Month: October 2020

Added cats summary page

I have added a page on the Yellow Cottage Homestead website to summarize the history of our feral cats. Here is a copy of that as a blog post, but I will update the page over time.

When visiting the site, you can easily access the Cats page by clicking on the “hamburger” icon to the left of the title at the top, which will slide out a sidebar with links to the about page, cats page, projects page, projects summary, and post archive options, categories, tags, and more.

———

We have two groups of feral cats: outdoor-only feral cats, and indoor-only feral shop cats.

Outdoor cats

On August 30, 2017, we saw what we initially thought was a rat on our front steps… but on closer inspection turned out to be a kitten. Watching for a while, we saw that four kittens were living under our front steps. Fortunately we were in the process of adopting Paladin, our pet cat, so we had some kitten food on hand. We put some out for the kittens. An hour or so later, their mother turned up, having caught a mouse for them to eat. She was happy to eat the food too; no doubt she was very hungry, feeding and still nursing her kittens, not to mention feeding herself.

Read the first blog post about the surprise kittens for the introduction to them; here’s a picture of three of the kittens:

Here’s the mother cat, who we named Poppy, with a couple of her kittens:

Poppy and kittens

Over time, we improved the feeding and living facilities for them, with a feeding station, a raccoon-proof feeder, a heated shelter, a custom-designed-and-built combo shelter and feeder, and more heated spaces. For details of those, check out the Cat House project summary page.

An important step with feral cats is to get them spayed and neutered. Otherwise, a family of five cats could grow exponentially to hundreds of cats, breeding out of control. To learn more about that, check out the posts on pre-baiting the cats (i.e. getting them used to eating from un-set traps), the actual process of TNR: Trap, Neuter, Return, and the followup a week later.

The TNR post also introduces the cats’ names, since that was when we first learned what their genders were (other than the mother, of course).

We have Poppy, the mother; Porcini, Portabella aka Bella, and Pomegranate aka Pommie, all female; plus Potato aka Spud, the only male. See the TNR post for close-up pictures of each.

The cats have a comfy routine of turning up for breakfast, often sleeping much of the day in the various heated shelters, with food available throughout the day, then hunting at night. They help us keep the rodent population under control around the outside of our house, and provide daily entertainment with their cuteness, but remain feral cats, wary of humans.

You can read the cat posts in chronological order, to see how it all started. And also read the weekly Caturday blog posts for updates on them.

Shop cats

We got the shop cats on July 20, 2015, from the Multnomah County Animal Services. They have a “kitties for hire” program, where feral cats off the street, that are too wild to become pets, can be given a productive life helping keep workshops and barns free from rodents. They’re basically employees: we provide a comfortable home, food, water, etc for them, and in exchange they catch any rodents foolish enough to venture into our shop.

When we first got them, we kept them in a couple of large dog crates, joined together, to give them a comfortable enclosed space to get used to. After a while, we let them out into the rest of the shop. We decided to keep them indoor-only, in part to avoid wildlife from going into the shop, and in part to protect them.

Since we got them before I started this blog, here’s a picture of Pepper soon after we got her, in the aforementioned dog crate. Her estimated age was about five months old:

Pepper

Pansy was an estimated one year old when we got her:

Pansy

Since then, they’ve settled into their routines. Pepper has a cozy nest on top of some shelving in the front of the shop, with lots of padding, and even a heating pad to keep her toasty in the colder months:

Pepper's nest

Meanwhile, Pansy watches over the back half of the shop from her nest hidden behind some chairs, also with a padded bed and heating pad:

Pansy's nest

Each has their own food, water, and litter box. The two halves of the shop are separated by a wall, but there’s a cat door, so they can access the other half if they wish, though they usually stick to their own domain.

They have a pretty cozy life, periodically paying their rent with a dead rodent left as an offering for us.

Cat update for week ending October 17

A skunk, possum, and raccoon visited the cats, plus several in-person sightings of cats, and much cuteness and snuggles. It’s Caturday!

I think this is the first time I’ve seen a skunk visit the cat house. While watching it, I was fervently hoping that nothing would startle it; I’d never get that stink out:

Skunk

A couple of hours later, a possum also visited:

Possum

Porcini and Pommie at the cabins:

Cabin cats

An in-person sighting of Porcini when refilling the bird feeders:

Porcini

I put an Eero Wi-Fi router back in the breezeway, so am now able to access that camera again. Without it, I can’t get that cam to load. Here’s Spud; he spends pretty much every night in that cabin:

Spud

Spud

Porcini and Pommie again:

Cabin cats

Three cats:

Three cats

Two cats inside the cat house. I had a spiel last time about the SD card for the cat house cam not working, but a few days later it started working again. So no need to replace it after all:

Two cats

A screenshot of my cam viewing app, showing a cat in the cabins and two in the house:

Screenshot of cams

Another screenshot, showing a cat outside the cabins, one in the house, and a possum in the feeder:

Screenshot of cams

A raccoon invading the house; fortunately nobody was home at the time:

Raccoon

Here’s a sped-up GIF:

Raccoon GIF

That sort of invasion worries me, as if a cat were on the top level when a raccoon came in, it’d be trapped, since the front and back doors are on the lower level. So, I have bought another cat door, the same as downstairs, and plan to install it in the middle of the back wall, probably on Wednesday, weather permitting (Sunday and Wednesday are my weekend days, but tomorrow looks like it’ll be rainy). Hopefully the cats don’t get upset at me modifying their house.

Poppy and Poppa:

Poppy and Poppa

Poppy wanted breakfast, so went around Poppa; he just sat there, without reacting. I’m glad he behaves nicely with our ferals:

Poppy and Poppa

Cat snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Cat snuggles

A raccoon approached the cabin where Pommie was sleeping; she was alert, but didn’t move, and the raccoon retreated. Phew:

Raccoon and cat

A live sighting of Porcini sitting on an overturned bench, and Pommie drinking from the stream, with the cat house in the background:

Two cats

A GIF of Spud running into the breezeway and up to the cabin:

Breezeway GIF

I spotted Porcini in the kitchen garden (and she spotted me):

Porcini

I also saw her on the bench by the fountain garden:

Porcini

More cute snuggles:

Cat snuggles

Here’s a GIF of Porcini stretching, licking, and snuggling with Poppy:

Snuggle GIF

A shorter, more smooth variation; can you stand the cuteness?!

Snuggle GIF

Finally, a summary GIF of this week’s 87 photos; lots more great shots not included above, including cameos of Rory and me:

Summary GIF

Flock Friday for October 16

Some hummingbirds, ducks, chickens, a jay, and even a cat. Plus some sad news. It’s Flock Friday.

Seven hungry hummingbirds on a rainy day:

Hummingbirds

Did you see the slow motion video of the hummingbirds?

A time-lapse animated GIF of ducks having breakfast:

Duck breakfast GIF

Ducks on the edge of the lawn:

Ducks

Sassa standing tall and stretching her wings:

Sassa

Ducks on the lawn; I love Rémy’s green head:

Ducks

On the lawn:

Ducks

A wide-angle shot of the ducks, with the brown gazebo and two chicken coops in the background:

Wide angle ducks

Sassa flapping her wings again:

Ducks

A cheeky Steller’s Jay in the duck house:

Steller's Jay

Ducks in the pond:

Ducks

Ducks

Concluding my recent saga on the ChickenGuard pop door opener for the new chicken coop, I bought and installed a replacement unit, so it now works reliably, at last. While this has been quite a hassle, I’m very pleased with the customer service of the manufacturer — they were very responsive in trying to help, and even sent a front panel (with electronics) and another motor, at no charge, even after I told them I replaced it, so I’d have a spare:

New ChickenGuard opener

Speaking of the chickens, here are some pictures of damp and scraggly chickens, still going through their annual molting:

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

Chicken

Chicken

Chickens

Merida in a nesting box:

Chicken in nesting box

Back to the ducks; you may have seen some of these on my personal blog:

Ducks

Ducks

Clara showing off her wing:

Ducks

Ducks on the lawn:

Ducks

Sven stretching:

Ducks

Heading back to the pond:

Ducks

I mentioned sad news… it’s Sven. I discovered him floating dead at the back of the pond yesterday morning. Looking at my cam footage, it looks like he died on Wednesday. No sign of injury or attack, so my best guess is that he may have choked on something. So now we’re down to 12 ducks; 3 male, 9 female. We have that many to allow for attrition, but it still makes us sad when we lose one.

Think seven hummingbirds was a lot? How about ten:

Hummingbirds

A GIF from that Live Photo; can you spot all ten?

Hummingbirds GIF

I moved one of the cameras in the new coop:

Coop cam

Did you see the time-lapse of a day in the coop from that vantage point?

Ducks in the rain:

Ducks

Paladout investicated the duck house:

Cat in duck house

Eww, that isn’t food:

Cat in duck house

The ducks were very curious too:

Cat in duck house

Finally, a summary GIF of 116 photos from this week (excluding the GIFs and a few others). Including as a link instead of embedding, since it’s fairly large.

Cat update for week ending October 10

Lots of cat cabin pictures this week, plus a fight between alien cats Poppa and Paladout.

Pommie by the cabins:

Pommie by the cabins

Super-relaxed Pommie:

Pommie in a cabin

Two cats inside the cat house:

Two cats inside

That camera has stopped recognizing its SD card, so I can’t capture recordings. So there will probably be fewer views inside the cat house, unless I replace the camera (again). The cat house isn’t used much in summer, but as we head towards winter, I expect they’ll use it more, so I might think it worthwhile to replace the camera.

Indoor cameras aren’t super expensive, especially at the 3 megapixel resolution, which is good enough for close quarters like this… though the one I use is no longer available (maybe because it was so unreliable? I’ve had several have this issue). So I’d have to switch to another style, like a pan/tilt one, though they don’t have as wide a viewing angle (90° vs 140° with the current one). Or even a cheap 2 megapixel model for 1080P resolution, which is plenty. Or just leave it as-is; the current camera still works for live viewing, just not recording.

Not that anyone but me cares about all that.

Anyway, back to the pictures. Here’s Poppa:

Poppa

Poppa

And Paladout:

Paladout

Bella:

Bella

An animated GIF of a big yawn:

GIF of yawn

While doing rounds, I spotted a cat on the driveway:

Cat on driveway

Porcini peeking at me around the corner of the house:

Cat by corner of house

Three cats at breakfast time:

Three cats

Two cats

Porcini in a cabin:

Porcini in a cabin

Pommie says “hey, that’s my cabin!”

Hey, that's my cabin!

Porcini and Pommie

GIF of just eyes moving:

GIF of eyes

Porcini:

Porcini

Poppa and Paladout had an encounter; Paladout was eating, and Poppa arrived:

Poppa and Paladout

Poppa attacked Paladout; here’s a GIF:

GIF of Poppa and Paladout fight

I’m glad Poppa doesn’t do that to our ferals. I suspect Paladout won’t visit again for a while. (I’m pretty sure he is a neighbor’s pet that they let roam around, as probably is Poppa.)

Porcini and Pommie at the cabins again:

Porcini and Pommie

This time Pommie accepted the less preferred cabin:

Porcini and Pommie

Pommie says “eww, it’s wet”:

GIF of cat

A GIF summary of 38 cat pictures from this week:

GIF summary

Flock Friday for October 9: the chickens

Since this morning’s Flock Friday post didn’t include any pictures of chickens, and I had to go into the chicken run to close some vents for the forthcoming cooler and wetter weather, I took the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures.

And rather than save them till next Friday, I thought I might as well do a bonus Flock Friday post of just chicken pics.

So without additional commentary, enjoy 18 pictures of chickens, some of them looking very scruffy as they continue their molt.

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Flock Friday for October 9: the summary GIF

This morning I included a massive GIF summary of 248 pictures from the past week in my Flock Friday post, but it broke loading that post, so I split it out into this separate post.

It might take a while to load, depending on your internet speed, and at one second per picture, will take about four minutes to play. It includes a bunch of pictures you may have seen before in the duckling posts and above, but also many unique ones not previously shown.

Since the GIF is so large (152 MB), it also seems to break the caching server of my site. So here is a direct link to it, instead of displaying it inline. Click that to view it, if you dare.

(Moral of the story: a GIF with hundreds of pictures is probably not a great idea.)

Flock Friday for October 9: the ducks

Welcome to the first Flock Friday with all of the ducks together! I have so many duck pictures, there aren’t any chicken ones this time — I’ll make sure to include some next week.

There were 248 pictures this week… so I picked 30 not-previously-published ones to highlight in this post, and included the rest in a big summary GIF at the end, if you’re interested. (Edit: I’ve moved the GIF to a separate post, to avoid loading issues.)

As mentioned in the last daily duckling post yesterday, you can review the duckling posts in chronological order via the tags “ducklings 2020” and “ducklings 2020 again”, if that’s a thing you want to do.

As a brief review, we started the past week with the new ducks still enclosed in the duck house and run:

New ducks

A week ago I removed the fence, allowing them to join the older ducks in the pond:

New ducks

Which they did very quickly:

New ducks

Here’s another shot of their first swim in the pond:

New ducks

Sassa and the older ducks:

Sassa and older ducks

Betty and Sassa, back before she cleaned herself up:

Betty and Sassa

Some ducks by the (currently off) waterfall:

Ducks by waterfall

At the edge of the lawn:

By lawn

The two groups of ducks are becoming more integrated over time, but started out mostly separated:

Two groups

Betty and the new ducks enjoying leafy treats:

Leafy treats

The old position of the food bowl, before I moved it into the duck house:

Food bowl

I added a new island to the pond, and cleaned the fountain; I captured a few pictures while standing in the pond (see the GIF for more, including a couple selfies):

In the pond

I mucked out the duck house; now that they’re only going in there to eat, I shouldn’t need to do that as often:

Mucked out duck house

The boys:

The boys

I discovered that the fake heron that was on the bank went for a swim; someone must have knocked it off. It was supposed to discourage the real heron from visiting the pond, though didn’t really work:

Fake heron

Sven flapping his wings:

Sven wings

Relaxing amongst some grasses:

Amongst grasses

The boys again:

The boys

All the islands occupied:

On islands

Betty:

Betty

Rooting in the lawn for tasty bugs; unlike chickens, ducks don’t really damage the lawn, just a nice bit of aeration:

On the lawn

On the lawn

On the lawn

In the pond:

In the pond

Mealworm treats:

In the pond

In the pond

One chicken-related thing — ChickenGuard sent me a replacement motor to try to solve the issues I’ve been having with the opener on the new coop. But it arrived with a broken wire! Oops. So I gave up and ordered a new unit. This morning, they said they’ll send a new circuit board as a goodwill gesture, so I’ll have a spare. It’s frustrating when a device doesn’t work, but it is three years old, and I’m generally satisfied with the devices and their customer service. For the convenience of not having to manually open and close the pop doors every day, it’s worth it even if I have to replace them every few years. (And their 3-year warranty is very generous, especially when they send free replacement parts when just outside that period.)

ChickenGuard motor

The ducks in the pond, looking towards the hidden path (you can see a peek of the white gazebo; that’s the entrance to the path):

In the pond

The reverse view, from the hidden path:

In the pond

All the ducks:

In the pond

Edit: I’ve moved the GIF to a separate post, as it seemed to cause some loading issues.

More ducklings day 58: one big happy flock

This is the last of the daily posts concentrating on the new ducks. Starting with tomorrow’s Flock Friday post, I will include pictures of all of the ducks together, as one big happy flock.

The older and newer ducks still mostly stick to themselves at present, though do hang out together as well, like this; all 13 ducks in the leafy pond:

All the ducks in the pond

Over time, I expect they will become more and more integrated.

Everyone enjoying mealworm treats:

Mealworm treats

Mealworm treats

A bunch of pictures of the new ducks from the hidden path on the west side of the pond:

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

The new ducks

Duck butt:

The new ducks

The new ducks

I hope you’ve enjoyed watching these ducks grow up from one day old to eight weeks old. They grow so fast! Stay tuned for the weekly Flock Friday posts, to watch how they and the older ducks get on, plus the chickens and wild birds.

If you want to relive the fun, check out the “ducklings 2020 again” tag on this blog to view all of the posts for the newest ducklings in chronological order. And if that isn’t enough, the “ducklings 2020” tag will show all of the posts from earlier in the year.