The opposite of chicken thief

 A couple weeks ago I found a strange rooster in my chicken pen. Weird, but I do have a wild turkey so thought he might have been a runaway. Then I found another one. Then the hens started fighting and there are pullet eggs. It's become clear someone did a dump and run of their unwanted birds. 

Why this bothers me: bird flu is rearing its ugly head again and I know nothing about these chickens. Also, they've completely disrupted the peace of my flock. I already had two extra roosters I hadn't culled yet because they weren't causing problems. Adding two MORE roosters ended that tranquility and I had to do emergency butchering to protect my alpha rooster's life. Plus the hens had to reestablish the pecking order. It's a mess.

What mysterious imp

I was pulling the bag out of the kitchen garbage can when I noticed how dirty the rails had gotten. While cleaning them it occurred to me that I can no longer blame this mess on my son because I live alone. Am I really so clumsy or careless to scatter crumbs all around the trash bag? Or is there an imp who places these little mishaps to give me something to do?

Stacking deep

A winter storm is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Weatherman is guesstimating 6" of snow for my location; which means we get a dusting or dumped on. Either way I've been hauling in firewood so there is one less thing to think about. Inside stacks are full now but I might go for one more load that will stay in the bags until needed.

I went to the grain elevator this morning to stock up on chicken feed. Again, I'm the only person wearing a mask. The good news was the price of feed hasn't gone up yet. It's just a matter of time before it does though.

Clouds have moved in and my head is pounding, so some type of weather system has arrived. Stay safe and warm.

Cooper's Hawk

 Fortunately I have a large sparrow population if this fellow will be dropping in to dine.

Reading up on them, I don't expect any trouble with the chickens. This might be a predator, but not in the same weight class as my flock.

Yippee!

It's above 0°F. Of course, the wind chill is still in the minus range, but so much better than the -30s we've had. I knew it was going to be better when I saw Gru was back in his tree last night. He looks so funny when he roosts with the chickens. He has begun to sit in front of the little coop's pop door. I think he feels left out since he can't fit.

It would be nice to have warming up without sinus problems, though. Always a give and take.

Yuck

It's much too early to be up, but a headache won't let me get back to sleep. It's been a roller coaster ride weather wise. Up to 40F yesterday before the wind switched to the North and down went the temperature. The wind chill is running about -28F now which makes me not look forward to doing chores. I have to chuckle at the news site's weather which says it's raining here. Oh, really?

Last night Gru, the wild turkey, actually made a wise choice and decided to sleep with the chickens instead of his normal roost in a tree. He hates it when I see him inside the coop though. Silly bird.

I need to dislodge the cat from my lap now and poke the fire. Not burning properly.

Turkey Day!

 

As you can see, Gru is perfectly safe with his minions. It's very cold; bad enough that my fingers were hurting by the time I finished chores. I need to toughen up for winter.