I was half talked into chickens by someone convincing me that they are bug eating machines. They even went so far as to brag about their abilities as natural scorpion removal (being eaten by a bird is natural after all), and ant annihilators. Heck from the way she was talking they made the Orkin man look like an amateur compared to chickens.
I may have grown up on a farm, but I’m a complete ninny when it comes to creepy crawlies. Talking me into purchasing a troop of bug assassins that also just happened to provide me breakfast on a regular basis wasn’t a hard sell. Taking me to see the fluffy little critters was like the nail in the coffin of my willpower. My mom thinks I’m crazy.
When I got Peep & Cadbury I noticed after giving them some mealworm treats they started narrowing in pretty fast on a couple of stray ants I saw trolling over my back porch. I then became their biggest fans and cheering squad. A few days later, those things started disappearing like birdie hot cakes. I haven’t seen an ant in my backyard in a week and a half. I’m totally for an ant extinction in my back yard. In fact they preferred foraging to eating from their handsomely decorated cat bowls of chick feed.
I noticed shortly after getting the chicks that they make the exact noise two of the most popular cat toys &I became concerned. I had no intention of buying my cats $3 chicken nuggets. I made sure when I let them out of the cat carrier (prior to getting the coup delivered) that were well supervised in case one of the cats needed a large human sized body check to remind them that fluffy, peeping, mobile critters are not for eating.
As it turns out our cats, with the exception of Bishop, have the predatory instincts of a pet rock. Pink stuffed mice are the only “real” prey after all.
Khyber, our resident want-to-be herbivore (seriously the cat would choose a Cheezit over tuna) can’t even work up the effort to wander their direction. It’s easier to let them come to him so he can be used as a baby bird sized jungle gym and nest.
Evidence:
Rook just wants to roll in the dust they scratch up for his daily dust bath.
Evidence:
Bishop thinks we got him the best interactive cat TV in the universe. He will stare at them for hours, but after Cadbury ran up and started pecking him in the face he decided they were better to watch from a distance. I mean those babies are vicious cat eaters! Sometimes weight and size have no determination in how threatening an object is.
Evidence:
So GOOD NEWS.. .my cats fail at being cats. Though impressively they have ramped up their bug catching and eating skills. The chickens are rubbing off! .. well or the cats are afraid of being replaced. Luckily for them chickens aren't very easy to potty train or good at purring.
I was proud of my fowl friends abilities to remove “normal” bugs from my backyard. I was glad they were mass murdering the weeds. I wasn’t so happy they hadn’t gotten the memo that my succulents aren’t weeds, but instead decorative landscaping for their enjoyment. However the day before yesterday I was sweeping the porch in the morning (had just let them out of their coop), and swept up a live cockroach from under the grill. I act something like a nincompoop when creepy bugs are involved. Have I mentioned I loathe bugs? I was furiously sweeping it toward the coup so that I could smash it to death with the broom, and "hoping" the chickens would eat it. I'm perfect okay with them having a good taste for the creepy things. I want my chickens to be vicious bug destroying machines! Betty's bugdar must have went off because she didn't even let me get a full sweep in before dashing in like the roadrunner, snatching up the roach, and dashing back off to the far side of the yard so she didn't have to "share" with anyone else.
That’s right, I don’t just have super cute backyard amusement, I have a fully formed strike team of feathered bug ninjas!
Our chickens aren’t unfriendly, but they seem pretty happy ensuring humans are not among the backyard cool kids. We just don’t have enough style to hang out together. Clearly I need to take some tips from some of the Vegas acts to fit in better. Luckily for us someone forgot to tell the new girl, and she’s ruining the elitist pack’s image!.
Every time GlaDOS (yes I named my chick after an evil robot who’s afraid of birds) sees us she peeps furiously and runs to us as fast as her little legs can carry her and flops on our feet, or right under us. She then attempts to climb you if you don't pick her up so she can sit on your shoulder. She's just stupidly cute. She has the whole household suckered, and is convincing Peep that maybe the bringer of treats and nightly jailors aren’t so bad. This is useful for catching her, but not so great for our ability to herd them. Now they all just stare at us and move slowly away…. Except GlaDOS who feels that the best place in the world to stand is the most likely place to get squashed.
Picture of her suckering her way into the house for a little while and climbing her way to our friends head (who is also completely suckered by her) .
I may have grown up on a farm, but I’m a complete ninny when it comes to creepy crawlies. Talking me into purchasing a troop of bug assassins that also just happened to provide me breakfast on a regular basis wasn’t a hard sell. Taking me to see the fluffy little critters was like the nail in the coffin of my willpower. My mom thinks I’m crazy.
When I got Peep & Cadbury I noticed after giving them some mealworm treats they started narrowing in pretty fast on a couple of stray ants I saw trolling over my back porch. I then became their biggest fans and cheering squad. A few days later, those things started disappearing like birdie hot cakes. I haven’t seen an ant in my backyard in a week and a half. I’m totally for an ant extinction in my back yard. In fact they preferred foraging to eating from their handsomely decorated cat bowls of chick feed.
I noticed shortly after getting the chicks that they make the exact noise two of the most popular cat toys &I became concerned. I had no intention of buying my cats $3 chicken nuggets. I made sure when I let them out of the cat carrier (prior to getting the coup delivered) that were well supervised in case one of the cats needed a large human sized body check to remind them that fluffy, peeping, mobile critters are not for eating.
As it turns out our cats, with the exception of Bishop, have the predatory instincts of a pet rock. Pink stuffed mice are the only “real” prey after all.
Khyber, our resident want-to-be herbivore (seriously the cat would choose a Cheezit over tuna) can’t even work up the effort to wander their direction. It’s easier to let them come to him so he can be used as a baby bird sized jungle gym and nest.
Evidence:
Rook just wants to roll in the dust they scratch up for his daily dust bath.
Evidence:
Bishop thinks we got him the best interactive cat TV in the universe. He will stare at them for hours, but after Cadbury ran up and started pecking him in the face he decided they were better to watch from a distance. I mean those babies are vicious cat eaters! Sometimes weight and size have no determination in how threatening an object is.
Evidence:
So GOOD NEWS.. .my cats fail at being cats. Though impressively they have ramped up their bug catching and eating skills. The chickens are rubbing off! .. well or the cats are afraid of being replaced. Luckily for them chickens aren't very easy to potty train or good at purring.
I was proud of my fowl friends abilities to remove “normal” bugs from my backyard. I was glad they were mass murdering the weeds. I wasn’t so happy they hadn’t gotten the memo that my succulents aren’t weeds, but instead decorative landscaping for their enjoyment. However the day before yesterday I was sweeping the porch in the morning (had just let them out of their coop), and swept up a live cockroach from under the grill. I act something like a nincompoop when creepy bugs are involved. Have I mentioned I loathe bugs? I was furiously sweeping it toward the coup so that I could smash it to death with the broom, and "hoping" the chickens would eat it. I'm perfect okay with them having a good taste for the creepy things. I want my chickens to be vicious bug destroying machines! Betty's bugdar must have went off because she didn't even let me get a full sweep in before dashing in like the roadrunner, snatching up the roach, and dashing back off to the far side of the yard so she didn't have to "share" with anyone else.
That’s right, I don’t just have super cute backyard amusement, I have a fully formed strike team of feathered bug ninjas!
Our chickens aren’t unfriendly, but they seem pretty happy ensuring humans are not among the backyard cool kids. We just don’t have enough style to hang out together. Clearly I need to take some tips from some of the Vegas acts to fit in better. Luckily for us someone forgot to tell the new girl, and she’s ruining the elitist pack’s image!.
Every time GlaDOS (yes I named my chick after an evil robot who’s afraid of birds) sees us she peeps furiously and runs to us as fast as her little legs can carry her and flops on our feet, or right under us. She then attempts to climb you if you don't pick her up so she can sit on your shoulder. She's just stupidly cute. She has the whole household suckered, and is convincing Peep that maybe the bringer of treats and nightly jailors aren’t so bad. This is useful for catching her, but not so great for our ability to herd them. Now they all just stare at us and move slowly away…. Except GlaDOS who feels that the best place in the world to stand is the most likely place to get squashed.
Picture of her suckering her way into the house for a little while and climbing her way to our friends head (who is also completely suckered by her) .
