Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Missing out on Manitou!
So...I have been a little indisposed of late, ( more on that later), but returning home today we decided to let out our Fort Yudhisthira flock for the first time since the loss of Inari. It cannot have been less than 30 minutes later that there was a commotion and jumping up and looking out of the window I saw chickens scattering and a mangy looking Fox with thin tail and feathers in it's mouth running towards Frogknot.
"It's a Fox!" I shouted and Will rushed out bellowing. It can only have been a few seconds later that I was out too but there was no sign of the fix nor Manitou, our rooster. We wandered around looking for the tell tale trail of feathers but couldn't find one.
We decided to herd the girls that were left behind into the old pen down here by the house but in doing so discovered, much to our relief, Manitou hiding in the shed. We herded them all back to the safety of Fort Yudhisthira and locked them up again.
That fox must have been lurking around since Friday waiting for it's opportunity. It certainly looked in need of a meal. That's two full meals it has missed out on here. There is a whole chicken (the late Inari RIP) sitting in the trap out there and hopefully if it's that desperate it will go for that and we will catch it soon.
R.I.P Inari.
So...ten minutes after I let the Fort Yudhisthira flock out for the day, this morning, there was a great commotion behind Frogknot. I went to investigate and couldn't find Inari. Will found some feathers down by the dam and followed their trail into the bush and found her shortly afterwards. She is gone. She was always the adventurous one, wandering off alone and always the one snapping at my heels when I was carrying the food scraps bucket up to their pen.
It is a bit undignified but she is now bait in the fox trap. Hopefully, if it is that desperate, the fox will come back for her and she can help us catch her killer.
More new arrivals.
So...our Silkie chicks are hatching. So far we have eight new chicks, seven dark ones and one white one. There are still 6 unhatched eggs so may get some more yet, we shall see.
Swell 2021.
So...after our abandoned weekend away because of 5 new Covid cases in Brisbane, we braved a flying visit down to the coast yesterday to see the Swell Sculpture Festival at Currumbin on the Gold Coast. There had not been any alarming increase in cases and the possibility of an imminent lockdown had subsided so we dashed down for the day. We were particularly keen to go as one of our friends, Gail had a sculpture there this year.
It was worth the long drive there and back and I thought this year the work was much better than last year. Of course we voted for Gail in the People's Choice Award.