There has been another stray cat coming around a lot. We still don’t know where Callie went, but we have in addition to a Clown-looking cat (Clown Cat) a new cat that we call Collar Cat since he/she has a collar on. I think I may have to call him Green Collar Cat since that is the new buzz word. Anyway, Collar Cat was the one that scared the chickens, and then the leghorn “Salt” fell in the window well if you haven’t watched that video, you need to; it’s pretty funny. But now they all seem to get along fine in the backyard.
Collar Cat
We also got a load of Rocky Ford Cantaloupes. These are super famous for their sweet scent and taste. In fact, a lot of people actually call them Musk Melons. A friend of mine who lives in Rocky Ford was coming up to visit his son who goes to the Univ of Northern Colorado here in Greeley and said he would bring me up some. They are so sweet and juicy, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I was sitting downstairs playing some Grand Theft Auto while Cassie was teaching aerobics when I had the odd feeling that I should check on the chickens. I went outside and saw one of the local cats that lives in the fields behind us was giving the chickens a hard time. I chased off the kitty and started my search for the ‘other chicken’. One was in the greenhouse and I couldn’t find the other…Fearing for the worst I checked outside the fenced area first thinking a cat could have scared the chicken over the fence. Didn’t see any chicken….People in the neighborhood didn’t look as if they had seen a chicken….So I went back in the backyard.
I saw the white chicken in the flower bed. Good, I thought. I went to grab it and it shot off like they do. After watching them eat grasshoppers and other bugs I’ve noticed that chickens have no latency. Their reaction time is instantaneous. It bolted off right down the window well.
“Chicken Little” in the window well
I figured at this point that it would be easiest to grab her from the downstairs window. Our roommate Luke lives in this downstairs bedroom. But he wasn’t home. I snapped a picture because it hit me…how odd is this? This situation certainly hasn’t happened to me before. So I snapped a few more.
Behind Glass
It was time to meet Cassie on bikes downtown, so I figured the chicken wasn’t going anywhere and I left. We came back and it was dark, the Chicken was still there. This video I think explains the chicken rescue.
We drove outside of town and met up with some folks that had chickens. They sold us 2 of them for $15, not sure if that is a good or bad deal as I’ve never bought chickens that were alive?
We put them in boxes and loaded them up in the back of the Honda.
Took them in the backyard and showed Kitty. He didn’t know what to do.
Unpacked them
Happy New Home:
We need to buy some feed and I am going to make them their own coup instead of the greenhouse. They poop a lot and I am not sure what that would do to the plants in there.
Puerto Rico is not known much for its food, although if it stuck to the more traditional fare, it could be. The staple dish is rice and beans, there is sofrito (flavorful sauce), piraguas (shaved ice), pasteles (kind of like tamales but with yucca root -casava- instead of corn meal), mofongo (we ate at a restaurant called Mr. Mofongo and thought that was great!) and pinchos (chicken on a stick with a piece of french bread on the end). They also have tacos and burritos and other foods you would think would be like Mexican food, but they are all deep-fat fried. And of course, pollo frito! I have never seen so many fried chicken fast food restaurants! They are everywhere. And then we noticed what it did to many of the people. Most of the teenagers were in pretty good shape, but after about 20-25 years old, a LOT of them ballooned big time. So Britton (and my) code phrase for an extremely overweight person is pollo frito. Anyway, now you know the code, so its not so much of a secret.
The reason I get off on to this subject is that I want to raise chickens in Puerto Rico for their eggs, and maybe their meat. I do not think I could kill a chicken, so Britton would have to do that part. But I am sure the chickens would live better than most of the chickens in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). They would be free-range and eat all the grains, bugs (big, yucky bugs I hope!) and fallen fruits. But I don’t want to wait…After going to the county fair this weekend with Britton and our niece, I think I may have Britton convinced to let me have a laying hen/chicken or two in our backyard! I think it would be good practice. Plus Schnoodle needs help eating all these grasshoppers! I just hope that there aren’t foxes, skunks, weasels, etc that will eat them here or in PR. I am still worried about Callie for that same reason. Still no sign of her. Maybe she’s on summer vacay….
Here’s a video of Noodle trying to help rid us of the grasshopper take-over, but I think she is playing more than working!
