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of mice and chickens
Oct. 18th, 2004 04:18 pmSo there's a mouse (or mice) living in the ceiling of the basement. Inspired by this account of trapping mice in a Habitrail, we set up a spare cage with a tubing entrance, cushy bedding, a wheel - everything a mouse might want. Ungrateful wretch ate the food, drank the water, but never stayed the night. However, this acclimated him to coming into the cage, so we set a live-catch trap inside the cage. This morning, caged mouse inside a cage. Cute thing, with a brown back, white belly, little pink feet, and biiiig black eyes. I mean, totally manga eyes. On the way to school, we freed him in a sunny meadow in the state forest, and watched him poing away. Then we went home, and set the trap again, in case he has a brother.
We didn't get chickens this weekend. I know, neither did you, but we were actually planning to. On Saturday, we went to Nevins Farm, the MSPCA's farm-animal shelter in Methuen. They have plenty of birds (plus goats, pigs, cows, llamas, and horses), but we didn't bring the requisite photos of our chicken house, so we were Just Looking. There were two who were especially friendly. One was a young buff bantam that we thought might be a male, but couldn't tell for sure. We can't have a rooster, which is a shame, because I even got this one to stand on my shoulder (every pirate captain needs a bird on the shoulder). The other was a buff Orpington hen, who practically fell asleep in my arms. Both birds are on hold to the same person, but she hasn't picked them up for a couple weeks, so we may have a shot at the hen. Orpington, Orpington. I just like to say Orpington.
There was also a flock of guinea fowl, which look kind of neat, and eat their weight in ticks (a consideration when you live on the edge of the woods), but are noisier than Harley Davidsons. One of them had gotten outside its enclosure, and was distressed that it couldn't get back in. And this upset the rest of the flock, and they all had to discuss it at once.
On Sunday, we went to the Future Farmers of America poultry auction at the fairground. You'd think that we'd be able to buy chickens at the poultry auction, but mostly they were selling roosters or pairs (rooster + hen). Plus rabbits, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, pumpkins, and cookies. It was cold, and the few hens that came up weren't really what we were looking for, so we left empty-handed. So we go with some combination of rescue birds from the shelter, dealing directly with one of the breeders, or whatever comes up at the Poultry Show in a couple weeks.
We didn't get chickens this weekend. I know, neither did you, but we were actually planning to. On Saturday, we went to Nevins Farm, the MSPCA's farm-animal shelter in Methuen. They have plenty of birds (plus goats, pigs, cows, llamas, and horses), but we didn't bring the requisite photos of our chicken house, so we were Just Looking. There were two who were especially friendly. One was a young buff bantam that we thought might be a male, but couldn't tell for sure. We can't have a rooster, which is a shame, because I even got this one to stand on my shoulder (every pirate captain needs a bird on the shoulder). The other was a buff Orpington hen, who practically fell asleep in my arms. Both birds are on hold to the same person, but she hasn't picked them up for a couple weeks, so we may have a shot at the hen. Orpington, Orpington. I just like to say Orpington.
There was also a flock of guinea fowl, which look kind of neat, and eat their weight in ticks (a consideration when you live on the edge of the woods), but are noisier than Harley Davidsons. One of them had gotten outside its enclosure, and was distressed that it couldn't get back in. And this upset the rest of the flock, and they all had to discuss it at once.
On Sunday, we went to the Future Farmers of America poultry auction at the fairground. You'd think that we'd be able to buy chickens at the poultry auction, but mostly they were selling roosters or pairs (rooster + hen). Plus rabbits, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, pumpkins, and cookies. It was cold, and the few hens that came up weren't really what we were looking for, so we left empty-handed. So we go with some combination of rescue birds from the shelter, dealing directly with one of the breeders, or whatever comes up at the Poultry Show in a couple weeks.
