Part of my country fantasy has always been to have some chooks free-ranging around my property, laying lovely brown eggs and sitting on my lap to be stroked.
The Enchanted Garden actually has an existing chook pen/shed ... but here's the thing - it totally terrifies me. It's all ramshackle and falling down, covered in rusty wire and fallen branches, and I'm sure inside it's festering with rats and snakes. Even though I've never actually stepped foot in there, as it's my 'scary place'.
During the week when it was incredibly windy, a sheet blew off my clothesline, and ended up getting tangled on a thorny bush behind the Scary Chook Pen. I trod through the grass tentatively, talking loudly to scare off potential snakes, before finally untangling the sheet. Then I ran away as quickly as I could from the corner of my property I like the least.
Another reason I'm reluctant to keep chickens is that I'm worried about foxes. I know there is a fox that stalks this area (my neighbour told me so) ... and one night, as I was lying in bed (it was well after midnight), I heard a duck quacking (weird at that time of night). My neighbour keeps ducks, or it may have been one of the wild ducks that swim on the many dams around here. Anyway, I hear "quack quack quack ... SQUAWWWWWKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Then silence. Dinner time for the Incredible Mr Fox, I'd say.
Today, my brother and his family came to visit, and as usual, I got them working for their supper in the garden. At least my brother Peter worked, while the kids Lachlan, Rohan and Alicia 'supervised' and Carolyn gave design advice.
Peter, who is obviously built of much braver DNA than I, decided he wanted to check out inside the Scary Chook Pen ... and when he went inside, he found the corpse of a duck. I believe this may have been the very duck I heard being murdered by Mr Fox; and judging by its state of decay (body intact, head reduced to a skull), I think Foxy may have been snacking on the body intermittently. I was of course freaked out; but Peter decided that Ducky should have a decent burial.
Here some pics of the funeral service, with Reverend Lachlan providing the eulogy.
The Enchanted Garden actually has an existing chook pen/shed ... but here's the thing - it totally terrifies me. It's all ramshackle and falling down, covered in rusty wire and fallen branches, and I'm sure inside it's festering with rats and snakes. Even though I've never actually stepped foot in there, as it's my 'scary place'.
During the week when it was incredibly windy, a sheet blew off my clothesline, and ended up getting tangled on a thorny bush behind the Scary Chook Pen. I trod through the grass tentatively, talking loudly to scare off potential snakes, before finally untangling the sheet. Then I ran away as quickly as I could from the corner of my property I like the least.
Another reason I'm reluctant to keep chickens is that I'm worried about foxes. I know there is a fox that stalks this area (my neighbour told me so) ... and one night, as I was lying in bed (it was well after midnight), I heard a duck quacking (weird at that time of night). My neighbour keeps ducks, or it may have been one of the wild ducks that swim on the many dams around here. Anyway, I hear "quack quack quack ... SQUAWWWWWKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Then silence. Dinner time for the Incredible Mr Fox, I'd say.
Today, my brother and his family came to visit, and as usual, I got them working for their supper in the garden. At least my brother Peter worked, while the kids Lachlan, Rohan and Alicia 'supervised' and Carolyn gave design advice.
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| Alicia pretending to work. |
Peter, who is obviously built of much braver DNA than I, decided he wanted to check out inside the Scary Chook Pen ... and when he went inside, he found the corpse of a duck. I believe this may have been the very duck I heard being murdered by Mr Fox; and judging by its state of decay (body intact, head reduced to a skull), I think Foxy may have been snacking on the body intermittently. I was of course freaked out; but Peter decided that Ducky should have a decent burial.
Here some pics of the funeral service, with Reverend Lachlan providing the eulogy.
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| A serious moment for Rohan and Lachlan |
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| RIP, Ducky! |
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