Harriet's Saturday

The professionals came over, Robert and Sandy. My man and woman are new to dealing with Chicken Killing pests. I was ready to lead the girls on another adventure when I hard them talking. 

The trail cam caught a rodent on it.....they put more bait in the traps. They saw weasel tracks the first day and are sure they'll catch it yet.....

I thought it may be safer to stay in the chicken yard and give them another day to try to catch the fiend.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to guard the yard.

March 1st in South Central Alaska

Here are some shots from our little slice of Alaska - the place we lovingly call Wibbly Wobby Acres. Does it look like spring to you? There ARE signs that spring is "coming." We have 10 hours and 17 minutes of light - isn't that about normal? It is FAR more than we had a month ago.

I'm used to tulips and such by March.....but the signs are here if  we adjust our vision and  look for them.  There is no snow or frost on the pine trees in the foreground, the snow is sliding off our roof...I am hoping to find the flag and pole shortly - it's buried in the snow.

Note there are no tracks in our baby orchard! 

This tire swing is still stuck in the snow. It does NOT usually sit on the ground. 

Yuuki will go outside again - a sure sign spring is coming. 

Our driveway - we are spreading ash in the driveway - an old time ice melting trick. 

The RV is no longer barricaded and covered in snow.

The wall of snow at the end of the driveway will soon be melting. 

The chickens refused to come outside for months.....they are enjoying the sun.

The snow has slid off the greenhouse - though it will be awhile before its warm enough for seedlings. 

Standing at one end of the garden plot and looking to th other - the soil  isn't near ready to work. 

We have lovely southern exposure. It helps to keep the upstairs heated. The snow is off the roof on this side. To the left is the "chicken coop" and fenced yard. 

The previous owners left this stove. It doesn't have fire brick. There was talk of using it to heat a sauna and using it for an outdoor oven....but at this point....it holds s'more sticks in the summer time....and is just an accept piece in the winter. LOL 

 Sledding hill is melting....

Back stairs

Last year I kept the stairs and deck cleared. This resulted in a lot of shoveling.....this year I figured we could use the front door.....and the snow piled up back here. The fact that the snow has receded, and the door can now open is a sign spring is on it's way. ::snort::

Moose tracks everywhere

The saddest winter sight was our snow covered grill. Icicles show spring is coming - snow had to melt to create icicles.

  

A chimney in need of cleaning is a sign of spring. 

The Chickens Grand Escape

"March First and I'm feeling lucky! I'm pretty sure we can get away today! I'll distract the people."

Harriet is turning in to quite an instigator

"Run, run run!!!"

They made it. For a few brief moments they seemed to revel in their freedom....then they walked back into the chicken yard. 😃

"I ALLOWED myself to be lured back to the Chicken Yard. I could have stayed free, IF I had wanted to." 

"In the end, we are better off in the chicken yard. Our people have shoveled the snow and put down shavings for us. It's deep snow and ice outside of the fence. Our Woman scatters kale, lettuce, and corn for us to find. She seems to think we like the game. We humor her. Outside there is no green anywhere!  There are also NO oyster shells or grit anywhere to be seen."

"If they could just catch the weasel or ermine this would be Chicken Utopia. As it is, we all have bald tushes. It takes so little to entertain the humans...an egg a day and a bit of clucking.  I guess we'll give the people a bit longer to try to solve the problem." 

We need to buy about a gal of purple stuff to paint their tushes - the demand
over-ran our supply

Chicken update from the Woman - this is not the worst of the birds - but this is what we see. These are missing feathers, but they are intact. They haven't been ripped open and they aren't bleeding. We haven't seen anything new today. 

The chicken's tush in the crate is scabbing over. We are looking for a portable fence so she can get outside without the others attacking her wounds. 

We still haven't found the culprit on the trail cam or in the traps. 

Harriet Tries Again

She's nothing if not not determined! Harriet made a second attempt at escape today.  She met with similar results as yesterday.

Can I squeeze through that gate?

We continue to be perplexed, none more so than Harriet.

 "I sing prettily for them, I give them an egg every day, the least they could do is keep this "thing" from nipping at my tush. Wouldn't you think?"

Nothing new on the trail cam, no new injuries, our isolated hen continues in good spirits and varying levels of healing....the sillies continue to peck at each other's tushes. We may try to catch them all and paint their tushes purple....hadn't thought of that before. As long as there is no open would that should be fine. Right?

Benny Day

We were in town on Tuesday and unable to watch Benny.  Arielle agreed to let us have him today, so he would only have to go to work with her two days in a row.  He likes the little girls - but too much of a good thing is simply too much. LOL 

We discovered even Benny likes reading Kenneth Boa. 

Nolan had the day off and Benny seemed to know he was still in his room. 

Benny with Nolan

He's always happy to help us with laundry. 

Bennett with Uncle Alex

This is one of Benny's new looks. He flashes it whenever he see ones of us...like he's so very surprised to see there are people living upstairs. LOL 

She Came Back

She came to visit again, the moose with a pretty red collar! This simple fence is doing a better job than the electric garden fence. Inside the fence is our baby orchard...still safe.

I wondered where her sidekick was - and there she is across the road in the  brush. 

Harriet's Brilliant Plan

 Our chicken saga continues. ALL of them now have very bedraggled tushes. It looks like something grabs a mouthful of feathers, leaving them bald, which wakes them up and they get out of the way. Except, of course,  for the four that were disemboweled or had their tushes torn completely out and the one still in isolation. 

Unfortunately, our chickens appear to be rather stupid. One would think they would figure out to stick together, help each other out....but no! If they see a bare spot - they begin pecking....I wonder how this whole scenario would be different if we'd kept Hitler or Olaf, the roos.

This morning we found blood leading to the chicken door - but then it stopped. No blood inside the coop. There were chickens with missing feathers, but no one had torn skin. No signs of the weasel/ermine....

Harriet - the escape artist

Harriet, above, was the first to escape the brooder as a chick.  She was the first to fly over the fence when they moved outside,  AND, it looks like she is planning to lead all the chickens out of the Horror House to safety.

C'mon - it's one jump and you're over. 

 She did her best to convince Alex they'd be safer in the woods. 

Yes, it IS barely 20*. 

Michael couldn't be convinced either. 

She's lucky the solitary confinement cell is in use. LOL 

Poor girl. She wants back with the group - but we are trying to give her tush time to scab over and maybe grow some feathers. No infection so far - we are keeping our fingers crossed. I know it's doubtful we'll save her, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. 

We are really hoping and praying we can figure this out soon. I've wondered if they all caught some strange disease that gives bald tushes....but it certainly wouldn't have eaten their tush or disemboweled them.....Odd.

We had just been debating if we wanted to pick up 15 chicks at a local store or order specific breeds through the mail.  We were also toying with the idea of getting meat birds this spring/summer.  Then this all began.....I'm not sure I'm cut out to raise and butcher meat birds. I'm not sure anyone would eat them.