The Omega Rocks: The Last & Ultimate Barred Plymouth Rock Flock

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Both you and your Rocks are looking good Cynthia.

 

[speckledhen]

Both you and your Rocks are looking good Cynthia.

You're a sweetheart, Lisa. I feel like I'm literally running on fumes right now. It was a great time for those boys to leave.

 

[1muttsfan]

You look really nice all spruced up! Nathaniel looks like a big heap of loosely tied together feathers . And they are all so big!

 

[speckledhen]

You look really nice all spruced up! Nathaniel looks like a big heap of loosely tied together feathers . And they are all so big!

Thank you, Mary. I wear makeup about every day except in the heat of summer and I just ramp it up when I have to be in front of the camera. Those boys are humongous, for sure!

 

[speckledhen]

I have discovered that neither Nathaniel nor Angus, but especially Angus, is not happy to see my poor blind kitty. They set up such a ruckus every time they spot him even from a distance. You'll be happy to know that I'm safe from my own cat, LOL.
It made me remember again the late, great Atlas being a bit like that when Finn first arrived. He got between me and the cat a couple of times. Later, I watched as he found Finn chomping on a mouse kill, came up slowly with his neck stretched toward the cat, then began clucking to call his girls. He then swooped in and took the half mouse away from my poor cat and gave it to his hens.

I had the Dirty Dozen gang outside yesterday when I noticed Cricket peering at something. She was walking cautiously toward the lowest corner of the pen. Following her line of sight, I saw a fawn still sporting its fading spots laying just outside the fence. It was so close, at first I thought it was inside the pen. There is a copse of trees about 25 ft from the chain link gate that leads into our pasture lot and I now call it the Deer Lounge. I've caught an entire group of them laying around in there several times, sometimes just a group of three fawns. It's become a favorite spot of theirs. They are more comfortable with us walking around than ever in the 23 years we've been here. it means if I want to keep anything, I have to make sure it's protected. i keep reading about what deer don't like to eat, but almost every time, I can disprove it from experience. An elephant ear popped up by my front steps out of the blue for the first time about a dozen years after planting it and they chomped three leaves in half before I could put a barrier around it.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I was wondering if Finn was still around. 3 of my outside cats have gone missing this year. I bet it feels good to have those extra boys gone. There's a lot of deer around here too. Last winter was very mild. They are bold too.

 

[speckledhen]

I was wondering if Finn was still around. 3 of my outside cats have gone missing this year. I bet it feels good to have those extra boys gone. There's a lot of deer around here too. Last winter was very mild. They are bold too.

Sorry to hear about your cats. Wildlife is hard on cats. I'm shocked that Finn is still around after almost 11 years; since he was a year and a half old, according to his teeth per the vet, when he showed up here, he's going on 13 now and has evaded all sorts of predators. He's had to fight other cats in the past, got pretty shredded on the back of his legs, likely where he got whatever caused his blindness. And he even got shot with a BB somehow, not sure where, years back and its still inside him. Now that he is inside before dusk and isn't allowed out until daylight, we've mitigated the risk to a degree.
I do feel relief at those five boys being gone because it has simplified my day, but if I think about it too much, I feel some guilt about one of them and I'm sure you know which one that was. I did my best to steer them toward keeping him, but I can't dictate that.
Angus and Nathaniel have been sticking to me like glue. They follow me around everywhere. Today, I let them outside first, but since I was in the barn messing with stuff, they kept coming back inside with me, getting underfoot. If I go out the gate with them but I don't stay with them, they only stay out in the grass for a bit and come right back inside the pen.
My husband came to the barn today because the power coming into it went out, blew the GFCI for some odd reason. I asked him to help me figure out some logistics as far as heat lamps for winter go, should be fewer of them, and Nathaniel came up to him dancing. I reminded him that Nathaniel and Angus haven't seen him much lately because he hasn't been in the barn much, still hobbling around. But, I have seen no aggression from either and I surely hope I don't. I'd feel pretty defeated after all the trouble and expense we've gone to in order to have them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hopefully those big boys behave themselves. We are already planning for winter too here. It will be here quickly.

I feel the guilt for every rooster we remove, but I try to keep stuff in perspective. I can't keep them all, nor save them all. We removed the bigger cockerel. The rest are all bantam or polish mixes. Gonna try to keep as many as possible, but I know some will end up in the freezer.

Finn is an old kitty. I am hoping some of my cats make it longer. The oldest are 5 now. We have a stray Tom cat that causes problems occasionally. He has apparently decided we are his home base. He waits until I get about 10 feet away and I tell him he's not my cat to run. He doesn't run too far anymore. He's named Doppelganger because he looks like my one older male cat but with a grumpy face and messed up coat.

 

[speckledhen]

I guess the cat likes your place.
I know I can't feel guilty. I gave them every chance to behave and if they had started, they might still be here or may have had a longer stay, at least.