Consolidated Kansas

[TheDownyChick]

Oh dear. Poor fella! The way I see it, if God would have intended for me to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, I would have been born with wings! Lol!

 

[cherwill]

Happy possible spring, everyone! I've lost all of my garden and have to start over except peas, onions and greens. My 3 sisters died AGAIN. Third time is the charm, right??

Goodness, I hope the third time is the charm!

So I've got strep. It started with our youngest coming down with it Friday, me on Saturday and our oldest daughter on Sunday. I didn't realize I actually had strep until today. My heart is like an early warning system and it started dancing on Saturday and got worse Sunday. I still haven't had a sore throat but it looks dreadful. Anyway, it's certainly not the worst strep I've ever had so that's a good thing.

I hope you get over it quickly. I've never had strep, niece gets it a lot and she's completely miserable when she has it.

We have an airfield close by where a jump club is held. Finally, tonight we have jumpers again since the skies are clear and it's not blowing a gale. It's fun to watch those guys parachute down. One evening after dark a whole bunch of them jumped holding lights of some sort and it was beautiful watching the lights all float downward. DH knows a couple of the jumpers and they've offered to land on our property one of these days. We just need to get it set up to surprise the kids.

How fun; the kids would be thrilled (so would the adults, I'm sure)!

My DH's ex brother-in-law had a horrible sky-diving accident. He jumped & his parachute didn't open & he fell a long ways. He was broken up pretty bad & had a lot of problems from it the rest of his life. He was really lucky to even be alive after that. I guess they really didn't expect him to make it.

Wow, how sad. I've never had the urge to jump out of a plane. I've done some daredevil things, but that was never one that appealed to me. It's like skiing -- I just know, with my luck, that I would be the one whose chute didn't open or who smacked into a tree.

 

[bbsnooks]

I will check out tjeideo. Ours will ne a bit different because we are sticking the ends of the cattle panels into the slits on the pvc pipes we are using as sliders on the long 2x4 runner boards.

cool.. would like to see that.. when you have time..

I always wanted to sky dive. I signed up for lessons once about 20 years ago but then they wouldn't let me do it because of the damage to my right wrist. They said I need normal strength to pull the lines or something. DH was just a new boyfriend then and he absolutely was against it. But I am a free spirit so I told him, "Well, it's the one sport I know I can do without ridicule. If I mess up I won't be around to hear that I didn't do it right."
Since that time I figured out I'm very breakable.

I'm just pooped out now, I spent 4 1/2 hours out there this afternoon putting up the wire on my hoop coop.

My DH's ex brother-in-law had a horrible sky-diving accident. He jumped & his parachute didn't open & he fell a long ways. He was broken up pretty bad & had a lot of problems from it the rest of his life. He was really lucky to even be alive after that. I guess they really didn't expect him to make it.

yea on the coop .. and eeek.. on the X-BIL
I've heard more than one of those.. living thru.. with no shoot.. rare..
peace.. to all -- in your hearts..

 

[Hawkeye95]

Gosh Hawkeye, I'm so sorry about your losses, I hope your injured bird will be OK.
I agree with the others, a cat won't do that. I had 12 or 13 cats at my other house & have 8 here that all live outside & have never had them bother my chickens. I would have to guess raccoon with where they had to go to get in. They can be sneaky animals & are very destructive. They can climb really well too. Possums also can climb, but they usually just eat out the innards & leave the rest of the bird, at least that's what I have seen with the ones that attacked my birds before.

I've had a cat take up residence in my barn this winter. It's not mine, and I think it's a stray. I left it be because it was mousing and I always saw little corpses everywhere. Now that I've calmed down, I can't imagine him eating my chickens like that. He is a BIG cat... but not big enough to devour two entire birds and start in on another one. I tried calling my neighbor last night to get the trap, but they didn't answer. I'll try again. I'm determined to get whatever it was.

Oh no... oh no... Hawkeye... That's just horrible! So sorry this happened to you. Seeing post like yours brings back memory of my fox attack! I hope your silkies are doing OK. I saw the pictures you attached on the next page... the bare back makes me cringe!

It has to be painful to the birds. Whatever it was, it sure had an appetite and if it wasn't because you were home in time, I think the situation could be worse. I hope your silkies will make a full recover. I don't have any idea what it could be. Did it chew through the screen to get to your silkies?

Kuan

It didn't chew through any screen. These guys were in a box horse stall. I should have known better. It was supposed to be a temporary fix anyway-- because they got too cold and wet in the outdoor pen they had over the winter and I put them in the barn. Silkies just can't handle the elements like normal birds. Anyway, whatever it was had to climb 8 feet up a smooth front of my horse stall and over. I have 3 injured chickens-- two of them have bite marks and puncture wounds. The other one is just plucked-- and I didn't take a picture of that one, since it had no marks on it.

Hawkeye I have seen those before but I just thought they were stubbs for tail feathers to grow out. I guess that is why we need each other here. I am always learning something!

Isn't that funny?? Yeah, when we started Showmanship, that was one of the first things that was pointed out for us to learn. Otherwise, I would have thought it was a feather shaft too.

Hawkeye, I'm glad you found the injuries on the depressed bird - hopefully she will pull through. My Cuckoo Marans was depressed like that after she was attacked last year and behaved just as you described - standing in one place, uninterested in life, tail down. She was like that for 3 days and it was July so I had to keep moving her around all day to keep her in shade, as she wouldn't even move out of the sun. I was sure I was losing her but on the third day I offered her an egg I had just cracked into a bowl and it was the first time she showed interest in anything. After eating a little of the egg, she slowly snapped out of it and the next day I saw her eating and drinking on her own, and slowly walking around, and at least staying out of the sun. She is fine now, lays regularly and I've incubated several of her eggs and have one of her daughters in my flock now as well. I hope the same will be true of your silkie.

Trish, I agree with you on the 2x4's. I just saw a couple of minutes of the first video that came up when I clicked on the link and I was surprised he was using 2x4's. I really think you need the extra strength of the 2x6's, since those panels are heavy and under quite a bit of pressure when they're bent over like that. I want mine to last a few years, and I'm afraid I'd be rebuilding it pretty quickly if I used lumber that wasn't up to the task.

I just moved my brooder chicks out to a grow out pen, where I'm hoping they can stay now, since the weather forecast is for mild weather for the next week at least. They are really happy with the extra space. I need to get the brooder cleaned out now as I have turkey poults hatching and I'm going to need a place to put them tomorrow. I had one pip when I woke up this morning, but nothing had happened with it and I had to go and have lunch with a friend. By the time I got back it was hatched. I was so glad I had to go somewhere today - it kept me from checking on the incubator every few minutes

After giving the depressed bird her bath and blow out yesterday and covering up her puncture wounds... I put her back in the pen and noticed she is having a hard time walking. She is limping really badly and using her wings to support her to keep herself from falling. I've looked at the leg several times yesterday to figure out if she might have a broken leg, but I don't think so. I think she might be really sore and there is a puncture wound right above that leg with a nasty bruise and swelling. she got a shot of penicillin... so hopefully she pulls through. I see you took your chicks out again-- I hate this back and forth weather swings with the cold. Driving me NUTS! I hope it's over and we're headed for warm weather now. Glad you had fun having lunch with your friend. It's a preschool day for me, and my MIL will be picking up my daughter. But I'm going to swing by Meads Corner (my favorite coffee shop-- EVA!) and get me something. We're headed down to OKC today to go apartment hunting. I wouldn't normally say we're going to be gone from the house ahead of time, but my inlaws are coming over to stay in the house while we're gone so they can get the kids to school. So they will be here to feed the animals and all that business. We'll be back tomorrow.

Wow! lots of posts that i had to catch up on.

Hawkeye--i would -very innocently--say to friends/family Oh but you can be involved in the sale of my house by bringing in the BUYER!!!!!!! LOL, sorry about the loss of your birds-that is just heartbreaking


We have tried to open up our greenhouse for 2 weekends now--dumb rain and snow-so over you! Lizzy i know you need the rain i wish i could send it to you.

You know?? That is a GREAT idea! If they do bring in the buyer, they can get part of the commission... I just want it sold, I don't care how. What kind of a greenhouse do you have? I really want one! Looks like that is going to have to wait again. Sigh. I had ideas of starting one this year. I've been saving up ideas to work on it.

hawkeye, how absolutely horrible. I'm just stunned at an animal that would get through your set up. It's just incredible that it would climb all the way up those smooth boards and in the daytime, too. I'm so very sorry to hear about your losses.

So I've got strep. It started with our youngest coming down with it Friday, me on Saturday and our oldest daughter on Sunday. I didn't realize I actually had strep until today. My heart is like an early warning system and it started dancing on Saturday and got worse Sunday. I still haven't had a sore throat but it looks dreadful. Anyway, it's certainly not the worst strep I've ever had so that's a good thing.

I sold (via the kids) four ducks to some people from Greensburg, KS today. They built a preschool on a pond and they wanted to add adult ducks to the pond. I quizzed them closely as to how they were setting up for the proper care of them and made sure they were going to be fed and sheltered correctly. They had all the right answers so it was a go. I'm really happy these ducks are going to be in a place where the people actually care for them and they can also be enjoyed by the little ones at the preschool. Danz, I didn't let them take Choppers. They wanted a drake but I told them my two drakes were pets. They are going to pick up one of the drakes growing out from me in another couple weeks or so. I hated to disappoint them but I would have hated to let Choppers or Dawdles go even worse. Although I'm going to have speaks with them about getting into the strawberry patch!

Once they see a fence around the strawberries, I'm sure they will be willing to see it my way.

We have an airfield close by where a jump club is held. Finally, tonight we have jumpers again since the skies are clear and it's not blowing a gale. It's fun to watch those guys parachute down. One evening after dark a whole bunch of them jumped holding lights of some sort and it was beautiful watching the lights all float downward. DH knows a couple of the jumpers and they've offered to land on our property one of these days. We just need to get it set up to surprise the kids.

That's right-- you've seen the set up I had the silkies in. Looked safe enough.... I'm so sorry you have strep! That is going around again! My brother in law had strep last week, and he never gets it! So funny that your ducks are checking out the strawberries! Mine are greening up, but no berries yet! I would never skydive myself, but it is cool to watch. I had a friend in highschool who's dad worked out at one of the airfields by your house that did jumping-- he was an instructor. So anyway, we were friends and even had a class together our first year of college at WSU-- by then he was a jump instructor like his dad. He did a tandem jump with someone who was either scared or messing around, I don't know which and that person accidentally pulled the front cord (too early). The front chute came out and snapped his head back and broke his neck. The back chute is the one that should have been opened... and NOT at the time it was opened. It was devastating. I'll never forget going to his funeral... him a kid, and me a kid, and just not grasping everything he'd lost. I still am friends with his sister, her entire life has been changed by that. Her (their) mom died soon after that too, so his sister has had a rough life with loss.

It was another busy day out there...or at least when I finally got outside. I didn't get nearly what I intended done. I think I need to do some more downsizing.

Downsizing sounds really good right now with so much going on. I might have two of my nice bue silkie roosters sold-- they were not injured-- they were in another pen. Downsizing means less work. I like the idea of having fun with my birds, but not to the point where i have no place to put them!

I'm just pooped out now, I spent 4 1/2 hours out there this afternoon putting up the wire on my hoop coop. I got it all on & tomorrow morning plan to go out & put the tarp over it so I can move the chicks in there. I'm so tired of cleaning out brooders, ugh.

I was really upset this afternoon, I let both turkey hens out & one of them immediately took off calling as she went & disappeared. I couldn't seem to turn her back so just had to let her go. She was gone all the time I was out there working, I was getting worried that something had happened to her, some trigger happy person shot her or a dog or other predator had gotten her. Finally at almost dark here she came back, I was so happy to see her! I don't think she's going to be able to come out for awhile until she gets wandering out of her head. She has never done that before, usually they both just stay right around the front yard.

I let the two little goats out to browse around while I was out there this afternoon too & they did great. I didn't tie either one out & they just stayed right around in the woods where I was at all afternoon. They sure did have a lot of fun out there. I think they were actually ready to go back in by the time I got around to doing chores tonight. They were pretty quiet out there too. Penny, the younger one went in the front of the hoop coop before I got the last half of the front covered up & then walked around & figured out how to get back out. Goats really are pretty smart animals, even as babies.

My DH's ex brother-in-law had a horrible sky-diving accident. He jumped & his parachute didn't open & he fell a long ways. He was broken up pretty bad & had a lot of problems from it the rest of his life. He was really lucky to even be alive after that. I guess they really didn't expect him to make it.

Your turkey is broody! I'm going to bet that is why she took off! That calling and not coming back! She's ready to nest. I'm guessing she took off, found the perfect place (in her mind) to start a nest and was working on it all day and there is probably even an egg in it. If you let her out again, she'll be gone again, I would count on it. That is what my Seymore did to me. Once they get that nesting urge-- nothing keeps them home. Sounds like your goats are working out great! Sounds like you got your hoop coop nearly built! So envious!! I'm probably going to have to get right on that when we move to get everyone moved into a new property and give me time to build a coop for them. Sigh. I hate to start all over again.



In other news, I caught Mr Meat last night when he was sitting on his roost. He is in a dog carrier this morning in my garage ready to be transported down to Oklahoma (Norman) where his new owner will be picking him up a little after lunch. Mr Meat screams like a girl when you try to capture him and he's STRONG!!! So I didn't even want to try to catch him this morning! LOL Last night was much easier on me. He still struggled even at that. He's going to have his own harem of nice big strong ladies that look like him now.

The silkies are safe and recovering. They seem sluggish.. thinking they are still shell-shocked. I've been praying and praying that the 3 injured will pull through okay and make it.

 

[HEChicken]

So I've got strep. It started with our youngest coming down with it Friday, me on Saturday and our oldest daughter on Sunday. I didn't realize I actually had strep until today. My heart is like an early warning system and it started dancing on Saturday and got worse Sunday. I still haven't had a sore throat but it looks dreadful. Anyway, it's certainly not the worst strep I've ever had so that's a good thing.

I sold (via the kids) four ducks to some people from Greensburg, KS today. They built a preschool on a pond and they wanted to add adult ducks to the pond. I quizzed them closely as to how they were setting up for the proper care of them and made sure they were going to be fed and sheltered correctly. They had all the right answers so it was a go. I'm really happy these ducks are going to be in a place where the people actually care for them and they can also be enjoyed by the little ones at the preschool. Danz, I didn't let them take Choppers. They wanted a drake but I told them my two drakes were pets. They are going to pick up one of the drakes growing out from me in another couple weeks or so. I hated to disappoint them but I would have hated to let Choppers or Dawdles go even worse. Although I'm going to have speaks with them about getting into the strawberry patch!

Once they see a fence around the strawberries, I'm sure they will be willing to see it my way.

We have an airfield close by where a jump club is held. Finally, tonight we have jumpers again since the skies are clear and it's not blowing a gale. It's fun to watch those guys parachute down. One evening after dark a whole bunch of them jumped holding lights of some sort and it was beautiful watching the lights all float downward. DH knows a couple of the jumpers and they've offered to land on our property one of these days. We just need to get it set up to surprise the kids.

So sorry you have strep - and the kids too. I've never had it but I've had some painful sore throats when I've had a cold and if strep is anything like that, I feel really sorry for anyone who gets it. Congrats on getting the ducks sold to a great home!

I'm a skydiver from way back....made hundreds of jumps. At one time that was the hobby that occupied my time and money and I spent every weekend at the airfield, even when the weather was crappy because it was the hang out for those of us who were like-minded. Eventually, to make the sport pay for itself a little, I rigged a movie camera up to my helmet (that was in the days when cameras were HUGE too), and had a control that the cord ran down my sleeve to my hand so I could control it in air. I used to go up with tandem instructors, and take photos and video of the student doing their first jump, then put it on a video tape, choreograph it to music (JUMP was a great song to choreograph the video to!) and sell it to them. I gave it up when I was pregnant as it wasn't worth the risk to the fetus, and since the kids were born I've only made a handful of jumps. I never really worried about killing myself doing it before I had kids, but after, I didn't want to risk leaving them without a mother so I lost interest in doing it.

I was really upset this afternoon, I let both turkey hens out & one of them immediately took off calling as she went & disappeared. I couldn't seem to turn her back so just had to let her go. She was gone all the time I was out there working, I was getting worried that something had happened to her, some trigger happy person shot her or a dog or other predator had gotten her. Finally at almost dark here she came back, I was so happy to see her! I don't think she's going to be able to come out for awhile until she gets wandering out of her head. She has never done that before, usually they both just stay right around the front yard.

My first thought is that your turkey was away making a nest somewhere and then I see that Hawkeye had the same idea. Mine used to lay regularly in the coop and then a couple of weeks ago the eggs apparently just stopped. After 4-5 days I found her in my polebarn with her head stuck in a 5-gallon bucket and now that is where she lays her egg everyday. Unfortunately, my dogs can get in there and they had eaten all the eggs she had laid during the period I didn't know where she was going but since I discovered her secret, I lock the dogs up while she's in there, until I can collect the egg. I have 9 saved up for her now so I'm ready for her to go broody but so far she is still just laying one there everyday. I'm considering putting her in the hoop coop with the eggs I've gathered and see if seeing the clutch sitting there will prompt her to sit on them.

You know?? That is a GREAT idea! If they do bring in the buyer, they can get part of the commission... I just want it sold, I don't care how. What kind of a greenhouse do you have? I really want one! Looks like that is going to have to wait again. Sigh. I had ideas of starting one this year. I've been saving up ideas to work on it.


That's right-- you've seen the set up I had the silkies in. Looked safe enough.... I'm so sorry you have strep! That is going around again! My brother in law had strep last week, and he never gets it! So funny that your ducks are checking out the strawberries! Mine are greening up, but no berries yet! I would never skydive myself, but it is cool to watch. I had a friend in highschool who's dad worked out at one of the airfields by your house that did jumping-- he was an instructor. So anyway, we were friends and even had a class together our first year of college at WSU-- by then he was a jump instructor like his dad. He did a tandem jump with someone who was either scared or messing around, I don't know which and that person accidentally pulled the front cord (too early). The front chute came out and snapped his head back and broke his neck. The back chute is the one that should have been opened... and NOT at the time it was opened. It was devastating. I'll never forget going to his funeral... him a kid, and me a kid, and just not grasping everything he'd lost. I still am friends with his sister, her entire life has been changed by that. Her (their) mom died soon after that too, so his sister has had a rough life with loss.

So glad you found a good home for Mr. Meat. I had considered taking him when you decided to rehome but I don't have room for another project...I love that idea of the relative getting the commission. That way they can all get involved in helping to sell the home for you!

Unfortunately, I've buried a few friends to the sport and that is one of the reasons I didn't want to keep doing it after I had my kids. Back when I was just starting, I used to jump with a woman who was a little older than me and already had a husband and several kids. She and I were in the same beginner's class and progressed at the same time and had each just got our license to jump without an instructor. Her husband would stay home with the kids but wasn't really that supportive of her doing it. One weekend he told her he didn't want her to spend another whole weekend skydiving while he stayed home and they had a huge fight about it, and she ended up walking out anyway, to go skydive. She died that day and that really impacted me, at the thought of how he would always remember their last moments together and that he hadn't wanted her to go at all, and how those kids were growing up without a mother. Another friend had over 5000 jumps. I had spent so much time at her house and at the time she was the woman in Aust. with the most number of jumps ever and really respected in the skydiving community as an instructor, rigger and had won many competitions. I moved to a different city and a few months later I heard a blip about the news coming up at 10 and they said a skydiver had been killed and I just got this chill and thought "Its Allison". I had been getting ready for bed but I stayed up to watch the news that night to find out more and sure enough, it was her. She had had trouble getting her main parachute to deploy, and the first thing we are taught is to try it but watch altitude and if you get down to a certain altitude and it hasn't deployed, you go for the reserve instead. Well, she blew right through it and hit the ground, still trying to get the main out. That one also really impacted me because I thought if someone with 5000 jumps can get so focused on what they're doing they forget everything else, then it can surely happen to me too. So sad.

 

[chicken danz]

So it was always my dream to skydive but I can't afford it and I've had too many bone surgeries to risk messing up now. I love flying and I guess I'll have to just stay in the air. I'm very envious of you HeChicken. I had a neighbor when I lived in OKC that used to do base jumping. Yes it was illegal but he did it anyway. He and another 3 friends decided to base jump from a tall building in OKC. He had been arrested before for base jumping but it didn't stop him. All of them died.It had something to do with some updraft or some air current they failed to account for. They had all done base jumping in canyons and caves before but this was the first time off a building. I went to pay respects to his mother and brother and she refused to acknowledge she had even had a son. She didn't even go to his funeral. That always really bugged me. The guy was doing something he loved. I figure if you die doing something that makes you really happy all is not lost. I found it very sad that she was so angry that she wouldn't even acknowledge her own son's death.
So my new chicks I paid for a while back are supposed to be shipped today. More of the blue gold partridge brahma chicks. I do wish my trio would start laying. I was going to put them in the new coop DH has been making but I've decided the way it is made it would be impossible to divide in half. I think I'll probably end up putting my Breda fowl in there. It will only house a small number of birds and I do need to get them separated.
I also considered my olandsk but I don't think they need a pen that substantial. He came up with a whole new concept for a pen and spent way too much making it. Although it is nice it is too heavy to move which is what he made it for.

 

[ChooksChick]

...and you guys have now hit on that control freak nerve of mine. I have to be heavily medicated to get on a plane in the first place...much less jump out. Hubby has done it and I GET it, but I don't want it. Nope.

Keep forgetting to bring it up: how has everyone done with morels this year? I've found about 50 little greys, but no yellows. Hubby brought a few big yellows home from the golf course. I'm going to look a bit moe today before cooking them all up. Yuuuuuummmmmmm.

 

[jhammett]

ok i switched to layer with my birds... it seems they are suddenly eating ALOT more. 50 lbs lasted 10 days. 20 birds??? is this right. Can I cut layer with crimm corn/milo mix to cut cost? right now the run is 16x16 so it will not support them food wise. planning on extending this summer. Thoughts?

 

[tweetybaby2005]

We have an airfield close by where a jump club is held. Finally, tonight we have jumpers again since the skies are clear and it's not blowing a gale. It's fun to watch those guys parachute down. One evening after dark a whole bunch of them jumped holding lights of some sort and it was beautiful watching the lights all float downward. DH knows a couple of the jumpers and they've offered to land on our property one of these days. We just need to get it set up to surprise the kids.

Hmmm... I am deadly afraid of height... don't mind flying in an airplane but jumping out of one will definitely trigger a heart attack for me. I will enjoy watching others parachutes and what not and that's the extend of it.

When I say I'm deadly afraid of height, I'm not even joking there. I climb 2 steps on the ladder to reach up the top of a tarp and my legs will go rubbery weak. DH always teases me when he sees me in my "weak" moment.

Kuan

 

[Trish44]

All of this talk of skydiving is giving me the willies, I can't even imagine doing that. I would be the one to break my neck or my parachute wouldn't open. I don't mind watching others do things like that, but it's not for me. I have a terrible time with my equilibrium as it is. The only way I can go on these cruises is to have the sea sickness patches because my inner ear gets so messed up with the rocking. If it gets really bad like when we were coming back to Australia after sailing around New Zealand & ran into a storm at sea then I have to have additional medicine also. That was a bad storm though, the whole crew was sick as well as most of the passengers, it was a bad day.

Well I went out & got the huge tarp put on my hoop coop & it's officially done. I moved the chicks out there today & I am so glad to have them out of the brooder. They're getting pretty big so it was time. They're right next to the hoop coop with the guineas in it & those birds are so noisy. I don't think the chicks knew what to think of all of that noise. They ran to the other end of the hoop coop in the opposite corner. I shooed them back to the front so they could find their food & water. There are so many ticks in that spot it's not funny. After working all evening yesterday out there I came in & picked 8 ticks off of me, ack. I have never had so many ticks on me at one time, I hate those critters. You know if there are still that many after the guineas walk around eating them all day that there must be quite a crop out there. At least since the dogs don't let the deer in here any more we don't have the deer ticks so bad. These we have now are the Lone Star Ticks & they do carry some bad diseases. I sprayed my pants down yesterday before going out there with repellant with the highest deet content I could find & still got covered with them.

jhammett, they may just be going through a growth spurt or something. I think mine have done that when they're still growing. They did it too when I first started feeding the fermented feed, they acted like they were starved to death when I knew they weren't. They have stopped attacking me when I feed them now, but they also have lots of bugs & green stuff to eat outside now too.

Hawkeye, I just can't imagine a cat doing the kind of damage you're talking about, not at all. That sounds more like you had a whole family of raccoons come in. I had a family of 5 of them when I lived outside of Derby. I kept wondering where all of my cat food was going, I mean they were going through it like crazy. One night when my late husband was ill with cancer I was up checking on him in the middle of the night. We had the front door open because it was warm & I looked out the screen door & there on my front porch were 5 of the fattest raccoons I had ever seen, they were so fat they just waddled. The mystery of where my cat food had been going was solved. I guess that's why they never bothered my chickens.