Cat update for week ending August 28

Welcome to the last ever Caturday on this blog. The outdoor feral cats adopted us in August 2017, and we’ve enjoyed watching them around the homestead ever since. But as with the ducks and chickens, it’s time for someone else to look after them, as we begin our new adventure in a motorhome.

So let’s take a last look at some of the cats. Here are two outside their house:

Two cats

Spud sleeping in a cabin:

Cat in cabin

Cat outside the feeder:

Cat outside feeder

And inside the feeder:

Cat inside feeder

Porcini relaxing in a garden:

Cat in garden

A cat eating, and another waiting outside:

Two cats

Spud in a cabin again:

Cat in cabin

Cat in cabin

Finally, lets finish with an animated GIF of cats at their house:

Cats GIF

We will miss watching the cats. But we’ll still have our pet cat Paladin, so cat pictures will continue on my personal blog.

Cat update for week ending August 7

Also starting the last month of Caturdays. Since people have asked, fear not, the new owner of our homestead will be caring for all of our animals: the feral cats, ducks, chickens, and even the bees.

A relaxed Bella on the deck of the cat house:

Relaxed Bella

Two cats at breakfast time:

Two cats

Porcini watching me walk past:

Porcini

Spud and Bella:

Two cats

Bella on the deck again:

Bella

Bella and Spud again:

Two cats

A GIF of a stretch and scratching the tree:

Two cats

A still image from then:

Two cats

Two alien cats at night:

Two alien cats

Bella by the water dispenser:

Bella

Flock Friday for July 16

A focus on the chickens for this Flock Friday, including a couple of fun GIFs.

I noticed some chickens grabbing raspberries through the fence:

Chickens grabbing raspberries

Here’s a GIF of one jumping up to grab raspberries from a high branch; see how she turns her head back and forth to judge the distance:

Chickens grabbing raspberries

Another GIF of pulling a branch through the fence:

Chickens grabbing raspberries

That was hard work; nap time:

Chickens roosting in their run

Some photos of chickens with tomato, lettuce, and zucchini treats (the zucchini are starting to take over the garden):

Chickens with tomato, lettuce, zuccini treats

Chickens with tomato, lettuce, zuccini treats

Chickens

Chicken with lettuce treats

Chickens

We can’t have a Flock Friday post without any pictures of the ducks — here’s a token one from the pond deck. Betty’s ducklings are almost full-grown now, and Sonja’s are catching up fast:

Ducks

I haven’t spent much time with the ducks this week, due to our trip to Ashland and my subsequent illness, but I’ll be sure to get more photos of them for next week.

Flock Friday for June 25

It’s Flock Friday. Did you see the announcement about us selling our homestead? These updates will be continuing for a little while longer, so enjoy them while they last!

An aerial view of the pond:

Aerial view of the pond

Sonja and her ducklings on an upturned pot island:

Sonja and her ducklings

Sonja and her ducklings

Chickens:

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Sonja and her ducklings, with other ducks in the background:

Sonja and her ducklings

Betty and her ducklings wading in the waterfall stream:

Betty and her ducklings

Finally, a GIF of some of Sonja’s ducklings eating from the duckling feeder:

Ducklings

Sonja’s ducklings on June 19 and 20

So, remember when I said that most of Sonja’s eggs wouldn’t hatch, like with Betty’s? Yeah, about that… I was wrong; it looks like pretty much all of them did. She currently has 16 ducklings!

I say “currently” as it is likely that some won’t survive their first few days, and others may die for various reasons over time, but it’s still more than expected.

Here’s a GIF of Sonja popping out of her nest, with a squirming mass of ducklings:

Ducklings

Another GIF; so many ducklings:

Ducklings

Last GIF of overflowing ducklings:

Ducklings

This morning Sonja led her babies into the pond. Definitely a benefit of mother-raised ducklings, able to swim a day or two after hatching:

Sonja and ducklings

Here they are with some of Betty’s ducklings in the background; the latter are only three weeks older, but so much bigger!

Betty's ducklings; Sonja and ducklings

Quite the flotilla:

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja and ducklings

Sonja’s ducklings on June 18 and 19

I mentioned in Flock Friday yesterday that Sonja’s ducklings were due to hatch that day, based on when she started full-time nesting. Well, right on schedule, they did indeed; I saw the first duckling yesterday afternoon, and this morning there are several; a little too dark to count them, but I’m pretty sure I saw at least six.

Here are some GIFs of them, starting with the first one I saw:

Sonja's ducklings

Another GIF:

Sonja's ducklings

GIF of a duckling tumbling out of the nest, and climbing back in:

Sonja's ducklings

After dark GIF with several visible:

Sonja's ducklings

This morning, one of the boys was being too nosy, so Sonja led him away from the nest. The oldest duckling followed to the door, then returned to the nest (GIF):

Sonja's ducklings

While she was away, we get a better look at the squirming mass of ducklings in this GIF; see how many you can count:

Sonja's ducklings

For comparison, here is a picture of Betty’s ducklings; already much bigger:

Sonja and Betty's ducklings

Finally, several ducklings emerging from under Sonja:

Sonja's ducklings

Stay tuned for another baby duckling update tomorrow.

Cat update for week ending June 19

Welcome to Caturday. With, as you might guess, some pictures of our feral cats. including two GIFs.

Here’s Porcini chillaxing in the cat house:

Porcini

Pommie oozing out of a cabin:

Pommie

Spud and Pommie:

Spud and Pommie

Spud on the driveway by the shop:

Spud on the driveway by the shop

Porcini inside again:

Porcini

A timelapse GIF of a day of Porcini in the cat house:

Porcini

Cat tail:

Cabin cat

A captured moment of Porcini licking her face while looking at the camera:

Porcini yawning

Just a quick lick, here in GIF form:

Porcini yawning

An amusing expression on Spud’s face in the breezeway:

Spud in the breezeway

Jumping up:

Spud in the breezeway

Two cats by the feeder:

Two cats

Flock Friday for June 11

Time to check on the ducks and chickens again.

Here are some ducks by the chicken coop, curious about me mucking it out:

Ducks by chicken coop

And on the lawn:

Ducks on lawn

Peeking at Sonja nesting, while refilling their food; her ducklings should hatch in a week or two:

Sonja nesting

Ducks on the path to the duck house:

Ducks on the path to the duck house

A token picture of some chickens:

Chickens

Betty and her ducklings on the floating island; they’ve been making good use of it as a safe place to sleep, which makes me happy:

Betty and ducklings on the island

Betty left to grab some treats, and the ducklings struggled to follow; I really need to add more dirt to fill in the interior, and make it sit lower in the water:

Ducklings on the island

A GIF of ducklings struggling to get off the island:

Ducklings on the island

Last one:

Duckling on the island

Looking down at Betty and ducklings below the pond deck:

Looking down at Betty and ducklings

Looking down at Betty and ducklings

Betty’s ducklings on May 29 and 30

Some more pictures of Betty and her ducklings!

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I put a duckling that was struggling in with Sonja, who was also looking after another of Betty’s ducklings. Here’s a GIF of those two from yesterday afternoon:

GIF

Later they joined Betty; here she is next to the duck house with six ducklings (a little hard to see them all, but they are all visible here):

Betty and ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Yesterday evening she led them back into the duck house for the night; there are three visible here:

In the duck house

Though I think one didn’t make it back in, or didn’t survive the night, as we only saw five ducklings this morning. Attrition is a natural part of having ducklings; that’s why the ducks lay 15 or more eggs.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Betty and her ducklings swimming in the pond today:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Jenn captured some pictures of Betty and ducklings on one of the upturned pot islands:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

A view from the pond deck, with the other ducks rushing over for treats:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

So cute. Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow.