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Life is never dull...

Silke

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Rehomed a few Rowan saplings with Lesley and René, and as they were interested in the bread oven, we strolled over to the chickens... past the rock pile.
On the way back, I spot what I thought was a terrier or something, lying against the rocks.
Nope.
20190925_130502.jpg

20190925_130520.jpg

Definitely NOT a terrier.
It's a Coypu. a.k.a Nutria a.k.a. Ratondin.
1569426811577.png

If you don't know what a Coypu is:
It's a "large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent" according to Wikipedia.
It's an Eff Off huge Water Rat. With big orange teeth. That's what that is.
Although, to me it looks more like a beaver than a rat. It's certainly about the same size!
They originate from South America and were brought into the country for their fur.
Well, now they are considered a pest, destroying river banks and habitats.
So this huge thing is lying by my rocks, stretched out. We're all goggling at it. It's breathing, so not dead.
I've left it alone, hoping it'll leave.
No such luck.
IMG_2742-Export.jpg

It's now rolled itself further into the grass by the rocks, definitely alive.
They are a pest in France, so the farmers get rid of them. This one either sought refuge, or it is poisoned. I'm not going to check. o_O Maybe it'll leave. (Many suggestions to take a shovel and kill it... but I tend to go with live and let live -- unless it's wild boar. The Chasse is welcome to those!)

In other news... my chickens are making use of the small pen I made outside the chicken enclosure. Black and Blacker are getting friendlier. And everyone loves... Pasta.
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I had some left over, not enough to make a meal.
I saw somewhere that chickens like pasta, so I dropped some noodles into the enclosure.
Ammagawd!
Everyone is stealing Penne from each other, gobbling it up lol.
IMG_2740-Export.jpg

Quite fun to watch.
Gaga, being little and agile, usually snatches up the pasta and takes off with it lol.
Black and Blacker (I keep thinking of Black & Decker lol) still need names. Nothing seems to fit them!
 

Toa and Ross

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Black and Decker are great names for the chickens if you ask me.

The Coypu reminds me of what happened in Costa Rica. I was walking through the jungle with a guide. Looking for birds, butterflies, snakes and monkeys. We had to wade through water. The guide warned me for an animal. It looked beautiful to me so I started to make pictures while the guide looked at me in surprise and shaked his head. Later I found out it was a Coypu. There I stood photgraphing rat! The plague of the world:)
 

Cleopatra Beers

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Ewww! I don’t suppose that you have anything like animal control officials who could either try to capture or humanely put it down for you? I wouldn’t want to get close to it either.

The girls looked like they enjoyed the pasta though. The nutria can’t get to them, can it?
 

Silke

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The nutria has left overnight.
The chickens (and everything else) are perfectly safe from them. Herbivores.
I'm glad it was well enough to leave. My guess is, with all the hunting going on atm, it ran for its life and dropped behind the rock, completely exhausted. It did look very wiped out.
 

Sheldon13

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For babes, how about Thelma and Louise? They certainly get into enough shenanigans...


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Silke

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You would love those two. While they won't let me cuddle them... the second they see me, they come running at full speed.
 

Sheldon13

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Aww. Any attention from a chicken is good attention. I’m going to get chickens too someday soon. Probably not this Spring but maybe next Autumn.


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Silke

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Get Dutch Crested. They are really, REALLY cute.
Even when you have to go looking for them all the damn time.... LOL
It was really windy today, and suddenly everyone jumped up and ran to the kitchen.
I was like "Ok...wtf?" and followed.
Saw this:
20191018_154339.jpg


Moved closer a bit... and saw this:
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Apparently this was a great place to hang out and taunt cats.
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Went outside to maybe get a shot from there. I think there are lunch plans being made.
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When I moved off, the posse followed me -- except Gaga, who sat there, going "Where'd everyone go?"
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I grabbed her and took her back with the rest of the gang, then wind proofed the chicken pen a bit, because it's really wild here atm.
But yeah... They...hang out.
 

oilyanimalhuman

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Hi! Could I have some advice as soon as possible, please? As I am a bit worried. I was using some thread while my cat was napping and the thread got knotted so I pulled it off and placed it down. My cat then woke up as I was just finishing with the thread and I heard chewing and I panicked as I know any animal that consumes non food items isn't good. He was fine afterwards although 15 minutes afterwards, he made some sounds as it he was trying to digest the thread. I then fed him his raw meat food and he ate it all and I give him some coconut oil afterwards to help with the process. I don't know if it was cotton or polyester thread. It snapped easily when I pulled it. Is there anything I can do to help with the process? It was around 8-9 inches long. It happened around three hours ago. Would petroleum jelly help? And is it safe to consume? Any advice would be very much appreciated! Let me know as soon as, thank you!
 

Sheldon13

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Hi! Could I have some advice as soon as possible, please? As I am a bit worried. I was using some thread while my cat was napping and the thread got knotted so I pulled it off and placed it down. My cat then woke up as I was just finishing with the thread and I heard chewing and I panicked as I know any animal that consumes non food items isn't good. He was fine afterwards although 15 minutes afterwards, he made some sounds as it he was trying to digest the thread. I then fed him his raw meat food and he ate it all and I give him some coconut oil afterwards to help with the process. I don't know if it was cotton or polyester thread. It snapped easily when I pulled it. Is there anything I can do to help with the process? It was around 8-9 inches long. It happened around three hours ago. Would petroleum jelly help? And is it safe to consume? Any advice would be very much appreciated! Let me know as soon as, thank you!

I think maybe you placed this in the wrong thread ;)


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Silke

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On the chicken front...
Gaga went missing last night. I looked *everywhere* and I couldn't find her.
Eventually it was too dark to search and I put Thelma and Louise up for the night, worrying that Gaga was taken by a bird of prey, or a fox.
This morning, no sign of her. Again I looked for an hour. Fed the horses. Filled buckets. Always looking, looking, looking.
Did another walk around -- and spotted her by the bocage, on the edge of the woods!!! What a relief!!

Of course, I stood there, going "What time do you call this?" and the little shit stretches her neck up, the little head bobbing, looks at me and goes "BOK." then marches right past me toward the chicken house.
Bloody teenagers.
 
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