A Very Hard Day

It started out very well....

I swept the porch and deck, and cut the dead blooms off all the deck flowers.  These self-seeded this year, aren't they nice?

After that, I moved out to the garden to try to clear up some debris and do some watering before it got really hot.   (It's 96 right now at 4:47 PM)

I heard the chickens screaming... and after a while, I went over, and could see one hen making a racket, and told her... "Settle down".  I went back over to the garden, sat down, and kept working on plants, deadheading and pruning. 

The chickens screamed again, and it went on for a while.  I didn't get up again.

At noon, I talked to the lady who was going to do the testing, to make sure she still wanted to come in the heat.  When she said yes, I thought I had better go to the bank so I could pay her cash.

As I drove out of the drive, I saw smoke on the horizon.   I rounded the corner onto 24/40 Highway, and saw smoke from the pasture across from us.  I should explain that our road runs north and south, but does not connect across the highway.  Across from our corner is a 140 acre pasture that has been for sale since we moved here.  The owner is in California.  She is also the owner of the buffalo herd that has been abandoned on ten acres around her father's former home.  There are 12 bison in this herd, that is just left to live or die on it's own. 

As I drove to the right, I saw a line of flames marching across the pasture, towards the house and barn where the herd lives.  I saw a white pickup truck in the pasture, and thought "Should I call 911 or not?", because I thought... if someone is sitting there, they are monitoring it, but when I looked over my shoulder, it frightened me because it was burning so hard.  I went to the bank... and then the grocery store, and then came home.  As I approached, I saw this:

I was still miles away.

When I got closer, I saw all of our township fire equipment, the highway patrol, and a sheriff's deputy out along the highway....

It had burned all the way to the eastern fence line, where there is a neighboring house, and clear out to the roadway in several places.  I should have called, I kicked myself.  I called my husband who was out of town at a meeting, but on his way back.

Pretty soon he returned my call to tell me that our county emergency manager had just called him to warn him to warn ME that there was a fire coming my way.  I kept seeing Feral Woman's blog in my mind, and was alarmed at the way it was burning when I saw it.

When Keith got home, he told me that the sheriff would send someone to talk to me, as they suspect arson.  I saw a white pickup truck in the pasture, BELOW the fire line.

So after all this, I got home and started to do water, as it was 95 degrees and the tester was on her way.

This is what I found in the little henyard.

I could just scream.  This is what was happening when I heard everyone screaming this morning.

It was a pullet, one of my two porcelain D'uccle pullets.

Broad daylight, 10 AM.

I thought possum... but I showed it to someone whose opinion I value, and she said "Owl". 

Remember, we have seen a huge owl next door in Troy's yard.

We have noticed a dearth of muskrats lately... and many less mice.

I removed the other porcelain pullet, she is not happy, but she is in the big henhouse and there she is staying until everyone moves over to the new henyard.

All the chickens were in the big henhouse... everyone from that yard... and the turkeys were hiding under trees behind the 4 x 4 pen.

I might have been able to stop it, if I had just gone the whole way out there.

So, the tester and her daughter got there.

Uh... Diane and Caitie caught most of the cockerels, I admit it.  They are just too fast for me now.

Each bird's wing was nicked and the blood put into a titrate.  It turns cottage cheesey if there is pullorum or typhoid in the speciman.  Mine did not.

So, I am worried now about tomorrow.  I am going to put the game cam on the little henyard, and bring the Naughty Girls into the big henhouse for a few days.  They won't like it, but they'll live.

It is supposed to be blazing hot.  I have an appointment to take Ranger in for another look-see in the morning, and then a test at the post in the afternoon, which I think I'll call and change to next week.  I'd like to stay close to home and see what's happening.  Keith said he is not surprised... the wildings are getting desperate, there is a dearth of little animals around, and really.. the water situation is getting scary.

PS... at 8:28...

It was the big gray barred owl, it came back at about 7 PM... I've never ever heard a turkey scream like Annabelle did, and chickens went EVERYWHERE to shelter.  I scared the owl away, and it flew off into the cottonwoods on Troy's dam.  I sat out there for over an hour, watering the garden, watching the henyards.  The turkeys do NOT want to go back into the little henyard tonight, where they usually roost.  I am waiting for Keith to get here to help me get them into the henhouse itself, they have never roosted in there, though they have all gone in at different times.

It's dark, so this should be good.  I'm afraid to leave them where the owl can get to them tonight.

I'll let everyone know what happens.

The Rest of the Story

Today, I sat down with Dorothy, the Saturday manager at our food pantry in Tonganoxie.  We had a very good talk, and when I explained what happened, she described to a "T" the lady who took the eggs from me on Monday.  A Monday and Friday volunteer, this lady is strictly "by the book"... and considers it her place to rule the kitchen there.  I need to explain.... there is no food prepared there, unless someone brings in a treat for the volunteers.... but there is a kitchen from when it was an actual home... and is now the base for the thrift store/pantry operation.  While Dorothy can't control what happens on Mondays-Fridays, she is going to have a word with the managers for those days, to let them know that this lady is misguided, and probably taking donations home with her sometimes.

Dorothy assured me that our eggs often go out on Saturday mornings as soon as I bring them in... and agreed that they are as desirable as "store-bought" eggs.  I do clean them up well before taking them down.

I left feeling so much better, and we shall continue on with our donations... despite a setback here and there.

We have TBones tonight, our second to the last game unless they go into playoffs... Keith has left early to stop to do an errand on the way, and I'll meet him there.  How we have enjoyed these independent league ball games this summer, even in the intense heat.  It's only 85 degrees out there now, but overcast, and feels to me as if it might rain.  We have locked up all the birds early, and made sure the gate from the pasture is secured... in case Mr. Fox visits before we get home from the game.  He has come early several nights, as early as 9:30.  We did not have any visitations last night, and we attribute that to Lilly being outside part of the night.

Here is what Keith worked on this afternoon:

(Pugs are inspecting)

This is the base for the south deck of the new henhouse.  He reports that the ground was hard as rock... he has not mixed the cement yet because the hole on the side where Lilly and Abby are looking is still half full of water, which he had to pour down to even be able to work the soil.  The two x fours are supports which will be removed.

No, a bird didn't die here, though I thought so at first.  The moult has started and there are feathers EVERYWHERE!  No wonder I am only getting about 8 eggs a day.

This poor Welsummer hen is a good reason why I am having roosters pullorum-typhoid tested this week.  A lady I know is a registered tester for the State of Kansas, where no chickens can be hauled to a swap or sale without a PT test.  She will test all the cockerels, and one or two of the older roosters whose Time has Come.  When I gave away the two big roosters from the little henyard, Rocky and Brutus, I was left with the very gentle Dandy, and Handsome, who is a March 2011 hatch partridge cochin.  He has torn the hens up badly, as you can see, though some of them are bigger than he!  They had just recovered all their feathers from the depredations of the bigger roosters.

I am going to have them all tested, and then haul them to a swap next Saturday in hopes of literally GIVING them away for a dollar each, including the purebred porcelain d'Uccles and the mille fleur d'Uccles.  Handsome is going, too.   I am considering hauling Cocky, and two of the mille hens from the pasture pen, as well... since I still have a breeding mille rooster, Boots, and the two Naughty Girls (one of whom has gone broody, and one of whom is in the above photo).  It's not that I necessarily want to cut down on numbers, but a trio of Mille's is easier to sell than one rooster.

Our other problem is that the cockerels have started fighting each other, and ganging up on each other, so something has to give.  This is common, and you know I love my roosters... but we just can't have all the commotion all the time.