Dogs: April 2008 Archives

Roofs and Bravery

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During Chicken Exercise Hour today, I slung the aviary netting over the Chicken Yard. That means I can leave the girls back there for an afternoon without worrying about predation too much (a determined predator would be able to get through the net, but they would probably get terribly tangled in it in the process).

Aviary netting over the chicken yard

Everybody is looking very chickenesque these days. You can see here that Debbie's getting her belly feathers in still, but most of the rest is all feathery. She's about five weeks old now. I love the little earmuffs.

Debbie at five weeks

With a few visits to the yard under their feathers, the girls are much more exploratory than they had been. Today they dust-bathed in a different spot (one of the piles of soil from the fence post digging), and explored around the larger compost bin.

Examining the compost bin

The bin is made from three pallets lashed together with brass wire, and it has a certain population of insect life thanks to about two years of service. This was of great interest to the girls.

Debbie looks inside

For reasons I don't totally understand, they seem to all fixate on one area and try to get right there, rather than spreading themselves along the length of the bin. Maybe they think there's something special there. Maybe they're right.

Everybody wants to be in one spot

It was mostly Debbie, though. I think those little white dots are bug eggs, and she was eating them.

Debbie eating bug eggs

Eventually Carole figured out that she could jump up and reach higher.

Carole jumps up for better access

And then Joan joined her.

Joan and Carole on the slat

They're still getting the hang of perching -- check out Joan's death-grip on the slat she's standing on there -- but they're mostly good at it. Occasionally they will try to stand somewhere and just fall over, at which point they flap their wings and try to pretend they intended to fly down anyway.

Joan up high

A recent addition to the equipment is a lid for the transport box so the girls will not fly out halfway across the yard. This meant that the dogs could come over and look, which Rosie was very interested in doing.

Rosie with the chicks

And finally, I added a bunch more movies, of which this is one:


Goldie in the Dirt

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There is nothing a dog likes more than to lie on a nice fresh pile of dirt.

Goldie in the dirt pile

It's soft, cool, and oh, so comfortable.

Falling asleep

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Dogs category from April 2008.

Dogs: March 2008 is the previous archive.

Dogs: June 2008 is the next archive.

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