The Waiting Room
When it is almost time for the cows to be milked I open the waiting room and they stroll in and eat hay while waiting for me to get ready. They are usually an hour or so in there so I sure that they have attended to their bathroom business before coming into my clean milking area.
Here is Lady Astor giving me the stink eye because I was being slow yesterday afternoon.
Another hen has hatched chickens – six this time. I discovered this when I saw Tima backing out of the barn sunroom with a confused Tane shuffling out from behind her as the hen repeately attacked the pigs, her little chicks rushing about in disarray behind her. Luckily I was able to push the pigs right out, shut the door on the hen, then get the dog crate and go in and catch her, (you take your own life in your hands when trying to seperate a hen from her chicks, they are living furies) but I was lucky and caught her before she knew what I was about, then I scooped the chicks into a second small container and transferred the lot to the turkey house. The last group of wild hatched chickens are already in Kim’s Chicken house. When they are big enough they will be released in with the hens.
Egoli has been out hunting, which is his job. With five ginger cats I have no problems with mice in the feed. In fact Vandal sleeps on an old cushioned chair beside the feed bags in the shed. He literally uses the bags as bait and he is a fat happy cat.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
25 Comments on “The Waiting Room”
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thekitchensgarden 
Nice work Egoli! I read somewhere that eating mice and rats is much better for cats than cat food – their natural diet contains minerals and nutrients that they can’t get from a can 🙂
Good kitties 🐱
Happy Friday sweet friend!! XOXO – Bacon
My goodness, what large teeth you have, Egoli! The better to eat rats with, says he. Do they make the triumphant “I caught my dinner!” Sound as they carry their catch? Mine always do when they come to show me their lizard/mouse/small snake. If it is still in semi-good shape, I try to rescue it and send it on its way with “You are a mighty hunter” praise for the cat. Have a great day C!
Hi Celi, I am curious if you feed your cats? I have 2 cats and have had mice and a couple snakes, following the mice no doubt, in the utility room. I have put the cats in there and so far they haven’t caught anything. The cats bring other critters to the back door like chipmunks, rabbits, lizards that they have caught. I sure wish they would catch those mice in the house!
Good morning candy, yes I feed the cats – 1/4 cup each in the morning – really just enough so i can count them. and of course they have unlimited milk in the evening when I am cleaning the milking room.. I think they hunt because they are cats – when i get a mouse in the kitchen I pull all the appliances away from the walls at night and leave the cats in there – but sometimes it takes a while.. c
I thought about asking if Celi does supplemental feeding too. We also fed our mouser(s) a small amount of dry food. My mom used to say that cats need to catch something when they’re young or they won’t hunt as adults. She recommended putting a kitten and a mouse in the bathtub if it’s not being raised by a mouser. Obviously, that’s not the issue for your cats. Good luck!
gosh a mouse and a kitten in a bathtub – gosh. c
My cats are hunters though were part of a rescue litter so no mother teaching them how to hunt! I feed them dry food and a treat in the afternoon mainly to keep the neutered boy cat around the house. He is king of the neighborhood and roams around a lot which bothers some of my neighbors. They both hunt outside, and have on occasion brought some live critters in the house, their own catch and release program! I did pull out everything in the utility room and plugged a hole around the heat pump so fingers crossed, no more mice or snakes.
Good Cat Egoli, brave hunter. That is such a pretty Mama hen, she is almost camouflaged 🙂 Laura
Great pic of the mouse’s demise!
It’s good the cats are working ratters, and presumably they eat their catch too. When I was a child, the stableyard cat was also our bed-warmer, but the unhappy result was that she’d bring her dinner in with her, eat it under the bed with loud crunchings and then curl up on our legs, but leave a little something for us to step on when we got out of bed in the morning. I got quite used to cleaning mouse guts off the bottom of my feet…
Ewwwwww and haha!
🙂
Another busy day for everyone. Love how your world is different every single day. 🙂 Have a lovely day too.
Those little peepers are so cute!
Being a city girl I love squirrels. Feed them hazelnuts I buy by the pound. I’m always trying to discern who is who. About ten days ago, I sadly noted one of my squirrels’ eyes had been gouged out. His right eye. Yet he continued to zip up onto our back porch and zip off with nut after nut. I had no trouble distinguishing him from the others.
But yesterday I discovered him dead in the street. I’m not sure what happened, but most likely he didn’t see a car coming. I guess I should be grateful his suffering is over, but it broke my heart to see him. I carried him away and put him in bags for the garbage. Hated seeing him run over again and again.
Oh yes that is so sad – he may have got an infection in his eye too – that was kind of you to take him off the road – I like squirrels too – we don’t have them in New Zealand – but there are none out here on the farm.
Poignant lovely tale. The compassion of the Fellowship members comforts me in a world of awful news coverage I don’t care to know about.
We have rehabbed many squirrels. I know many folks don’t like them but to me they’re such brilliant and resourceful creatures. What a beautiful story of kindness. Thank you for doing your part to care for the wild things.
Clever and hard working, what good cats!
Cats often get bad press but in the right environment they are useful to combat pests rather than being one 🐱Love the pic of Egoli, oh great hunter.
I love all the systems you have put in place to make things work. A waiting room for the milk parlor makes such good sense. A good mouser is worth its weight in gold I think. Have a great day.
Celi the wild chick snatcher! I have been attacked by a couple of mother hens while trying to assist getting chicks and mother to the chick pen. What furious attackers they can be! Working cats… a marvel to behold!
never a dull moment with your farm!
Vandal might be the best name for a cat I have ever heard.