Well, tonight Rooster got all the chickens to go on my front porch instead of back into their chicken house.  I didn't get back from the barn till after dark and there they all were on my porch with Rooster in the middle looking very proud of himself. 

I tried to coax them into the chicken house, but that meant crossing a dark scary area of about 30'... even with the help of a dog and a cat, it just wasn't happening.  So I started picking them up two-by-two and putting them into the chicken house.  Once inside, they settled into their feed and were content.  Rooster started cackling and crowing his head off.  He was NOT happy about this. 

As I was getting the last of them in, Rooster struted in making a fuss and jumped on his roost.  Since all were in, I pulled the door closed to finish feeding.   The dog and cat had also come in to watch and this has never been a problem in the past.  Suddenly, one of the young ones grabbed another and would not let go.  I broke it up once, but then he did it again.  I grabbed the aggressor to hold him while the other chicken got away.  Suddenly, Rooster rushes into the frey and thumps me on the hand holding the chicken.  Wow, did that hurt!  So I shoved Rooster back and now he's VERY angry.  I think I actually heard my poor dog gulp (maybe an unfinished yelp) behind me as Rooster tore after her.  Rooster (who out weighs her) doesn't like her and often chases her around the yard till she's yelping for help.  Now, she was trapped inside the chicken house and he was going after her.  Then the cat gets pulled into the ruckus and I have Rooster chasing the cat and dog around this small space top speed.  The rest of the chickens are in a tizzy, with feathers flying everywhere as they dodge out of the way.  And I'm in the middle trying to fend off Rooster and let the cat and dog out the door without letting Rooster out. 

So now I suspect that at least for the next couple days, Rooster and I will be competing to see where the chickens are going to sleep each night.  This should be a lot of fun.

Okay, just googled why Roosters crow and this is what I found:

"Roosters are territorial creatures and don't much like other roosters trespassing on their land. So they crow in order to establish their domain and warn other roosters to stay away or prepare to brawl."

Oh boy, this might be a long battle.

The one remaining wild rooster (see Introducing the Chickens) is going city.  Each morning he hangs out around the chicken house, waiting for me to let the domestic chickens out (most are hens).  Then each evening, when the chickens go in, he stands outside ranting and raving. The one remaining wild hen had taken to sleeping in the chicken house about two weeks ago.  So I think he is honestly lonely by morning. 

Tonight, at sunset when they went in, he stood outside the chicken house making the biggest fuss, cackling so loud that I could hear it echoing back from the valley.  But the chickens were in and they get their feed in the evening, so no one was even the least bit interested in 'camping out' with him. 

I let this go on while I finished up some feeding and on the way back to close up the chicken house, I thought he had gone off to pout for yet another night.  Then I stepped in to do head count and collect any eggs... there he was, on the highest spot possible, cranking his head back and forth (his way of saying I'm a big man).  So tonight he's a city kid, sleeping in with the rest.  Here's hoping that he makes this a habit.  I would feel better if they were all in and protected (and not pooping in my garage all night!)

This floated in from the Internet without any author indicated (if you know the author, please forward the name so I can attribute it properly). 

I've never been a 'cat person'.  When I moved to this farm, there was an established wild colony in the woods near here.  The cats here now are what remains after a year of trapping, culling, neutering, spaying to get control of that colony (as best I can tell, there are still 3 wild cats not delt with).  After this last year there is no doubt in my mind that domestic cats are not meant to or able to survive as 'wild animals'.  After the expense and effort that I've been through in this last year, I have a shoot first (the human) ask later policy for anyone suspected of dumping animals on my farm and I will gleefully dump cat litter in their front yard for ever more.

Anyway... I appologize in advance to the cat lovers out there... but I think this is cute.  I haven't personally tried it (yet).

Cleaning the toilet

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse".

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

There are 13 chickens living on my farm... I phrase it that way, because my neighbor purchased 6 chickens in the spring of last year, by the end of summer they had all decided to move here and since my neighbor did nothing to retrieve them, they now live on my farm.  To this day, my neighbor is free to come get the rooster and two hens that survive from that original group.  But they've grown up essentially wild (I don't feed them) and I have no idea of how he'd catch them, let alone convince them to stay over there.

Initially, they thought my front porch was a good place to roost.  I was not at all happy with that!  After some persistent and creative badgering they decided to stay off the porch, much better.  Now the wild ones roost in my garage and spend their days going about their business on the farm.

When I wasn't paying attention, the hens became mature... I figured this out the day that I grabbed for a tool, only to find it embedded in a pile of 15 eggs of unknown ages.  Imagine the joy of stepping back in a stall to hear that distinct squishy crack that only a nest of eggs can make.  Never again will I just 'hop' onto my tractor seat without looking first.  My new hobby was looking for the 'current nest' to dispose of it before it attracted raccoons, damaged something, or just exploded into a smelly mess.   Each time I disrupted the nest long enough, they found a new place.  Eventually, they used the hay that was being stored for winter... this was tolerable, so I left them stay there.

Then, late November, the black hen became maternal and decided this is the PERFECT time to hatch out some of these chicks.  She was absolutely devoted to the nest and stood her ground, even to the point of letting me pet her.  Since she was being so friendly, I didn't have the heart to take the eggs from her.  Instead, I set up a cheap dog box on top of the hay as a nest.  I gently moved the eggs into it and placed her on top of them. I was sure this would be enough to make her abandon the idea of hatching them, but nope.  This little hen fluffed herself down over those eggs and stuck to it. The other hens never gave her a break and she seemed to be going without water and food, so I started bringing her water and chicken food each day.

December was going to get really cold and I needed to feed the hay, so I set up a ‘chicken coopÂ’ of sorts in a small unused workshop and bought a heat lamp for them.  Finally, on a horribly cold day, 11 of the 19 eggs hatched out alive.  This is the first I've seen chicks hatched and I was absolutely facinated with them.  I spent the day monitoring the progress and disposing of the eggs that didn't make it.  Over the next couple weeks, that poor hen tolerated me picking her up to shake the chicks out of her feathers and play with them countless times.  

Now, theyÂ’ve all survived the winter in the chicken coop.  On warmer days, they are learning to go out to 'be chickens'  and return to the coop at night.  Because IÂ’ve handled them all since hatching, they are like a litter of puppies. They crowd around me when I enter the coop and follow me around outside the coop.  IÂ’ve been slowly increasing their distance from the coop to make sure they know how to get ‘homeÂ’ at night.  At this point, they're a bit spoiled and run back to the coop anytime something scares them or even the slightest hint of rain or snow. I'm really looking forward to this summer when they can go out in the morning to do their chores and be snuggled safe back inside the coop at night (in the early stages of training, I lost one to a neighbor dog). 

I don't want to be running electric every winter to keep them warm, so I'm hoping to build a real chicken coop this summer that includes a passive solar heating system based on the box heater designs.  Hopefully, it will be nice enough to convice even the wild pair to abandon my garage.

Anyway, that's the chickens and how the got here.  God knew I needed additional bug controls.  The excess eggs are going to members of my church who can use them.  I have a ratio of 1:1 between chickens and horses, if I could train the chickens to each to follow a horse around and scratch out the poop right there as it falls... that would be absolutely perfect, but its not too bad as it is right now