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RIP Katerina
In the summer of 1996, one of our many hens had two chicks. We were fairly sure of their sexes, but as them being chicks, it was pretty hard to tell, we named one Alex the rooster, and the other Katernina the hen. Well, Alex ended being a hen, and Katerina was a rooster! but those were the names that were given ,and they stuck
Unfortunately, Alex was eaten by a fox a few years ago, but on sunday dad found Katerina the rooster dead. Kat was 10 years old.He/she had a good innings, and Katerina was the last of our old brood to go. We now have lots of other chooks, but Kat was one of a kind. You see we dont really have much of an attachment with the chooks, Kat and Alex were the only ones with names. They almost used to eat out of our hands, and it was sometimes a bit of a love/hate relationship because he had a terrible crow, and he always used to shit on the verandah when we let the chooks out of the pen every arvo.
Chooks can be quite smart. Every day we let them out about 4pm, and the first thing they do is run to the dog bowl to look for left over pellets, and then they run up to the house to look for grubs on the lawn. Then when it gets dark, they make their own way back to the pen, and then all we have to do is shut the pen door, so the foxes dont get them.
They can also be scary. The problem is when you open the pen to let them out, they are fairly excited, so as kids we used to run to get away from them, as they would come bowling out, but that only made matters worse, they run even faster because they think you've got the food! Take this as personal experience, chooks can run as fast as a kid can.
The dogs also love the chooks. Because they are sheepdogs, they have a natural instinct to stalk, so as soon as the chooks come bowling out of the pen at 100 km an hour, the dogs are there too. They will spend hours stalking. They are fiercly protective of the chooks, and as soon as a fox comes with in a kilometer of the house at night time, the dogs get going. I have even seen the dogs kill a fox, to protect us and the chooks!
So can you imagine afternoons on our farm when we were kids, four little girls, three dogs and about 30 chooks belting up to the house........barking, screaming and squawking. It must have sounded like the end of the world.
So Mum and Dad decided to hold a buriel (usually they get put on our rubbish tip at the bottom of the homestead), and buried him under the gum tree near the wood heap.
Dad was also thoughtfull enough to put a plough disk on top of the grave, not as a marker, but more in the hope that the dog wont dig him up!
So RIP Kat, the family and the dogs will miss you!
In the summer of 1996, one of our many hens had two chicks. We were fairly sure of their sexes, but as them being chicks, it was pretty hard to tell, we named one Alex the rooster, and the other Katernina the hen. Well, Alex ended being a hen, and Katerina was a rooster! but those were the names that were given ,and they stuck
Unfortunately, Alex was eaten by a fox a few years ago, but on sunday dad found Katerina the rooster dead. Kat was 10 years old.He/she had a good innings, and Katerina was the last of our old brood to go. We now have lots of other chooks, but Kat was one of a kind. You see we dont really have much of an attachment with the chooks, Kat and Alex were the only ones with names. They almost used to eat out of our hands, and it was sometimes a bit of a love/hate relationship because he had a terrible crow, and he always used to shit on the verandah when we let the chooks out of the pen every arvo.
Chooks can be quite smart. Every day we let them out about 4pm, and the first thing they do is run to the dog bowl to look for left over pellets, and then they run up to the house to look for grubs on the lawn. Then when it gets dark, they make their own way back to the pen, and then all we have to do is shut the pen door, so the foxes dont get them.
They can also be scary. The problem is when you open the pen to let them out, they are fairly excited, so as kids we used to run to get away from them, as they would come bowling out, but that only made matters worse, they run even faster because they think you've got the food! Take this as personal experience, chooks can run as fast as a kid can.
The dogs also love the chooks. Because they are sheepdogs, they have a natural instinct to stalk, so as soon as the chooks come bowling out of the pen at 100 km an hour, the dogs are there too. They will spend hours stalking. They are fiercly protective of the chooks, and as soon as a fox comes with in a kilometer of the house at night time, the dogs get going. I have even seen the dogs kill a fox, to protect us and the chooks!
So can you imagine afternoons on our farm when we were kids, four little girls, three dogs and about 30 chooks belting up to the house........barking, screaming and squawking. It must have sounded like the end of the world.
So Mum and Dad decided to hold a buriel (usually they get put on our rubbish tip at the bottom of the homestead), and buried him under the gum tree near the wood heap.
Dad was also thoughtfull enough to put a plough disk on top of the grave, not as a marker, but more in the hope that the dog wont dig him up!
So RIP Kat, the family and the dogs will miss you!