Month: June 2019

Ducklings & chicks update for June 9

The ducklings and chicks are about 1.5 weeks old now. I wasn’t able to post an update on them while away, but now that I’m back you can expect more updates.

Here’s an amusing shot from the duck house cam from before I left for San Jose:

Ducklings

They were so small:

Ducklings

An ominously glowing chicken coop, from the red heat lamp:

Chicken coop

The ducklings snuggling under the heat lamp:

Ducklings

Ducklings

So tiny:

Ducklings

The chicks:

Chicks

We had a catastrophe with the chicks: on my last night in San Jose, the chicken coops lost power, due to the GFCI outlet popping, probably caused by heavy rain. This doesn’t affect the adult chickens, but is a disaster for baby chicks, that need 90° F heat. When Jenn checked them in the morning, she was horrified to find three dead chicks. So we are now down to five.

I’ve added tests to my Dejal Simon app to watch the cameras, and alert me if they lose connection, which should help prevent another disaster like that. I also looked into other power loss alarms, but the few options had various drawbacks.

It was very sad to lose chicks like this; that was the first time that has occurred, and we’ll do what we can to avoid it again.

The surviving chicks are definitely getting bigger, able to reach the lower roosting bar now, via the mini practice roosts below:

Chicks

Chicks

Me spending time with the chicks:

David with chicks

They really like the roosting bar:

Chicks

In the duck house, I had paper and shelf liner on the floor to give traction while the ducklings were very young. But it had become rather soiled with spilled food and waste:

Ducklings

So as planned, I remove half of it, and added straw bedding, to transition to that:

Straw bedding

It was impressive how much the ducklings grew in a week:

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

Ducklings

This morning, I added some bricks under their waterer, to raise it up a bit, and added a cat dish with a bit of water in it:

Ducklings

The ducklings can drink from the dish if desired:

Ducklings

Or step in it, as a preamble to swimming, which they’ll be able to start next week (in a very limited, supervised capacity):

Ducklings

Cat update for week ending June 8

I’m back from San Jose, and catching up with things… including reviewing the cat cam footage for the week (or as many days as the cameras record; it varies based on memory card capacity and camera resolution).

Here’s Portabella requesting breakfast:

Portabella

Another encounter with the orange cat; it’s being quite a menace:

Orange cat encounter

A good stretch:

Stretch

This is a funny expression; she looks startled, but is actually just in the middle of licking her lips after eating:

Mid-licking lips

One of the cats threw up outside the feeder, and a scrub jay was helping itself:

Bird

However, things didn’t go as planned for the bird; a cat was inside the shelter, and chased it. Here’s a sequence of motion-blurred images, of the bird flying into the feeder, chased by the cat, then out again between the cats legs. Don’t worry, the bird got away:

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

Cat and bird

A few hours later, another bird, a steller’s jay, came to finish off the food; I guess it didn’t see what happened to the other one:

Bird

It was more successful, and also helped itself to extra cat food. They are such pretty birds:

Bird

Two cats eating breakfast:

Two cats eating

Two cats inside the shelter:

Two cats inside

Four cats inside; three upstairs, one down:

Four cats inside

Three cats snuggling on the heating pad:

Snuggles

One cat scratching the tree, while two are in the feeder, and one on the deck:

Scratching tree

I hadn’t seen all five cats for a while, so was pleased to see them here (one outside, one in the shelter, three in the feeder):

Five cats

Three cats inside when another arrives:

Four cats inside

Snuggle pile:

Snuggles

Cat update for week ending June 1

We may have new chicks and ducklings, but let’s not forget the cats! A Caturday between the Hawaii and WWDC trips.

Four cats on a foggy morning:

Four cats

Three cats inside:

Three cats inside

Pepper in the shop; this is the last shot of her from this camera, as it has been moved into the duck house, as was originally intended; I was just using this for her until it was needed there. (There’s another lower-res camera over by her food, but it doesn’t record as reliably.)

Pepper in the shop

An encounter with the alien orange cat:

Orange cat encounter

Orange cat encounter

The orange cat in turn had an encounter with an inquisitive deer:

Orange cat and deer

A cat in the feeder:

Cat in feeder

One eating, one waiting on the deck:

Cat in feeder

A sleepy Poppy in the shelter:

Cat inside

A cat arrives while others are eating breakfast:

Cat arrives

A comfy Poppy again:

Cat inside

A scrub jay keeps visiting the feeder and taking food (could be multiple, who knows); one day it might end badly for it:

Bird in feeder

Two cats in the feeder:

Cats in feeder

Another orange cat encounter. It arrived (barely visible off to the left):

Orange cat encounter

And four cats scattered:

Orange cat encounter

There’s the bird again:

Bird