I may live in the city, but my heart is in the country.
This blog is about my day-to-day adventures with my chickens and my family.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

No Raccoons Allowed

I can hardly believe a month has flown by and I'm glad to report that IF Ricky Raccoon has come back for a visit, he has come un-noticed.
I have become a light sleeper now, on half alert as I sleep under an open window at night. One early morning about 4 am I heard a loud splash, followed by loud gulping (of water) and then some scratching (something climbing out of the pool). By the time Blackie crowed at 6:30 am nothing was in the backyard.
A few nights ago I noticed more than half of my carrots had been uprooted from my above ground planter box, and then the next night more were uprooted. So I just uprooted the rest and threw them in the yard for the chickens to eat.
I have gotten better about putting their food in the coop with them at night, so that any animals are not drawn to my yard for the free food. But some nights I forget and will find their food dish knocked over and empty. So someone came by for a free meal.
We are have been eagerly waiting for eggs, and so far nothing. I know they will start laying when they feel like it, but we have past the 6 month point in their lives, and every morning I go out to their coop just hoping.
I read somewhere online that if the girls sleep in their nesting boxes at night they are least likely of laying eggs in their boxes. So on August 31st. I put up a perch (pole) and I had to move them from their boxes to the pole for a few nights after that. But now when I put them to bed at night, the girls are perched on the pole and the roo is on the shelf next to the pole (he has always perched on the shelf).

No comments:

Post a Comment