mean hard ban. They’re disappearing groups that slip up, sometimes without warning. Moderators have to watch forums and pounce on posts. Some are giving up and shuttering their pages. This hits the hobby chicken people badly, as FB was one of their main avenues for moving birds.
It happened after PETA bought shares and the speculation is obvious. According to the PETA press release that links to, they bought shares because FB kept censoring their gross animal pictures. And I noticed the “PETA kills animals” group is still up, so make of that what you will.
I’ve delivered rants in the long-ago on PETA and its founder, nutty Ingrid Newkirk. Honestly, one of the most evil puppy-murdering organizations on the planet.
Anyway, the sale ban is fairly recent, but I thought of it today because somebody in a local group was trying to sell a kitten. I knew the ad would vanish toot-sweet, and it did.
Yeah. Got me. Been kitten shopping.
September 19, 2019 — 4:37 pm
Comments: 9
Cat question
Ever since we went from a three cat household to a one cat household, I think the little beast is lonely. He’s a sociable animal. But I’ve very rarely gone out seeking a cat – I wait for them to come to me, and then I have to deal with whatever I get. I’m thinking I’d like to get a jump on the cat goddess and hit up a local rescue for another.
Anyone have experience of mixing cats? My tentative thoughts are: slightly younger than him (he’s just over a year) but not a kitten (I’d feel selfish, since those are usually so much more easily adopted out). Female, so she sticks closer to home (but would he find her as much of a companion and hunting buddy as a male cat?). I’m not used to having choices.
Anecdotal evidence encouraged.
September 17, 2019 — 7:23 pm
Comments: 22
You have got to be kidding me!
This thing came across my Facebook today billed as a “cat muzzle bath protection”. I do not believe it. This must be somebody’s ugly fetish.
I can tell you any cat I’ve ever owned would flip his or her shit if I tried to slip a nylon gimp mask over its face. Slinging its head around and banging into stuff. It would be all claws and screaming.
I can also tell you 100% the mask in the picture was Photoshopped onto the cat in the picture. The original was twice this size, so it was easy to spot. You have to wonder, when they don’t have the courage to use their own product.
I can’t vouch for all the pictures, though. Do a Google images search of cat muzzle bath protection and YOU tell ME what those bastards on the internet are up to now.
Rich Rostrum wins the dick with T. Boone Pickens. Dude, no – don’t post your address in the thread, yeesh! – how much unwanted pizza delivery can you handle? My email is right in the header.
I’ll go queue up a NEW DEAD POOL right now.
September 12, 2019 — 7:28 pm
Comments: 4
Squee!
Baby squid. Twelve hours old. Lookitem go!
It’s from SciAm‘s best gifs of the week. Mesmerizing.
It’s a three-day weekend here. Is it there? I get so confused. We’ve got lots of things planned, so I’m off. Have a good one!
August 23, 2019 — 8:57 pm
Comments: 9
I understand these are popular
As my old granny used to say, sometimes you’ve just got to show a little ass.
Brits love their donkeys. Brits love other people’s donkeys. There are all sorts of charities for taking care of donkeys overseas. Our European neighbors have a bad habit of using donkeys hard and then…throwing them off of rooftops and such.
Seriously, it’s true. There’s some festival in Spain where they throw a donkey off the roof. Mostly they just work them to death, though. The lucky ones end up here.
Though this young ass is 100% British born, I think.
August 21, 2019 — 8:51 pm
Comments: 9
My, what a big boy
There’s always a falconry exhibit at these country shows, but I think this is the first time I saw someone exercise a bald eagle. Impressive.
The falconer explained that they do lose them from time to time (including while doing shows), but they have fancy gps collars now, hooked to fancy phone apps. He says if one flies off and doesn’t reappear for a while, he texts the bird: you are lost and collar texts back his location, including altitude. Neat.
This photo (and several other good ones) courtesy of Uncle B.
Oh! Speaking of neat apps, one of my elderly buds was telling me about the app that controls her hearing aids. She can do things you expect, like adjust bass and treble and volume and so on, but the app will also broadcast to her hearing aids. So she can listen to music or podcasts. Even better, during a lecture, she can ask to leave her phone at the podium and it will broadcast the speech back to her.
Technology: making geriatrics cool.
August 20, 2019 — 8:08 pm
Comments: 7