Ribh's D'Coopage

[RoyalChick]

Nope! He is still in the "leggings" stage!

I figure he'll have fur by winter, that's when the next hair growth cycle begins.

Surely it will be sooner than that. My little guy is busy re-growing his shaved patch - feels like he needs a few more weeks and it will be fully back.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

Surely it will be sooner than that. My little guy is busy re-growing his shaved patch - feels like he needs a few more weeks and it will be fully back.

I hope so!

I think all his energy was going to his bones, maybe now that he's healed his fur will start growing.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

I may never be a sane woman again after last night!

We have been doing our tax ~ which is an unmitigated nightmare, as much because the man & I work very differently & he thinks I am a computer genius just because I know a little bit more than he does, as anything else. So it had been a super stressful day & I was doing something I rarely do @ night in an attempt to destress; I was still up watching a movie on the computer long after I'm normally in bed, & my earphones in, which is a left over from when there were lots of us & several were very light sleepers.

I was zoning quite nicely when I thought I heard a chicken ruckus.

Now I don't know about your flock but once mine has roosted I don't hear a peep from them till first light so I grabbed my phone, which has the only torch we still own [all ours ended up in the lads boats] & headed out to check on the girls.

I arrived @ the pen just as 2 chooks fell out of the coop!

You can imagine my horror!

I reefed open the door to find a snake wrapped right around Gloriana several times!!!

I'm not frightened of snakes but they're not welcome to help themselves to my girls either so I grabbed the metal rake & began reefing the coils from around Gloriana. I found myself with one really, really angry snake as it slithered away from the body. I was trying to hang onto my phone & wield the rake when I noticed I had a Vorwerk on a stump & the snake was heading right for it!!!

Rake down, Vorwerk grabbed & shoved in the coop.

I made a quick exit to grab a pitch fork, shoved the phone in my teeth & proceeded to try & deal with the snake, who was proving an elusive customer. I wanted to try & pin the head with the rake & stab it with the pitch fork.

I tried bellowing for the man a couple of times but he's deafer than a door post & I wasn't holding out much hope of him actually hearing me. About 20 minutes in he wandered downstairs to fend of night starvation, noticed I was missing & in checking out the window heard me ~ @ last!

With the cavalry in sight I figured we had some chance of dealing with the snake. The man used to keep all sorts of reptiles, including snakes, as a kid, so while I know the theory I've never had to actually catch one. With me shining the torch the man was able to pin the head & shove the thing in a bag. Pretty sure we have nabbed a carpet snake.

I was pretty upset, thinking we'd lost yet another chicken when all of a sudden I hear Gloriana's distinctive, distressed honking. She was up & looking for a way back to her roost so I grabbed her & brought her inside for a quick check over, some electrolytes & a sip of water before putting her back on a roost. The 3 smaller Vorwerks & Portia were all huddled in the far corner nesting box so I reefed them out one by one & put them back on a roost too.

Here is the Lady of the hour enjoying her morning in the sun

View attachment 2588090
The snake is bagged & due for a long car trip later this morning.
It's over 6' long but very skinny & the man reckons it was starving.
It's in even worse shape now, with several puncture holes from the pitchfork!
View attachment 2588093

I found the hole the snake had made @ a join in the wire & mended it but I think I am even more traumatised than my chickens​

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad everyone is okay. What a scary situation for you and your girls

Nice work, snake-wrangler! Happy to hear your husband was able to help. I'm terrified of snakes. You guys are chicken saving heroes

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Thanks, MJ but I'm pretty sure any one of us would have done the same!

I'd really like to think I would jump in like super-lady and help in this kind of situation. But I would really hope that no one judged me too harshly for running away screaming like a little girl

To be completely honest, I've done the latter with a garter snake that was *maybe* a foot long...so the super-lady bit is doubtful. In my defense I wasn't really screaming...more of a squee-ing haha.

 

[Ribh]

Good evening everyone

Good evening folks

 

[Ribh]

Well done on the experiments Ribh. I used to do lots of cooking and baking with mine. Have you tried making stained glass cookies? They are a basic butter biscuit with a shape in the middle cut out and a bit of boiled lolly dropped into the empty spot. When cooked, the lolly melts to fill the spot and make a colourful "window".

Not the least bit healthy but fun!

Edit: youngest says to make sure they are cool before taking off the tray!

Yes, we usually cook one of the 2 days. So far I've stuck to Roadmakers Crunch ~ which requires nothing hot @ all & lots of banging~ chocolate crackles & cup cakes ~ or scrambled eggs for the chooks. The little man likes breaking the eggs for me. But these sound like fun.

 

[Ribh]

Oooh! Plant 2 or 3 bean seeds around the edge of a glass jar. Make a sleeve of cardboard or dark paper to put around the jar. You can watch the leaves and roots grow week by week. Maybe take a photo each week to map progress and make a mark on the jar where the root has grown to.

Show how plants breathe by holding a glass over the end of the stem in the sun and watch it fog up.

Get a fresh white flower, split it's stem and put one half in a glass with blue (food colouring) in the water and the other in a glass with red water. You end up with a blue and white flower!

Make a non-Newtonian fluid that gets hard when under pressure but flows when relaxed. Water and cornstarch.

Here are some experiments I just found. I particularly like the milk, food colouring and soap one.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/g32176446/science-experiments-for-kids/?slide=4

Oooh, yes! Thank you, ACM. I'd forgotten the food dye one. I used to use celery. Beans & cotton wool I remember so I might do that. Neither child is very patient so I'm not sure how that will go. I have no idea what a non~Newtonian fluid is. I will have to google that.I've book marked the link. The milk one looks like so much fun!

It's been so long since I last did any of this stuff my brain is rusty. We did a variety of paper planes one week too & I may make up a picture treasure hunt one week. That should keep them busy for a while.

 

[Ribh]

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad everyone is okay. What a scary situation for you and your girls

Nice work, snake-wrangler! Happy to hear your husband was able to help. I'm terrified of snakes. You guys are chicken saving heroes

Oh, Meg! Half the man's family are terrified of spiders ~ which is rough round here as we have whole families of them, so I do understand. My GS is the same & I've had to retrain him as some of our spiders have names & squashing them is not an option.

 

[Ribh]

I'd really like to think I would jump in like super-lady and help in this kind of situation. But I would really hope that no one judged me too harshly for running away screaming like a little girl

To be completely honest, I've done the latter with a garter snake that was *maybe* a foot long...so the super-lady bit is doubtful. In my defense I wasn't really screaming...more of a squee-ing haha.

As I said to Sue, when there's a need, there's a way. I think most people rise to the occasion when they have to.

 

[Ribh]

I will see what I have in my library but it has been almost 30 years since I entertained any that young.

Thanks, Bob. They can be really hard work some days so the more ideas I have on hand the better.