Category: Wildlife

Surprise passenger

On By CarynIn Wildlife

I went to fill the water bucket and didn’t notice the frog on the spray head until I started the water. Huh. He was unbothered, but I still transferred him back over to the fence.

Photo description: Hand holding a green sprayer with a small green tree frog sitting on the barrel watching the water go into a large white bucket below.

Bath

On By CarynIn Wildlife

It was definitely raccoons using up the water and leaving a dirty sludge in the water bowl. How? They were climbing in the water bowl.

Photo description: Black and white night picture of two raccoons on a table, one is inside a large bowl.

They managed to knock the bowl off the table, so I cleaned it but refilled it on the ground to prevent breakage. The next day the water was still in the bowl. Maybe they only like elevated baths? Or they found someone else’s water dish to bathe in. Or our long-awaited rain shower refilled their usual puddles. The rain was glorious. I sat outside and just watched.

Raccoons

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife

We’ve known that raccoons live in our woods since shortly after we moved in, thanks to our trail cam. They are one of the reasons that my husband built the chicken coop like Fort Knox. It is more effective to design to keep predators out, than to relocate or kill them. More predators will just move back into the area. I regularly check the perimeter for predator incursion and this week found that the back door had been broken.

Photo description: Split screen door made of two layers of wire mesh and 2×4 wood, with the left joint broken open.

I made a screen door from 2x4s a hardware cloth so during our hot summers I could let a breeze from the cooler woods pass through the coop. It really helps. A regular screen door wouldn’t hold up to raccoons, and neither would poultry wire, which is why, when I decided to leave solid door open at night, I added hardware cloth. The door halves are secured with latches and locks, but the raccoons have been pushing at the bottom right corner of the door until the opposite joint gave way. The chickens are fine, the raccoons still couldn’t get in, but I needed to reinforce the door. I fixed the joint with two new screws, added a new latch on the inside top, replaced a couple of the hinge screws with longer screws, and put a big rock inside at the bottom of the door.

Photo description: Sliding latch installed on the inside of the screen door.
Photo description: Door hinge with upper right screw replaced.

The raccoons have been hanging around the back of the coop. I have a large water dish back there for the neighborhood cats, and I was perplexed when I would clean and fill the dish, and the next morning it would be nearly empty and filthy.

Photo description: Large blue water bowl with about an inch of brown water sitting on a wood table.

I set up our trail cam and obtained a photo confirming raccoon activity.

Photo description: Gray and white night photo with a raccoon in the foreground on the wooden table with the water dish, and a raccoon on the stairs to the back door with the bottom of the door pushed in.

Squirrel sploot

On By CarynIn Cats, dog, Wildlife
Photo description: Squirrel laying on the concrete legs out sideways, body pressed to the ground, looking at the camera.

Scrat the squirrel it rather enjoying his “place” near the house. There is a water dish, occasional peanuts, and cool concrete to stretch out on. It also happens to be at a window where the animals inside can watch him.

Photo description: In the background a squirrel eats a peanut, in the mid-ground a cat stares out the window, in the foreground a dog sits on a couch staring out the window.

Hidden in Basil

On By CarynIn chickens, Wildlife

I regularly pick a stem or two of basil for my chickens. I was surprised when I snapped one off and came away with two little tree frogs. Oops! So I still have garden guardians, they are just tucked under basil leaves. I shook them back into the garden to keep guarding before taking the basil to the chickens.

Photo description: hand holding a stem of basil with two small green tree frogs nestled in the leaves.

I’ve found my best way to give the chickens the basil is to wedge it in a hole in their swing. I have drilled holes in the ends of the wooden board, and I push the fresh basil up through the bottom, and an old dried stem down through the top to lock the stems in place so the hens can pull off the leaves easily.

Photo description: Fresh green basil hanging from a wood 2×4 swing, with a brown twig sticking out of a hole on top. Seven molting Faverolle hens surround the basil.