Tuesday, April 13, 2010

No cones today...

...but I'm afraid I feel compelled to include some chickens! But first, the cool rubber boots my mother-in-law gave me:



And, sigh, we have a new mother in our barn:

Miz Raccoon has given birth in our barn, despite our best efforts to discourage her from moving in. I thought we'd succeeded at sending her off, but this morning Sophie ran to the corner of the hayloft, where she showed me two baby raccoons, eyes still closed, mewling for their mother (who had fled to a beam! So much for protecting the children until death!) Sophie is such a good girl; she didn't hurt the babies and came right back to me when I called her. Tristan probably would have eaten them. Good thing he's in a cone and wasn't in the barn!

When I went back later, she'd moved the babies up to a beam or somewhere in the roof. I couldn't quite see where she'd stuffed them, but they were making cute little baby raccoon noises.

Yes, yes, I know all about raccoons and the evils of raccoon poop and everything else. A raccoon gave birth in our barn before, and we had a fun time (not) cleaning the mess up afterwards. When the babies are old enough, we'll get them all out again, but we're not going to disturb them right now, or shoot them as my neighbours would probably suggest. The chickens are on a different level of the barn in a well-protected coop, but we're not encouraging the raccoon to stay with her little ones! The babies are so tiny their eyes are still closed and they are quite helpless right now. I think this will be less of a problem when we start spending more time in the upper barn. It's too peaceful in there, too inviting for expectant mothers!

And now for your regular chicken fix:

Chicky, the runt of the litter, speeds past the camera.


"Whatcha got there? Is it good? Can I have some?"


A deliciously fluffy chicken butt! Feathery perfection.


The sun shines down on happy, fluffy chickens.


I'm not sure which chicken this is, but that's Henrietta in the background.

The animals around here have pretty good lives!




9 comments:

  1. I'm sure the racoon will be off in a while. Like the boots!

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  2. Those babies must've been cute! I couldn't shoot them either. When they're older, they'll leave!

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  3. Love the boots! Do you get dizzy when you look down?

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  4. Do you play XXX OOO on your boots? (Y'know the XOX game on white squares?) I'm not too sure I would feel very hospitable to racoons, but I wouldn't know how to get rid of them. So I guess they would win and stay rent free for as long as they wish! As long as the chickens don't mind. It's their barn after all...

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  5. So...did you name the baby raccoons?

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  6. Anonymous12:14 pm

    Bless you for not shooting the racoons. Those are very snazzy boots!

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  7. Bet you can run like the dickens in those funky new boots! Love them. Not loving the fact that you have to put up with the raccoons boarding in the barn until the babies are older. Hopefully Mommy doesn't come back every year!

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  8. You should all know by now that I can barely harm a fly, never mind a raccoon and her appallingly adorable babies! :) I know they'll check out soon enough. I just hope they don't poo too much before they go!

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  9. Mo, I did NOT name them.

    HWB, I occasionally get dizzy!

    I need to get Gordon some exciting boots to match mine.

    Claudia, the chickens seem blissfully unaware of what's going on upstairs.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!