Flock Friday for March 26

Chickens and ducks. You know the drill.

A new toy for the chickens: a mealworm treat roller, a container that dispenses mealworms as they peck at it, to keep them entertained for a while:

Chickens with mealworm treat roller toy

Ducks on the pond deck:

Ducks on the pond deck

Ducks on the pond deck

Ducks flapping wings:

Duck flapping wings

Duck flapping wings

Duck flapping wings

Betty:

Betty

Merida:

Merida

Chickens with the treat roller again:

Chickens with treat roller

Ducks amongst the flowerbeds:

Ducks amongst the flowerbeds

Look closely, and you can see more ducks next to the gazebo:

Ducks amongst the flowerbeds

Here are the other ones:

Ducks amongst the flowerbeds

The two groups joining up:

Ducks amongst the flowerbeds

Ducks zooming over the pond to get treats:

Ducks on the pond

Martha is being broody again:

Broody chicken

RIP Poppy, the best feral momma cat

I am sad to report the passing of Poppy, our feral momma cat. She died at around 21:00 last night, peacefully in the cat house. The cause of death is unknown; no injury that I could see. She was about four or five years old; a ripe old age for a feral cat.

She first joined us in 2017, when she chose under our front steps for her four young kittens. Here’s a previously unpublished picture of her with one of her kittens:

Poppy and kitten

She was a very attentive mother to her kittens, bringing them rodents to eat, and always looking out for them. Here’s a picture of her having a rest under a deck while the kittens play:

Poppy having a rest while the kittens play

I like to think that she chose well, as we started feeding them, and provided heated shelters, neutering, and more for them. If you haven’t seen it, you can read more about them joining us on the cats page.

Here’s a recent picture of Poppy on the cat house deck:

Poppy on the cat house deck

And a picture from the most recent Caturday of Poppy by the cabins, keeping an eye on me:

Poppy

I will miss that Poppy-face.

We buried her this morning, next to our late pet cats beyond the pond.

Rest in peace, Poppy.

New garden cart

I got myself a handy homestead addition: another garden cart. I often have need of another cart, e.g. when my main one is occupied, as it has been with tools for the bee shed project, so I finally decided to get one.

One criterion was I wanted a cart that was similar to my main one, but a bit smaller, specifically for situations like taking tools to a project elsewhere around the homestead grounds, like the bee shed, the shop steps, various garden plumbing projects, etc.

So I chose a cart that is 34×18 inches, and to be different, got it in yellow (which isn’t available on Amazon anymore as I write this).

Some assembly required, as usual:

Cart components

The assembled cart:

Assembled cart

I also got a removable liner for it, to prevent small components from falling out:

Cart liner

I then transferred the tools I’m using for the bee shed to the new cart; perfect size:

Tools

For comparison, here are some pictures of the two carts; as you can see, the new one is quite a bit smaller than my older one:

Two carts

Two carts

Two carts

My green cart is one of my favorite pieces of equipment, that I use weekly for everything from hauling tools to chicken food and recycling (which I haven’t been able to do while occupied with tools). I’m sure the new yellow cart will be a valuable addition.

Cat update for week ending March 20

Several pictures of Poppy on this week’s Caturday, and some of her offspring.

Here is an unusual angle of the cat house, from the field, with Poppy nearby:

Poppy by cat house

Poppy drinking, with Bella on the deck:

Two cats

Porcini:

Porcini

Poppy in a cabin, unconcerned by me nearby:

Poppy

Poppy drinking from a water dish, a little more concerned at me walking towards her:

Poppy

Poppy by the cabins, keeping an eye on me:

Poppy

Poppy and Porcini:

Two cats

Two cats

Pommie, Spud, and Porcini at the cabins:

Three cats

Up close:

Up close

Porcini and Poppy inside their house:

Two cats

Spud and Bella:

Two cats

Flock Friday for March 19

It’s Friday. You know what that means. This week, chickens enjoying wriggly treats, ducks in various places, and some brave (or foolish) birds.

Firstly, some chickens waiting for treats:

Chickens waiting for treats

Chickens waiting for treats

The treats of the day were apple peels, which are lots of fun for them — kinda like long worms, that they can grab and run off with them trailing behind:

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Chickens with apple peel treats

Some ducks on the lawn, with leafy treats:

Ducks on the lawn

Ducks on the lawn

A GIF of a Steller’s jay and a scrub jay grabbing some spilled cat food in front of the cat house:

Birds

A still edition of that:

Birds

A Steller’s jay with a bit of cat food in its beak:

Birds

Taking off with the food:

Bird taking off

Ducks following me down the path to the duck house:

Ducks following me down the path

Ducks following me down the path

Ducks eating in their house:

Ducks in their house

Here’s the fountain garden area; can you see some ducks?

Ducks in the garden

A closer shot of ducks in the garden:

Ducks in the garden

Bee shed: doorway

Today I did some more work on the bee shed project. As mentioned last time, I was thinking about changing my plan for the doors, from wide double doors to a more sensibly sized single door. I did decide to do that, so today built the door and adjacent wall framing.

Firstly, I tried a proof of my concept, with a couple of scrap blocks of wood and a door hinge. In this example, the left block represents the door frame, the right block is part of the door itself, with a hinge sandwiched between:

Demo of door hinge

The first step was to add new 4×4 posts for the doorway, spaced 3’ apart, as a comfortable doorway width:

Posts

The posts were clamped to the existing board at the top:

Clamped

A post level ensured they were straight:

Post level

The bottom of each post is buried in a hole, for bonus stability and support:

Post in a hole

The two posts installed:

Posts installed

Next I added 2×6 wall boards, like with the other walls, again making them level:

Wall boards and level

The door will close upon the posts on the side, and a horizontal post at the bottom as a door sill:

Door frame and sill

Here’s the doorway and the framing for one side wall:

Wall

A closer look at the wall framing:

Wall framing

I also added blocks on the corners to fill that gap; like on the back wall, the corrugated panels will abut this board, to avoid exposing a gap:

Gap filler block

A similar gap filler block on the other side:

Gap filler block

I also added a door frame header:

Door frame header

Here is the final framing for the side walls and doorway:

Door frame

Next time, I will build the door itself, hang the door on the hinges, and install the latch. I probably won’t have time to mount the corrugated panels to the walls and door, but that’ll be the next step after that.