This morning, Olly Astro was all ready to start the day.
She surveyed her new aviary space and settled right in. Nest? Dirt bath area? Grass? Weeds? Shade? Check. That was all she needed.
Then she and Janet settled in for some morning treats. Today’s treats included romaine lettuces, peas and blueberries. They were all satisfactory to the chickens.
Did you notice Janet the chicken picked her name? I swear she told me that’s what she wanted to be called, and it isn’t my favorite name so I made her wait for a day to decide if she wanted to keep it. Apparently she would like to be called Janet, so Janet it is.
Olly Astro and Janet seemed to enjoy the day in their aviary space. When I got home, they came out into the yard for a while, but then they went right back to their little corner of the aviary, just like it was home.
They also met the nice neighbor lady tonight and listened to Olivia bicker at them for a bit. Then it was time for dinner and bed. With a little reminder on where to find the night pen, Olly Astro and Janet went right in and ate, and are now roosting on their perch.
Olivia likes her new spot as well, because it’s near her friend Chewy, and it’s far, far away from the new girls.
Tonight after work we went to pick up Olivia’s new friend at the vet’s office. The vet said that they have received quite a few dumped hens and roosters this year. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the increase in “urban farming.” People get chickens but then aren’t prepared to help them when they get sick and need medical care. Some try to get help for the hens, but just can’t afford long-term care. Others wait too long to get medical treatment for their animals, and then they face a long recovery. That was the black chicken’s problem. She had severe pneumonia but has now recovered, once she was surrendered to the veterinarian for long-term care.
Anyway, we went to pick up the beautiful black chicken named Olly Astro, and this is what we found.
Wait a minute. One… two chickens? It turns out that Olly Astro has a friend. They have spent weeks together and are pretty good buddies.
The friend has recurring prolapse problems, and that’s too much trouble for her other home to deal with. So Olly Astro asked if she could bring her friend with her. It’s not like we’re adopting two chickens. We’re just adopting Olly Astro, and Olly Astro brought a friend with her. Got it?
Olly Astro’s friend was boxed up to go and joined us on the way home. She looks pretty ready to me.
Once home, the beautiful Miss Olly Astro began hunting for bugs and taking dust baths.
Her pretty friend thought that was a great idea, and the two of them enjoyed hours of bug hunting and dust bathing while I got their new aviary space and night pen ready for them.
Olivia voiced her opinion about the new girls while they played in the aviary for a bit. Olivia is not too sure about these new friends yet.
She stood outside their area and gave them the business.
After a while, I decided to just move Olivia’s night pen over by her duck buddies Chewy & Flapper so the new girls could have their own night pen. Olivia seemed to accept those terms… for now. But she reserves the right to protest more in the future.
Olly Astro and her friend settled in to a little more dust bathing and some eating, and then got ready for bed.
Bedtime was hilarious, as Olly Astro and friend were not so sure about their new routine. I tried to get them to settle down and nest, but they wanted to roost. So they flew up to my shoulders and sat on my shoulders and told me to hold still. That wasn’t going to work all night, so I repositioned a perch for them and placed them on it. They reluctantly accepted those terms and are now roosting in their night pen comfortably.
Tomorrow they will have their own section of the aviary and their own breakfast treats of peas and romaine lettuce. We haven’t settled on a forever name for Olly Astro’s friend yet, but as soon as she tells us what she wants to be called, we’ll share it with everyone.
Good night chickens. Good night ducks. Good night moon. Good night people.
Oh Olivia? You might be getting a new rescued chicken friend. We’ll hear more tomorrow, so stay tuned.
“Don’t worry, Chewy. We can still be friends.”
There’s a rescued hen at the vet’s office who might be a good fit as a new friend for Olivia. We’ll hear more tomorrow and see if it will work out. I think Olivia would like a new chicken friend… at least I hope so.
Sometimes people we don’t really know, but who follow Flapper’s blog, want to drop by and meet him. This past weekend two nice people came to meet Flapper and they brought him treats. They know the way to his heart. Check out this video of us all just hanging out and talking.
It was private when I posted it before, but I think it’s fixed now.
Today my friend Paola and I took a tour of various chicken coops around Seattle. It was part of Seattle Tilth’s “City Chickens Tour 2010.” For someone like me, who rescues ducks, this is like Lollapalooza!
We saw some beautiful gardens and some super cute chicken coops. Since I rescue chickens and ducks, I knew we would also see a few problems that we always see. Just as I made many mistakes when I first had ducks, we saw many coops that were not predator proof. Many use chicken wire which raccoons can reach through. Some openly foraged during the day (like we used to) and admitted they had lost chickens or ducks to eagles or raccoons. Some probably have rat problems too, because they’re feeding in pens that aren’t rat-proof. Overall, all the people were very knowledgeable about sustainable farming, bees, chickens and such. They were a great group of people and it was a fun tour.
There is a vote coming up in Seattle to increase the legal number of fowl from 3 to 8. I am not sure I am in favor of the increase for several reasons. I guess the most obvious reason is the number of discarded roosters that end up in Seattle shelters. In recent years it has averaged about 20-30 roosters. I assume they’re from people who were sold “hens” but later found out that they were not all hens as they grew up. If the limit is increased nearly 3-fold, I’m concerned that the number of discarded roosters will increase as well. Hatching and shipping chickens are also both areas for concern with animal welfare.
It’s a complicated issue, and while it is great to see more people growing their own food and sustaining their own eating choices, I would just like to ensure that animals don’t needlessly suffer as a result. I am solidly pro-chicken, but not always pro-people I guess.
There was one coop that was spectacular. It was decorated on the inside with “great chickens through history” including Big Bird and the San Diego Chicken. It’s nice to see those hens have heroes to inspire them as they nest and lay eggs. Their pen was also fully predator-proof, they had the legal number of chickens allowed, and their pen was rat proof as well. I think that was my favorite of all.
Many of the kids sold lemonade on the tours, and for those who are wondering, the average price of a cup of lemonade these days goes for 50 cents to $1.00. One kid rose about the pack with his mango lemonade. Well done, kids.
All the best to all the chickens and ducks out there in Seattle. Stay safe, and many quacks from Flapper and family.
P.S. Actually, the kids were my favorite part of the tour. There are a lot of smart, involved kids who know all about plants and chickens and can’t wait to share what they know. I especially loved the kid who kept over-sharing information (that was making him mom cringe) about how their chickens go half-way down the block sometimes. Ha ha ha. “No they don’t stay in the yard. They go FAR away ALL the way down the block.”
It’s hot weather for Seattle this week! Today it’ll get up to 90-degrees, which is pretty hot for here, especially because most homes and businesses don’t have air conditioning! Flapper stays cool by taking extra swims in his pool.
Tonight we heard the crows going bonkers and figured they were tracking raccoons down the street. I got in my car and put the top down and slowly headed down the block to see if I could tell what they were tracking. One street over, I slowed to a stop where the crows were watching something in the trees. I couldn’t tell what it was, and then I realized the neighbors thought I was casing their houses… slowly driving by. Since I didn’t want to explain that I spoke crow, and I could tell they were tracking a predator, I decided to drive on my way.
Over an hour later, I returned home and the crows were still at it. By then I could tell they were tracking raccoons, and the raccoons were headed towards my house. So with the ducks safely in their night pens, I sat quietly in the yard and waited to see what would happen.
Pardon my French there at the end of the video.
The above video shows how the crows work hard to protect my ducks from predators like raccoons. They dive and swoop at the raccoons and caw as loud as they can to warn me of the danger. Even the Stellars Jays were helping.
Here is one raccoon in the neighbor’s compost pile. I snapped a few photos over the fence.
The raccoon was turning over the compost pile to eat grubs and bugs. This was just before two raccoons came into my yard.
In my yard, the raccoons stood right on top of Flapper’s night pen and scared Flapper & Chewy who were inside the pen, just below the raccoon. Then they moved along to O’Malley and Petunia’s pen, scaring them as well.
So, what does a raccoon do after eating cherries from all the trees on the block, eating bugs from the compost piles and terrorizing the ducks? Well of course, they sit down on a nice hammock and groom themselves.
This raccoon sat on top of my nice aviary and cleaned his belly and paws. He did not care that I was sitting right there, snapping photos of him. That’s right, he’s using my aviary as a f$#%ing hammock!
Late last week I realized the raccoons had learned how to chew through the aviary netting, and I knew I had a problem. Tonight I saw first hand how brazen and fearless these raccoons are. I have put a call in to the fencing company to see if they can fence in the top of the aviary. I hope they can. The ducks aren’t really safe in the aviary anymore, so they will be in their pens or only out when I’m with them until we find a more secure day-time solution.
As for the raccoons, it is illegal to trap and relocate raccoons. Why? Because raccoons can travel up to 50 miles to try to get back to their home territory. Also, you can inadvertently release them in another raccoon’s territory, causing fights and injuries to them or other wildlife. And while they try to return to their home territory, they are often hit by cars.
You can trap and euthanize them, but even then they will just be replaced by another raccoon, and they are only acting according to their nature. They shouldn’t have to lose their life for that.
These raccoons are too friendly though, which means they are probably being fed by people. This is f#%$ing ridiculous. Do not feed wildlife. Do not leave pet food outside. Do not put out scraps. Secure your trash. Raccoons in the Seattle area have high rates of distemper this year. Do not encourage them with food to reproduce and overpopulate an area. It is bad for them, bad for people and most importantly, terrifying for my ducks. These raccoons are not even remotely afraid of people.
The ducks are safe, and we’ll keep you posted on the fencing of the top of their aviary. Keep your fingers crossed that it can be done quickly and easily. It’s supposed to be a hot week, so I don’t think they’ll like being locked up.
Special thanks to the crows for always being so helpful to my ducks. I love those crows.
It was a beautiful day in the yard today. O’Malley and Petunia hung out and looked for bugs.
Flapper and Chewy settled in for a nap.
And Olivia stalked a beetle.
But wait… who’s this?
The Stellars Jays baby!
The Stellars Jays raised a baby and today he is fledging! They are keeping a close eye on him as he hop hop hops around.
He is a pretty good hopper. He was sitting in the ivy behind our yard or a while.
But a few hops later, he was hiding under the neighbor’s hydrangea.
He is keeping his parents very busy with all of this hopping.
We hope he hopped off to somewhere safe for the night. And hopefully he’ll be flying high in another day or so.
Good luck, Stellars Jay baby! We will call you “Hopper.”
In other news, today we say a sad goodbye to Flapper’s long-distance girlfriend Miss Matilda.
She was a special-needs duck who had a very good life with our friend Terrie. She sent Flapper french fries and notes through the years, and she was a very special girl. We send our heartfelt condolences to Terrie in this time of grief. Rest in peace, sweet Matilda. XOXOX
