Cat update for week ending June 29

What’s this? Another cat update?! How unexpected. Or something.

Three cats in the feeder:

Three cats in the feeder

The alien orange cat has been hanging around a lot recently. So much so that we’ve decided to give him a name, in keeping with our convention of giving “P” names to cats: Pumpkin. We wonder if he’s feral, stray, or someone’s pet. Here he’s peeking into the feeder, while Poppy eats:

Orange cat peeking into the feeder

He was noticed:

Orange cat peeking into feeder

A rapid egress:

Rapid egress

He went into the feeder and Poppy came back to watch him:

Orange cat in feeder

Orange cat in feeder

That evening, a sleepy Poppy:

Sleepy cat

We had some other alien visitors, including a raccoon:

Raccoon

The gray alien cat:

Gray alien cat

A possum:

Possum

In the front of the shop, here’s Pepper:

Pepper in the shop

In the back of the shop, Pansy makes a funny face:

Pansy face

A better picture of Pansy:

Pansy in the shop

The orange cat, Pumpkin, in the feeder again:

Orange cat in feeder

And in the shelter, where he slept for several hours:

Orange cat in shelter

Two cats in the feeder:

Two cats in feeder

Pumpkin sleeping in the shelter again; he’s really been hanging out a lot:

Orange cat in shelter

A cat in the feeder, waiting for breakfast:

Cat in feeder

Two cats almost colliding in the feeder:

Two cats in feeder

When I was refilling the bird feeders, I flushed Porcini out from the grass under the feeders. She watched me from under the deck:

Cat under deck

Pumpkin in the shelter again:

Orange cat in shelter

He popped out of the shelter when a feral was eating:

Orange cat and feral

In the feeder:

Orange cat in feeder

Watching a feral arriving to eat:

Orange cat and feral

The feral cat wasn’t thrilled to be watched:

Orange cat and feral

Screenshot of cat cams, with Pumpkin sleeping and Porcini eating:

Screenshot of cat cams

I really think Pumpkin wants to be friendly with the ferals, but they aren’t so accepting. I hope that he doesn’t (unintentionally) chase them away. I don’t mind him hanging around, but would be sad if they left. I’m hoping that they all learn to get along one day, though I know that’ll take a long time, if ever.

Flock Friday for June 28

Welcome to the third Flock Friday!  (Did you see the bonus ducklings on Monday?)

Firstly, a bird flying to the pole the camera is on. Not sure what kind… I want to say woodpecker, since I often see them on poles, but may not be (if you know, please tell me):

Bird

The bird flying away. Notice also a pigeon on the red feeder, with the roost folded down under its weight, which closes access:

Birds

On to the chicks; roosting together on the upper bar:

Chicks roosting

An assortment of chick pics; look at those feathers coming in!

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

The chicks discovered the roosting bars above the (blocked off) nesting boxes. Their first view outside, too:

Chicks

Moving to the older chickens, a three-headed chicken dust bath:

Chickens dust bath

A bunch of chickens in their run, watching me as I approached:

Chickens in the run

Some closer pictures of the chickens:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Merida on my lap:

Merida on my lap

Finally to the ducklings:

Duckling peeking

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

They’re getting so big!

I’m now leaving the paint tray pool in the duck house during the day, only removing it at night, so they can swim throughout the day. Next week, I’ll leave it there all the time, where it’ll remain until they can go outside (in about 3-4 weeks time).

Cat update for week ending June 22

Unlike the flock pics, I didn’t have a huge collection of cat pictures this week, as the cats haven’t been hanging around as much, as is typical in warmer weather. But I did choose some interesting ones. Interesting to me, anyway.

Firstly, the twin cats:

Twin cats

The cats haven’t been spending much time in the shelter, since it isn’t all that cold at night, but occasionally they rest for a bit, especially while waiting for breakfast to be dispensed:

Two cats inside

Hey, is this photo mis-filed?! Sure, it contains birds… but also a cat.  Can you see it?

Cat under bird feeders

Here’s another one, that includes two cats. One should be easy to see:

Cats under bird feeders

A cat less stealthily watching a bird on a feeder hook:

Cat watching bird on feeder

Spud in front of the cat house:

Cat in front of shelter

Three cats:

Three cats

About to leap on top of the camera housing:

Up close cat

Four cats:

Four cats

Two story cats:

Two story cats

Another encounter between the alien orange cat & Poppy, in night vision and color:

Orange cat & Poppy

Orange cat & Poppy

(It ended peacefully enough, when Poppy ran off.)

One more pic of a cat watching birds, from a few minutes ago:

Cat watching birds

That’s it for this week!

Flock Friday for June 21

Welcome to the second Flock Friday!

Okay, sure, I cheated with the bonus Flock Monday… but a good thing too, as I have 147 photos since then. I have managed to cull them down to just 30 for this post.

Let’s start with the Ducklings. They have definitely learned that I provide treats when I visit them in each morning:

Duckling treats

They love swim time:

Ducklings

Water flowing off the duckling’s head after dunking:

Ducklings

The buff ones like to keep an eye on me, hoping for more treats:

Ducklings

Water everywhere:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

The brown-billed buff duckling still hasn’t been swimming, so I decided to show it (and wash it) by grabbing it and dunking it in the water… which of course it wasn’t too thrilled about, but I think worthwhile:

Dunking duckling

No hard feelings:

Ducklings

A quick look at the wild birds. I temporarily mounted my mobile cam on a post by the bird feeders, so I could watch them with the new feeders. I’m pleased to say that they are effective against the pigeons, that swarm in and clear out the feeders, leaving little for other birds. The pigeons can still eat the dropped seed on the ground:

Pigeons

Pigeons

Birds on feeders

On to the chicks:

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Chicks

Me in the coop, with a chick on my hand:

David with a chick on the hand

Chick on the hand

Back to the ducklings:

Ducklings

Duckling

Little duckling wings:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Finally, a look at the older chickens. Here they are hanging out in the run:

Chickens

There was some excitement yesterday; it appears a chicken broke an egg, hopefully accidentally (it happens sometimes), then ran away with the shell (which is unusual). Others chased her, and there was some fun for a while. I hope they don’t get in the habit of that, though:

Chickens

Here I’m turning over some logs in the chicken run, to expose the tasty bugs hiding underneath:

David in chicken run

And me in the chicken coop, collecting eggs. The girls are hunting for dried mealworms that I scattered on the floor, their evening treat:

David in chicken coop

Sunset by the chicken run:

Sunset by chicken run

Chickens settling down for the night on the roosting bars, as the pop door automatically closes when it gets dark:

Chickens

In the morning, chickens squeezing out the pop door as it opens:

Chickens

I hope you enjoyed this flock update!

Flock Monday? Bonus chicks & ducks

I’ve been taking so many pictures of the chicks and ducklings each day, I can’t save them up for #FlockFriday. So here’s a bonus post to help your Monday!

Some chicks:

Chicks

Chicks

The ducklings are very messy (as expected), so I’ll need to muck out the duck house probably weekly, at least until they are able to go outside. I use a plastic container to collect the old straw using a small rake:

Mucking out duck house

Mostly cleared out; once they can go outside, I’ll probably hose it out. The duck house was designed to be fairly waterproof for a reason:

Mucking out duck house

Fresh straw:

Mucking out duck house

The two buff (light-colored) ducklings can be told apart by the color of their bill. One has a more brown bill, the other is more pink. Their description says “The female has a brownish orange bill with a dark bean and the male has a yellow bill.” I’m not sure that clarifies it for me; is “brownish orange” what I think of as pink, or brown? “Yellow” seems more like brown to me. Perhaps time will tell; certainly once their feathers come in it should be more obvious.

Anyway, I’ve noticed that the brown-billed duckling doesn’t seem to be as much of a fan of swimming; I’ve seen it drinking from the water, and wade in to the shallow end, but not actually immersing itself like the others do, or at least not as enthusiastically:

Brown-billed duckling

Here’s the pink-billed duckling in the water:

Pink-billed duckling

Intermission for a chick on top of the waterer:

Chick on waterer

Back to the ducklings:

Ducklings

Duckling treats:

Duckling treats

So cute:

Ducklings

There’s an expression “like water off a duck’s back” for a reason! Their waterproofing oils seem to be getting nicely established:

Ducklings swimming

Head shake:

Ducklings swimming

Ducklings waiting for swim time, as I fill the paint tray from a water jug:

Ducklings waiting for swim time

The jug is then refilled from the tap by the chicken coop, and stored in the duck house cupboard to come to room temperature for next time. Wouldn’t want them swimming in water directly from the tap, as it’s quite cold as it comes out of the well.

Once they get closer to being able to swim in the pond, I’ll mix in pond water, so they can get used to that.

A duckling stretching their wings:

Duckling stretching wings

Sleepy chicks; it amuses me how they fall asleep on the roosting bars and go limp:

Sleepy chicks

A couple of chicks roosting on the grit dispenser (grit is sand-sized chunks of granite, which they store in their crop to help eat treats, since chickens don’t have teeth… another expression):

Roosting on grit dispenser

Roosting on grit dispenser

The chicks are getting better at flying; I recently saw them on the nesting box bar (the nesting boxes are temporarily blocked off, until they are old enough to start laying, since I don’t want them sleeping in there):

Chicks on nesting box bar

Fortunately, the ducklings can’t fly (or even jump very high), so the half door is plenty to contain them. Good thing, or they’d jump out to get to the treats:

Duckling treats

Duckling treats

I’ll try to save subsequent pictures for Flock Friday. Or do I need a Flock Wednesday too?! They’re just so cute and fun to watch.

Cat update for week ending June 15

Thanks for the nice comments on yesterday’s new feature, Flock Friday. Check it out if you missed it. I enjoy doing these weekly cat posts, so it’ll be good to show pictures of the various birds more regularly, too.

On to the the cats. You know I can’t resist a cute snuggle or three:

Snuggling cats

Snuggling cats

Snuggling cats

A sequence of images of an encounter between the alien orange cat and Poppy (aka mamacat):

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Poppy expressed her disdain of the orange cat:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

The orange cat took the hint, and wandered off, but Poppy wasn’t satisfied, and followed after:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Poppy swiped at the orange cat… then hid under the cat house until he left:

Orange cat & Poppy encounter

Four cats:

Four cats

Poppy and Porcini watching birds:

Cats watching birds

The twins:

Twin cats

Four cats (can you see all of them?):

Four cats

Poppy & Porcini again:

Poppy & Porcini

The orange cat again, but interestingly one of our ferals walked by, without seeming too concerned; maybe they are getting used to each other, slowly:

Orange cat & another

When we had really hot weather recently, I turned off the heat lamp and opened the vent in the duck house. Then in the evening, around sunset, I went back out to the duck house to turn the lamp back on, and mostly close the vent. On both evenings I did that, cats followed me back to the front door. Here are three cats on the front steps:

Three cats on the front steps

I’m not entirely sure what they were thinking… perhaps remembering when I used to do rounds and give them wet food on the steps, before I built the cat house. That’s been a while, though. Or just happened to be around, since soon before sunset is when they usually turn up to the cat house for dinner.

Similarly, on another day, a cat watched from kitchen garden as Jenn headed towards the greenhouse:

Cat in kitchen garden

It does encourage me when they show signs of being comfortable around us (so long as we keep a distance).

Finally, a fun (but low-quality) GIF of a cat reversing course:

Reversing course GIF

Introducing #FlockFriday

I thought I’d experiment with a new weekly feature on this blog: Flock Friday. I will try to post a selection of photos related to the assortment of avians around the homestead each Friday. Can’t let the cats have all the fun of a weekly feature!

For now, I’m just adding the pictures in chronological order. In the future, I might group by kind or something.

Let’s start with the chicks; one flew onto the waterer:

Chicks

Better seen animated; here’s a GIF:

Chick flying GIF

We just got a couple of new feeders for the wild birds (the second from the left, and the rightmost); both are squirrel-proof, so they close when a weight is on them, which will hopefully also stop the pigeons from cleaning them out:

Bird feeders

On to the ducklings; I got a new paint roller tray that seems to work better; easier access, and more capacity for swimming:

Ducklings swimming

Ducklings swimming

Here’s a pond cam shot of me spending time with the ducklings:

David with the ducklings

Big enough for all of them for now… but not for long!

Ducklings swimming

Another wild bird (swallow, I think) drinking from the pond by swooping low over it, dipping its beak in:

Bird & fish

It’s nice to be able to spend time with the ducklings and feed the fish at the same time:

Fish

Another visitor to the pond, the heron:

Heron

Last night the heat lamp in the duck house burnt out just after this:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Fortunately, the ducklings were all fine; they’re old enough now, and it wasn’t excessively cold last night, that it wasn’t too cold for them.

I changed the lamp with a spare as soon as I saw it was out (and have ordered more spares):

Changing heat lamp

Back to the chicks:

Chick with treat

Chicks

Chicks

Let’s not forget the older chickens, too:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Finally, let’s wrap up with more of the ducklings:

Ducklings swimming

Ducklings swimming

Hand-feeding treats:

Treats

Treats

Treats

Any more treats?

Any more treats?

More swimming:

Ducklings swimming

Ducklings swimming

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know what you think in the comments on the blog, Micro.blog, Twitter, etc.

Chicks & ducklings two days in a row?!

I know I posted a bunch of pictures of the chicks and ducklings yesterday, but I can’t help myself; I just have to post more cute pictures.

Yesterday and today the temperature is in the 90°s F (32° C), so I had the vent wide open, and the heat lamp off. I also gave them more swimming time to cool off:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Rapid exit:

Ducklings

Once the sun set, I turned the heat lamp back on, and mostly closed the vent, since it’d cool off a bit more than they’re used to overnight. Here’s a shot from the pond cam of the pond and duck house in the dark:

Pond and duck house in the dark

This morning, I took some more pictures while spending time with the chicks and ducklings. Here’s how I found the chicks when I arrived; they’ve really taken to the roosting bars:

Roosting chicks

A bunch more photos of the chicks:

Chick

Chicks

Chicks

Chick

Chick

A chick in the hand:

A chick in the hand

Heading over to the duck house, I gave them some more swimming time:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

A treat in the water is the best kind of treat:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Watching the ducklings from the chair next to the duck house… dripping sweat in the heat, slightly tempted to cool off in the pond (not at all hygienic):

Duck house

I know I said the ducklings should only have short supervised swims for the next couple of weeks, but I decided to leave the tray in the duck house this afternoon, since it’s so hot, so they can cool off as needed. I am still supervising, just from the air-conditioned comfort of my home office, via the duck house cam. It’s a risk, that I hope I don’t regret, but the water is room-temperature, shallow, easy for them to get in and out, and they haven’t shown an inclination to stay in for too long at a time:

Duck house cam

Chicks & ducklings first treats & swim

The chicks and ducklings are two weeks old today, so I gave them a few bits of kale as their first treat.  (It’s generally recommended to stick to the starter feed at first, so they get used to eating that, then slowly introducing small quantities of treats.)

But first, here’s a shot from the chick cam of them exploring the roosting bars. A little surprising that they can reach the upper bar; it’s a long way for a little chick:

Chicks

Chicks sleeping on the lower bar yesterday afternoon (when the coop was warm enough to not need to be under the heat lamp):

Chicks

A shot from the duck house cam of a duckling stretching its tiny wings:

Ducklings

Overnight, the chicks snuggled together under the heat lamp:

Chicks

And ducklings under their lamp:

Ducklings

It took the chicks a few minutes to figure out that the kale was edible. Here’s the first chick to take a treat:

First chick treat

A couple of others chased her; what will become a normal behavior for them:

Chicks chasing

They soon figured out the treats:

Chick treats

A couple checking me out:

Chicks

Chicks

Roosting chicks:

Roosting chicks

I also gave kale treats to the ducklings, which they figured out immediately:

Ducklings

Duckling treats

I also temporarily put a paint tray with water in the duck house, so the ducklings could have their first supervised swim:

Duckling first swim

Ducklings don’t have the waterproofing oil when first hatched, so they can get chilled or even drown if left in water. So they can only have short supervised swims from two to five weeks old. Not only is this good training for them and their leg muscles, it helps encourage them to preen, which distributes their oil glands (or so I read; since ducks are a new thing for us, I’ve read guides to raising them; they are similar to chicks, but have some differences).

Why a paint tray? It has a gentle slope, making it easier for ducklings to walk in and out of the water. This tray isn’t ideal, though, as the lip too high for them to easily climb over. So I’ve ordered another from Amazon.

Here a duckling is dipping its bill in the water, which helps clean it:

Duckling swim

Found another treat:

Ducklings

Drinking from the tray:

Ducklings

More wading:

Ducklings

I removed the tray when I left the duck house. We’ll give them brief supervised swims each day till about five weeks old. After that, the tray will be left in there until they are old enough to go outside, once they are fully feathered, which might be around eight weeks old.