Cat update for week ending September 14

Despite my chicken chase video earlier this morning, it’s actually Caturday… so here are some cats.

A cat stretching to the awning, while another eats:

Cat stretching to awning

Three cats inside:

Three cats inside

Two cats rather early for breakfast (it dispenses at 06:00):

Two cats

A couple on the deck, and one inside:

Three cats

Three on the deck; Poppy licking her lips (I think there might be a fourth eating, too):

Three cats

Four cats:

Four cats

A cat relaxing on the path next to the stream (the cat house is behind the maple tree):

Cat on path

Enjoying a sunbeam inside:

Sleepy cat

The twin cats watching a bird:

Twin cats

A cat by the pond:

Cat by pond

A couple of cats on the deck, and another peering out from a window:

Three cats

Three cats inside:

Three cats inside

Four cats inside:

Four cats inside

Poppy has droplets of rain on her fur, glinting in the light:

Four cats inside

Speaking of inside, did you see the animated GIF of a night in the cat house?

A series of pics of a cat having a moment:

Cat with head under mat

Cat having a moment

Cat having a moment

Stretch:

Stretch

Three cats with tails raised high (unusual for ferals; they’re usually more guarded of their rears):

Three cats

Flock Friday for September 13

Welcome to a wet Flock Friday!

As hinted on my personal blog, we had a heron visit our pond this week. Twice.

Here’s the heron sliding off the edge of the pond (which slopes steeply) and taking a header in the pond:

Heron in pond

After it got out, it fluffed up most impressively:

Heron in pond

Heron next to the pond:

Heron next to pond

It flew over to below the pond deck, and one of the large koi swam up and startled it, causing it to jump back:

Heron startled by koi

Heron eat fish (and frogs and such), but I think the big koi are way too big for it to tackle. I didn’t see it catch anything; the smaller fish were wise enough to stay hidden.

Here it is flying above the pond:

Heron flying

The following night, a rat or similar rodent was spotted near the duck house, with the ducks warily eyeing it:

Rat

Here’s a shot of the ducks that kinda shows the delightful green iridescence of the cayuga duck:

Ducks

Ducks on the ramp:

Ducks on ramp

A few days later, hey look, the heron is back:

Heron again

In the pond:

Heron in pond

Heron startled by a koi again:

Heron startled by a koi again

Heron flying to the duck house:

Heron flying

Like an ornament on the duck house roof:

Heron on duck house

Those big koi are bullies; here’s one chasing the ducks, while another eats their mealworm treats:

Koi chasing ducks

Ducks from inside house:

Ducks from inside house

Ducks

On to the chickens. Here’s Buffy, one of the older girls:

Buffy chicken

Camilla:

Camilla chicken

Kiwi:

Kiwi chicken

Mo, starting to molt:

Mo chicken

And some pics of the young chickens:

Young chickens

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

Did you see the YouTube video of our young chickens curiously clucking?

Honey extraction, comb honey, chunk honey

Over the weekend we used a borrowed honey extractor to get the honey out of a couple of hive frames, plus cut six frames into 24 boxes of comb honey, and one frame into 8 jars of chunk honey.

Here are the frames in the baskets of the honey extractor; it’s basically a centrifuge, where the frames are spun quickly to force the honey out of the wax cells:

Frames in honey extractor

A look at the outside of the extractor; it has a crank handle to spin the baskets, a top chamber with the baskets, and a bottom chamber where the honey is collected:

Honey extractor

This is a comb honey cutter, which cuts a square of the comb, which is then placed in the plastic boxes:

Comb honey cutter

A hive box, and stacks of comb honey:

Hive box, comb honey

The extracted honey was then poured into a bucket with a fine mesh at the top, to filter out the globs of wax (the Flow hive is much easier!):

Extracted honey

Here’s a view from inside of it flowing out:

Extracted honey

We put the extractor outside so the rain could clean it… and a few bees turned up to help:

Bee cleaning extractor

Then they told their sisters, and a large swarm of bees turned up:

Swarm of bees

They did a good job of cleaning it, though!

Meanwhile, Jenn cut the comb from another frame into half-sized portions, put them in jars, and poured filtered honey in to make chunk honey:

Chunk honey

Here are a couple of jars of chunk honey:

Chunk honey

The packaged comb and chunk honey (we’ll add labels later):

Comb and chunk honey

Cat update for week ending September 7

Continuing the cavalcade of Caturday!

Last weekend the cinderblock that the outdoor cat cam is housed within was knocked over:

Camera knocked over

Upon reviewing the footage, apparently that happened as a result of an encounter between the alien orange cat, Pumpkin, and two of our ferals, one in the feeder, and one on top of the camera housing:

Orange cat encounter

When the latter took off at great speed, it was enough force to dislodge the block, resulting in this exciting view of the ground:

Camera knocked over

One day I plan to build a nice wooden housing for the camera, but it isn’t a high priority, so the stack of cinderblocks will suffice for now.

One peek at a couple of cats inside:

Cats inside

Another alien cat encounter, between the gray cat (Paladout) and Porcini:

Gray cat encounter

After coming up behind unnoticed, she went around the back and hissed at him from the other side:

Gray cat encounter

Here Porcini is having a good stretch while licking her lips after eating:

Stretch & lick

Four cats (one eating, three outside):

Four cats

A raccoon looking at the camera:

Raccoon

Raccoon

Chasing a bug:

Chasing a bug

Another orange cat encounter; the feral is eating breakfast, oblivious to Pumpkin:

Orange cat encounter

Then notices, and runs away:

Orange cat encounter

Three cats, one looking at a bird:

Three cats

A couple of cats on the deck, a couple relaxing by the tree:

Four cats

Bella bapping a bug:

Bapping a bug

Porcini staring at a spider:

Staring at a bug

Flock Friday for September 6

Fantastic Flock Friday, Friends and Family!

Zoomy ducks:

Zoomy ducks

Ducks flapping:

Ducks flapping

More zoomy ducks:

Zoomy ducks

Duck at the bottom of the waterfall:

Duck at the bottom of the waterfall

Fish and ducks:

Fish and ducks

The big koi are so huge:

Fish

Ducks near the bank:

Ducks

On the bank:

Ducks on bank

The duck house, with ducks beyond, and koi in the pond:

Ducks and fish

I mucked out the chicken coops, and dumped a pile of fresh bedding (that they’ll spread out for me):

Chickens with fresh bedding

A queue impatiently waiting as the pop door opens:

Pop door opening

Pop door opening

We added a flock block; a compressed block of seeds and such as supplemental food:

Flock block

Chickens with a corn cob:

Chickens with corn cob

Old and new chickens, separated by a fence:

Chickens

The young chickens with a strawberry:

Chickens with strawberry

A couple of the older chickens with corn cob:

Chickens with corn cob

Old and young chickens:

Old and young chickens