Sitting Ducks

When we built the chicken and ducks run last year we were more concerned with protecting the top with the net to prevent the hawks and other wild animals from getting in but never thought that the small gap at the bottom of the fence would be a place that it got in.

Bo borrowed a Wildgame camera from our neighbor last week and it was a raccoon that has been coming in every night. He set the camera out on Thursday night, and it came in around 2:07 am and finished eating by 2:46 am. These are the photos from the wildgame camera.

The raccoons are extremely smart, especially this one that has been coming almost every night. I saw a trail of how it got out and secure that area with left over deck wood. I worked on it on July 4th, and the next morning another one got killed. This made me sick. It was a brooding hen that was sitting in the hen house, so sad to know that the raccoon went into the hen house and dragged it outside and ate it. All the eggs were gone also. I worked some more on securing the fence to make sure that it can’t get in yesterday evening, and closed the chicken coop last night. This morning another duck got killed, I saw a place where he pulled the fence and got out. It seems like I’m chasing my tail, I secured the area again this evening and pray that all will survive the night.

The previous home owner used to feed a raccoon and she called him Rocky. I’m almost positive that it’s the same one. This is a photo that she took of him before we moved in and apparently he never moved out. This picture was taken on her deck, which is now our deck. I set out a trap with cat food and a marshmallows trail leading to the trap, I feel like he is too smart to fall for it. The hens and roosters will be okay tonight since they are sleeping in the chicken coop but the ducks are outside and sadly they are sitting ducks.

Garden at the end of June

My camera is on vacation this week, hope it comes back with some nice photos as for now I have my garden photos from June 24th. We have been fortunate that it has been raining on a regular basis and it’s been over 2 weeks since I had to water the garden.

I don’t recall planting the pickle cucumbers but that’s what is growing in my garden.

The sugar snap peas are not doing too well, I’m looking to plant summer squash in its place.

The bell peppers seedlings are doing well, it’s actually a lot taller this week.

These are not so tall but they do have big peppers for a short pepper plant bushes.

I’m glad that the Chayote squash finally took off.

The string beans cover the fence trellis this week. 

I get a few okras per day now, enough to grill for dinner.

Some of the tomatoes turn red this week, might wait for a few days before I pick them.

Beware of the Rooster

Not very often that I get to feed Bo’s chickens and ducks, I had to take care of them several weeks back. He feeds them twice a day, morning and afternoon so it was a busy weekend for me. The last time I feed them was during the winter when he had to go out of town for a funeral in Canada. The winter weather was harsh, I was sick but I certainly felt worse for the chickens and ducks having to stay outside in the cold. This time it’s in the Summer so it wasn’t so bad, I had to take care of them for 3 days. The first feed I got attacked by the rooster, it’s almost comical and I went out to get my camera and thought I would take some photos for Bo to see. When I got back he greeted me by the front gate, if looks could kill!

Then he proceeds to come toward me, I’m shaken in my boots at this time but determine to get some photos.

Then he attacked me, he is one mean fighting rooster. He pecked through my jeans and gave me 4 bruises and took out some skin. At this time I was extremely worried, not sure how I would go in and feed the chickens and ducks.

I kept my distance, and he kept his watchful eyes over me, certainly not in a good way.

I called Bo and he was hysterically laughing, he said that he should have warned me about the rooster. It is a fighting rooster bloodline from Thailand. He told me to bring in a net and he will leave me alone. My only weapon at this point is a fishing net, and sure enough he stayed away from me for the rest of the weekend.

The rest of the chickens and ducks are real nice

Even the mean looking ones are nice.

She is nesting, we have some hatched this week.

The rooster is the least of our worry right now, there is something that has been coming into the coop at night and eat the inside organ of the chickens and ducks. It has been killing 1 and sometimes 2 per night, and so far Bo has lost over 10 chickens and ducks and mostly females since they are weaker and couldn’t fight off the predator. The coop is secured, it’s fenced in and has net above so not sure how it got in. At this point, we thought it might be a weasel and have set a trap out for it.