 |
|
|
 |
| Our Other Animals |
|
| |
you can't live on an old farm, in the countryside
and not have a few birds & beasts of your own. the huskies came first
and will always be our primary concern. we inherited a few feral cats as
an attempt to control the mouse population. chickens came next to provide
fresh eggs and then doves as a first wedding anniversary present from Guy
to Helen. |
| |
 |
| Doves |
|
| |
there's something idilic about
having a dovecote in your garden. just like a pack of huskies, there's an
enchanting pecking order with plenty of social interaction between all the
cote dwellers. sometimes, after being out, you just park the car and watch
the doves, watching you. they just sit like judge and jury paying careful
attention to everything you're doing. the cote inhabitants are regularly
referred to as tree rats. the speed that they breed, it's easy to see
why some may not view them in the same light as us. we don't see much mess,
but it's true to say the cars get the odd deposit of dove droppings. they
do get through a lot of food and are very picky about what they'll eat.
everybody that visits us seems to enjoy the ongoing soap opera that is acted
out around our dove cote. the doves seem to be a little overconfident at
the moment with the dogs. they can be regularly seen bathing in puddles
in the dog run only half a metre away from napping huskies. the boys think
it's interesting to watch them at the moment, but we're just glad they can
breed pretty quickly to replace any that find their way onto the menu. |
| |
 |
| Cats |
|
| |
cats that live with huskies
are technically dead. search on google for schrodinger's
cat and you may start to get the point. huskies
kill cats, in fact, huskies will kill almost any small, fury animal. they
know exactly where they sit in the food chain and proudly maintain that
position. our cats, semi feral, were supposed to spend the days outside
mousing, like proper farm cats. fortunately for the mice, the busy main
road we live on, means it's not safe to let them out. so they live in a
part of the house that never sees huskies. we always keep two closed doors
between the dogs and the cats and spend time with both. you hear many stories
of people with cats and huskies living in alleged harmony. but all it means
is the dogs haven't killed the cat yet. if you ask around you'll find many
stories of missing moggies that used to live with huskies for many years
and then one day it all went wrong. obviously these stories aren't banded
around as much as those of feline-husky bliss. could you love your husky
if it jumped on your favorite pussy? how do these people know that their husky
will never turn on their cat? have they got a written sworn statement witnessed
by two others? and since when did huskies start keeping promises? our two
remaining cats are called Meg and Tigger. the latter is excellent at catching
flies but inflicts a slow death on everything he traps. |
| |
 |
| Hens |
|
| |
always a standing joke about
having hens as bait for any runaway husky, giving you extra time to capture
the escapee. hens are cheap and huskies are priceless. we originally had
some bog standard rhode island highbreds. not the cuddliest of hens and quite
capable of attacking you as you replaced the feeder in the hen run. they
didn't survive beyond the tender age of two. inspired by the pretty hens
across the road we went to a hen breeder near Selby to buy something different.
we restarted with an Anconna and Silkie. two pretty birds laying white eggs.
the Anconna was always partial to cuddle in her early years and used to
lay an egg nearly every day. we've since added two Wellsummers and a Bantham
of mixed heritage. the latter seems to be tough as old boots and religiously
lays. again, like huskies there is a strict pecking order. they
can be quite vicious between themselves and quick to dish out violent punishment.
hens are stupid - you understand where the term 'bird
brain' comes from, when you own hens. |
| |
|
|
- - - -
- -
|
