A Fox Visits

Black Australorp Hen pecking

MOST MORNINGS, I LET the chickens out after breakfast, but on Sunday I did something different.  I let the chickens out early, before we went to Nippers at Bar Beach.  So they were scratching around outside before 8am.

Sunday was an overcast day, grey skies lingering until late afternoon and some decent showers before sunset.  I worked inside all day, barely going out except to have a stretch at lunchtime.  I did notice some kerfuffle with the chickens early in the day, with some clucking and squwarking, but then that was sort of usual after one had laid an egg.  It wasn't until late afternoon when I noticed old Rosie clucking around at the back steps by herself, that I gulped and felt a squirt of adrenalin - where were the other birds?  Nervous it wasn't a red fox. 


I grabbed my daughter and we trudged down the backyard.  Just one other bird.  10 gone.  It was obviously a fox.   We walked all around the property and along through the bush - all we found were a couple of wispy feather rings and one cold corpse with the head missing.

So long chichens - is always sad to lose a brilliant egg team.  And we had just been sharing a dozen eggs every few days with our friends.

Keeping New Chickens in the Backyard

 Here are the new chickens - some fourteen week old pullets I bought off a lovely lady at the Maitland Wyandotte Show last weekend.  They are settling in nicely with the established flock and will soon be free ranging with the rest.  Oh, and you pronounce it Why-an-dot.

The Wyandotte Show was my first real chicken show and it was crowded with chicken fanatics from across the state.  We saw some impressive roosters (the noise was unbelievable!) and many lovely variations on the typical Wyandotte form.

I learned that the fluff of feathers at the bottom of the Wyandotte is called the cushion - and it is particularly pronounced in this type as well.

Here is an update on the growth of the backyard - the tree ferns are thriving and the red cedars are getting established too.  I have not watered for months but will start now in preparation for the spring as the drying winds of August make for slow growing weather.

Here is another image of just how thick the tree ferns are getting with regular cow manure, chemical all-purpose fertilizer and deep watering.  Oh, and the little garden fairy is growing well too on a diet of freshly laid warm eggs and plenty of cuddles!

Winter 2012

Welcome back! We have been busy (which isn't much of an excuse) but things have been evolving at a great rate since the last post (I can't believe it's been so long!). First of all, we have lost chickens through fox attacks and to be honest, a bit of mis-management on my part. It was so simple to have free ranging birds picking through the bush that it became a bit of a routine and sure enough I was letting the chooks out everyday. But to be honest it was too easy to be letting the chooks outside and expecting them to feed themselves. And with the busy Christmas season at our business, my attention was totally elsewhere when in early December first two, then three and finally the other three went missing over a week or so. Devastated, I abandoned the whole backyard sustainability project over the summer break. I didn't even water or plant any new plants or pull weeds. It all fell into disrepair. But I did rush out and but a half dozen laying hens at top dollar ($25) and, sure enough, much to my total embarrassment, the birds were taken too. Maybe by dogs, maybe by the fox again. Anyway, things hit a sort of rock bottom and it was a real turning point. I looked out the back and saw how overgrown and how it was such a waste of land to have the whole space just feeding weeds. So we bought another dozen pullets. Young egg laying hens at 16 weeks for $14 each. I told my wife we would get 8 but I brought home a dozen. It was like things were back to normal. God they are beautiful animals to watch... Now, about ten weeks after they have settled into living at Merewether we are enjoying their fruit. We are getting 8 or more eggs everyday and the landscape is completely devoid of weeds, insects and other things. The girls are confident walking around without shoes on! So let's share some more images and daily life...

Turning the Tide - End Of Winter Fat

It has been a glorious and depressing winter to eat my way into a 12 kilo weight gain.

Unashamedly, I now wallow in my wobbly gut and drooping jowls whilst I fear my first Spring workout.

Already I can imagine my new personal trainer snorting at my pathetic push up count.

> Well this time , I'm gonna get even! I got meself a gun and a packet of knives and .... wait a minute, only JOKING - yeah, I have already begun the pre-gym sign up fasting process. I heard some other guys call it ramadan. It is a tricky bandwagon to get on but I'm doing my half assed best so far...

Plastic Container lids in the back corner of the Kitchen Cupboard - WTF?

Sometimes it feels good (or is absolutely necessary) to bring a little order into an otherwise chaotic life. With this in mind I just resolved to tackle that terrifying, hard-to-reach corner of my kitchen cupboards that houses my collection of plastic food receptacles. These range from worth-their-weight-in-gold Tupperware (all vanished) containers to bulk-purchased cheap-arsed plastic takeaway boxes of all shapes and sizes.

What I found was absolutely mystifying. When I finally managed to exit the cupboard on hands and knees and survey my stash I found that I had precisely 55 lids and precisely 11 containers. Of those lids and containers I had precisely 3 matches.

To prove that I really do Shit You Not, I took a photo, and here it is. Actually, I took 2 and here they both are.

How. Does. This. Happen?

I can understand the occasional container being sacrificed to the Gods of Playdough, Roughhousing and Occasional Microwave Disasters, but for the love of all that is decent, how did 44 containers vanish? Perhaps (thinking outside the square here) they didn't vanish at all, but never existed, and there's some strange lid-breeding program going on in my cupboard resulting in multiple births of new and exciting container-less lids?

Whatever it is, I want my containers back. Or my lids gone. Or more matches. Or at the VERY least - a scientific explanation.

STxxx