Teila's Tales From the Coop

Hi

I hope it is not perceived as presumptuous of me but I started this thread which I hope some of you will read, enjoy and subscribe to.

Sometimes things happen here at Bambrook Bantams which prompt me to write and in the past I have shared my tales with friends in the Aussie Thread who have kindly told me I should write a book.

While I do not think I will ever write a book or that my writing skills are worthy of a book, whenever life at Bambrook Bantams gives me a reason to write, I will share it here and hopefully give someone a reason to smile or chuckle.

To start, I have a tale from maybe 12 months ago and one from today.

Regards
Teila

Beware of the Compost Bin .. Evil Lurks!

We have a compost bin … one of those ones that looks a bit like a square Dalek with four small access doors on the bottom of each side.

Anyways, every few months or so, when the bin is getting a bit full and I know I am not going to need the good earth for anything, I take off the small doors and drag out the soil and grubs for the girls to dig through … they love their bug dispenser

For the past few years, when I do this, there have been beetle larvae, not much bigger than a large meal worm but much fatter .. chicken yum yum!

Along with these snack sized larvae have been larvae easily the size of a human finger but fatter and there is no way my little bantams are going to take on these whoppers, so they get popped back into the compost.

So, this afternoon, after probably 6 months or so since I last did, I take off the little doors and start scraping out the soil etc for the gals … unbeknown to me, the 3-4 year old whopper sized larvae have finally turned into Rhinoceros Beetles!

The gals come running over all excited and a Rhino Beetle raises on his back legs and hisses at them .. never seen chickens scatter so fast! Lol

So, trying to not to roll around laughing, I gather up all the now obvious Rhino Beetles and pop them back in the compost. The girls come back and start scratching through the dirt, filling up on bugs.

However, every time one of them goes behind the compost bin she runs back, buk buking up a storm .. ooops, I missed one of the beetles. Got him and popped him back in the bin also.

A few minutes later, I am sitting there, watching them have a wonderful time with some bickering over bugs thrown in for good measure and Crystal starts ‘appealing’ so I turn around to tell off whoever is picking on her and she is all alone??? Next thing she runs past me, still upset, stops and looks down at her leg .. guess who has a rhinoceros beetle hanging off her leg? So funny! Poor Crystal! She reached down, grabbed him with her beak and tossed him across the yard. I saved him and put him back in the compost.

Surely that is all of them? Nope! Lol .. Next thing KiKi is buk buking up a storm also .. I got there just in time to see her leap a good 3 foot, straight up when a Rhino Beetle hind legged and hissed at her … when I had composed myself and regained my strength from laughing, I saved that one also.

Mental note to self: Check that beetle larvae have not transformed into hissing chicken predator prior to letting the gals dig in the compost dirt

Alien Sighting

So, this afternoon, I am pottering around in the garden, chatting to the girls, sweeping etc when hubby says “look at that”. I follow where I think his eyes are looking and can’t see anything .. hhhmm, I should probably go stand in the same line of sight as him. I am looking at the sky, checking out clouds, looking for Hawks etc [as you do] and he says “lower” so I am checking out the roof, can’t see anything. “Lower” he says .. my eyes drop from roof to eaves.

Now, if it was me, I would have warned the person to maybe back up a bit, you know, work them into it gradually but no, that is no fun for hubby; seeing me break the world record for backwards long jump, easily clearing 6 foot in one go is way more entertaining!!

That is the head of a large yard broom to show his size and while I can promise you I had no intentions of and did not hurt our guest, hubby on the other hand may not be so lucky!

.

This will be an a amazing thread with your writing abilities

Bazza Drops By For A Visit

“HELP, monster, HELP, monster” was all I could hear as I raced out the front door half asleep and half dressed.

A flaw of mine is that while I make a good Chicken Servant, I apparently do not make a good Chicken Body Guard because I failed to see anything even remotely monster-like on my 15min surveillance of the property and perimeters.

So, as it was not quite the scheduled Princess Breakfast Time, back to bed I went.

“HELP, monster, HELP, monster” .. luckily, this time while back to half asleep, I am fully dressed as I once again race out the front door.

My bad … with all the noise they were making, I was looking for anything over at least 60cms tall or 60cm long, may be aerial, may be scaled, may be furry etc.

I mistook the “HELP, monster” alarm for the “Princesses do not receive non breakfast bearing visitors before 9am” alarm … Bazza the Cane Toad had dropped by for a visit.

With hubby's help, because the whole household was now up, Bazza was escorted off the premises and was last seen making his escape across the fish pond; most likely regretting his decision to visit uninvited and wondering if they make industrial strength ear plugs in cane toad sizes

I always wondered what the gals would do if they encountered a cane toad; now I know

Bazza and the Mrs, safe at home in their favourite flower pot:

I have read I have enjoyed and I have subscribed. Thanks for the stories keep them coming.

Teila said:

Beware of the Compost Bin .. Evil Lurks!

We have a compost bin … one of those ones that looks a bit like a square Dalek with four small access doors on the bottom of each side.

Anyways, every few months or so, when the bin is getting a bit full and I know I am not going to need the good earth for anything, I take off the small doors and drag out the soil and grubs for the girls to dig through … they love their bug dispenser

For the past few years, when I do this, there have been beetle larvae, not much bigger than a large meal worm but much fatter .. chicken yum yum!

Along with these snack sized larvae have been larvae easily the size of a human finger but fatter and there is no way my little bantams are going to take on these whoppers, so they get popped back into the compost.

So, this afternoon, after probably 6 months or so since I last did, I take off the little doors and start scraping out the soil etc for the gals … unbeknown to me, the 3-4 year old whopper sized larvae have finally turned into Rhinoceros Beetles!

The gals come running over all excited and a Rhino Beetle raises on his back legs and hisses at them .. never seen chickens scatter so fast! Lol

So, trying to not to roll around laughing, I gather up all the now obvious Rhino Beetles and pop them back in the compost. The girls come back and start scratching through the dirt, filling up on bugs.

However, every time one of them goes behind the compost bin she runs back, buk buking up a storm .. ooops, I missed one of the beetles. Got him and popped him back in the bin also.

A few minutes later, I am sitting there, watching them have a wonderful time with some bickering over bugs thrown in for good measure and Crystal starts ‘appealing’ so I turn around to tell off whoever is picking on her and she is all alone??? Next thing she runs past me, still upset, stops and looks down at her leg .. guess who has a rhinoceros beetle hanging off her leg? So funny! Poor Crystal! She reached down, grabbed him with her beak and tossed him across the yard. I saved him and put him back in the compost.

Surely that is all of them? Nope! Lol .. Next thing KiKi is buk buking up a storm also .. I got there just in time to see her leap a good 3 foot, straight up when a Rhino Beetle hind legged and hissed at her … when I had composed myself and regained my strength from laughing, I saved that one also.

Mental note to self: Check that beetle larvae have not transformed into hissing chicken predator prior to letting the gals dig in the compost dirt

Click to expand...

Teila said:

Bazza Drops By For A Visit

“HELP, monster, HELP, monster” was all I could hear as I raced out the front door half asleep and half dressed.

A flaw of mine is that while I make a good Chicken Servant, I apparently do not make a good Chicken Body Guard because I failed to see anything even remotely monster-like on my 15min surveillance of the property and perimeters.

So, as it was not quite the scheduled Princess Breakfast Time, back to bed I went.

“HELP, monster, HELP, monster” .. luckily, this time while back to half asleep, I am fully dressed as I once again race out the front door.

My bad … with all the noise they were making, I was looking for anything over at least 60cms tall or 60cm long, may be aerial, may be scaled, may be furry etc.

I mistook the “HELP, monster” alarm for the “Princesses do not receive non breakfast bearing visitors before 9am” alarm … Bazza the Cane Toad had dropped by for a visit.

With hubby's help, because the whole household was now up, Bazza was escorted off the premises and was last seen making his escape across the fish pond; most likely regretting his decision to visit uninvited and wondering if they make industrial strength ear plugs in cane toad sizes

I always wondered what the gals would do if they encountered a cane toad; now I know

Bazza and the Mrs, safe at home in their favourite flower pot:

Click to expand...

Hilarious!! Love these stories.
-Banti

[Just a note on this one, as I had a very vocal Frizzle KiKi I was trialing music in the coop. Sadly KiKi passed away on the 22nd of April]

Every morning, after breakfast, the girls retire back to the coop for an hour or so, my imagination kicked in and I started thinking that this is actually their morning meeting. Even though Cilla is matriarch, I imagine her handing the role of chairing the meeting over to Dusty [2IC] which would go something like this ….

Minutes Of The Meeting

Business carried over from last meeting:

Meal Worm Crisis:

Dusty advised that due to the arrival of new supplies of meal worms, the previously agreed on nomination process for a sacrificial chicken to ensure supplies did not completely run out has been put on hold. Bottom of the pecking order, Crystal, was heard to breathe a sigh of relief.

General business:

Dusty thanked KiKi for her enthusiastic efforts in her role of Coop Crier but suggested it could be toned down a little.

LuLu raised the issue of KiKi picking on her and ‘Should KiKi stop this practice?’ was put to a vote. The ‘No’s won with Blondie and Crystal voting in the negative because that means KiKi was not picking on them and Cilla and Dusty abstained due to lack of care factor.

Discussion was held around the previously unanimously voted practice of demanding free range an hour before the scheduled time. While the consensus was that it was not working, a decision was made to continue the trial.

Dusty tabled that herself and KiKi were continuing with the Dried Crickets trial and that a decision on whether they should be eaten or not should be available at the next meeting. There was some disgruntled discussion from the floor that the decision was taking so long because Dusty and KiKi wanted to keep all the dried crickets for themselves.

There was some discussion around the practice of moulting and when to terminate the activity for this season but as Crystal was still moulting, this has been deferred.

Discussion was also had around the practice of laying eggs and whether it should be reinstated. It was unanimously agreed that it would not be reinstated and the current practice of nominating an individual chicken to lay one token egg every couple of days would remain. KiKi volunteered to lay the token egg for today.

It was agreed that there should be at least a bi-weekly alarm drill to ensure that the hooman was still responsive and to ensure the drill was effective, a decision was made that an individual could randomly and falsely raise the alarm at any given time.

Meeting closed with the flock being asked to ponder whether they petition the hooman to change the radio station.

I loved this story. You really should write for tv your stories are much better then any sitcom show I've seen.