Our Mixed Flock Journey!

[BY Bob]

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[drstratton]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Bob!

 

[drstratton]

Good morning everyone! We finally built an enclosure for our Peacock Shyam. The weather has been in the single digits at night and in the teens to low 20's during the day. We've been feeding him in the old chicken pen, so he had a chance to become used to it. We built this over three very cold days, Christmas Eve, part of Christmas day and the day after. The cold really set in on the final day of building. Dale used a large tree limb for his roost and we added straw down below it and put in a heat bulb. He seems to be happy and doesn't freak out when we enter the pen. Hopefully with the forced close proximity he will become less skittish around us. His tail feathers are growing back in! He's such a handsome lad!!!

The enclosure...it's a bit scabbed together...we used what we had on hand. I will have to paint it in the spring.

 

[cavemanrich]

He is a KEEPER

 

[drstratton]

Now for some other new additions. I have two new kittens!!! Since the loss of our last kitty, Mr. Bentley, we have had a lot of wild cats move into our yard. My husband found a kitten, about 6-8 weeks old, that had fallen into our water valve pipe. We rescued it and we also caught another kitten, who is a bit older. The first kitten I have named Cocoa, he tamed up right away with a little food and sneaking in pets while he was devouring it, now he wants to snuggle all of the time. Our second baby will take a bit longer to tame. Right now I'm calling it Doll Baby as it looks to be part Ragdoll. We will take them in to be spayed/neutered and get their shots. They will remain as outdoor kitty's, my allergies have been much better without a cat in the house, but I will definitely bring them in for lots of snuggles! Hopefully Doll Baby will come around quickly and enjoy snuggles too!

Cocoa

Doll Baby

Their home in our garage! We took 2 dog crates that our youngest son gave to us and put them together for an eating/sleeping space and a separate location for their litterbox. This was before we finally caught Doll Baby. Cocoa cried like crazy when alone in the cage, but settled right down once we added the other kitten!

 

[drstratton]

He is a KEEPER

Agreed!

 

[cavemanrich]

You can see by my Avatar that there are cats-a-plenty on my grounds. All are fixed,,, so we don't get an overpopulation. DW is allergic to cats. She will pet them when she goes out to give them food,,,,,,, but has to remember to wash her hands after petting them. One slight touch to her eyes area,,, if not washed,, and she gets reaction.
My cats do patrol the whole outdoor area. Never bother the chickens,,,, and do control the mice quite well. We have not encountered rats in our area. I know they are everywhere on this EARTH, but we try to control that by keeping feed secured so they don't see my place as a food source.

 

[drstratton]

You can see by my Avatar that there are cats-a-plenty on my grounds. All are fixed,,, so we don't get an overpopulation. DW is allergic to cats. She will pet them when she goes out to give them food,,,,,,, but has to remember to wash her hands after petting them. One slight touch to her eyes area,,, if not washed,, and she gets reaction.
My cats do patrol the whole outdoor area. Never bother the chickens,,,, and do control the mice quite well. We have not encountered rats in our area. I know they are everywhere on this EARTH, but we try to control that by keeping feed secured so they don't see my place as a food source.

I see that, lucky kitty's! Thankfully I'm not as allergic to them as your wife. There are 2 more outdoor cats that we are going to catch and get fixed. They are very wild and would be hard to tame, all we can do is make sure they don't starve.

 

[BY Bob]

Good morning everyone! We finally built an enclosure for our Peacock Shyam. The weather has been in the single digits at night and in the teens to low 20's during the day. We've been feeding him in the old chicken pen, so he had a chance to become used to it. We built this over three very cold days, Christmas Eve, part of Christmas day and the day after. The cold really set in on the final day of building. Dale used a large tree limb for his roost and we added straw down below it and put in a heat bulb. He seems to be happy and doesn't freak out when we enter the pen. Hopefully with the forced close proximity he will become less skittish around us. His tail feathers are growing back in! He's such a handsome lad!!!

View attachment 2943321

The enclosure...it's a bit scabbed together...we used what we had on hand. I will have to paint it in the spring.
View attachment 2943322

Looks pretty good to me. What a lucky fellow he is.

 

[BY Bob]

Now for some other new additions. I have two new kittens!!! Since the loss of our last kitty, Mr. Bentley, we have had a lot of wild cats move into our yard. My husband found a kitten, about 6-8 weeks old, that had fallen into our water valve pipe. We rescued it and we also caught another kitten, who is a bit older. The first kitten I have named Cocoa, he tamed up right away with a little food and sneaking in pets while he was devouring it, now he wants to snuggle all of the time. Our second baby will take a bit longer to tame. Right now I'm calling it Doll Baby as it looks to be part Ragdoll. We will take them in to be spayed/neutered and get their shots. They will remain as outdoor kitty's, my allergies have been much better without a cat in the house, but I will definitely bring them in for lots of snuggles! Hopefully Doll Baby will come around quickly and enjoy snuggles too!

Cocoa
View attachment 2943328

Doll Baby
View attachment 2943331

Their home in our garage! We took 2 dog crates that our youngest son gave to us and put them together for an eating/sleeping space and a separate location for their litterbox. This was before we finally caught Doll Baby. Cocoa cried like crazy when alone in the cage, but settled right down once we added the other kitten!
View attachment 2943334

Such happy news. So glad to have you posting again!