Category Archives: pets

The runaway

November 6, 2019Chickens, pets, Weathersusanmanzke

It snowed today. Not more than two inches, but that made a spot in our yard slippery. As I threw a bit of garbage in the outside bin, my foot slipped. I was heading head over heels, knocking the bin over, but somehow saved myself from a complete fall. Thank goodness. Too many friends have had falls lately that left them bruised and hurting. I’m happy to have saved myself today.

After bringing in the mail, I went to check on my seven hens and give them some table scraps.

Since the hens have been docile, I left the outside door open. That was a mistake. One white hen raced passed me when I opened the coop door. She stopped suddenly when her feet hit the snow.

I figured this was my chance to recapture her, but she had other ideas.

Not liking the two inches of snow, the hen flapped into the air and flew about twenty feet away to an open space under a nearby pine tree.

Grumpily, I followed after her, hoping she wouldn’t go farther afield.

The hen did think about escaping under her favorite bush, but the snow made her rethink that exit.

Little by little I turned her toward the coop, my arms outstretched giving her directions.

She went left. She went right and then back again. The cold snow stopped her again.

“You’ll have to fly home,” I told her and to my surprise that’s what she did, flapping right to the open door.

At least she was home. I returned to the house, carefully stepping over the slippery ground.

This episode gives me more reason to rid myself of my little flock, but the question still remains. Where?

National Chicken Lady Day!

November 4, 2019Chickens, Columns, petssusanmanzke

I am down to seven hens but I’m still a chicken lady.

Chickens and cats eating on our front porch in summer.

My favorite hen, a bantam, with summer’s crop of chicks.

I love my feathered pets but I don’t know if I can keep them. Winter issues might be too much for us.

Stay tuned. Fingers crossed we don’t have a terrible winter again.

Sunny’s odd pillow

October 25, 2019petssusanmanzke

Sunny our dog loves to stay close to us. He’s usually underfoot and we have to step over or around our big dog.

When we’re in the kitchen Sunny is either between our table and the wall or snuggled in a nearby corner.

The odd thing about Sunny sleeping in the corner is that he uses the wall as a pillow. It seems that he is sleeping at an odd angle, but that’s the way he likes it.

Here is Sunny, enjoying his corner.

Sudden adoption

September 29, 2019nature, pets, wildlifesusanmanzke

This multiple adoption was not in my plans. It wasn’t until we found abandoned kittens in the barn that I became a mother again.

It took some work getting to the kittens. The mother had left them behind two heavy motors in the old shed shop. Lucky for them they were old enough to pop out from behind the motor so I could grab them one at a time.

There are four in total and they have totally taken over my life.

First, they were housed on the back porch but today they are in our kitchen. This is not the ideal setup for raising kittens. I just hope I’m up for the job. They have made it through a week of bottle feeding.

Keeping them fed is hard enough. The worst part is keeping them clean. Mother cats have a tough job. I just wish their mother had raised them. Hopefully, we’ll have lively kittens to send to new homes in the future. Adopting four might be a bit much for Bob and me.