All Creatures Living in Harmony.

Just a simple moment in the garden today. I’m so proud of Sasha and how good she is with the girls now.

Samurai Piper. Cuz… Chicken Armor.

A half-assed attempt to build armor for my often bullied silkie. Sword training will commence at sunrise. Impulsive she is. Yet, not too old for training.

Prototype A: Death Proof Mark I

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Beak proof armor.

 

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I’m still working on the attachment part, but she’s got full range of movement. This officially signals that I have too much time on my hands.

Here’s what I did:

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Sketched out and cut a pattern.

 

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Transferred it to some non-skid soft material

 

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I used dividers from a fastener container for the armor plating.

 

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Drilled and sewed them puppies on.

 

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Bad-ass paint job complete with predator eyes and then test fit.

 

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Some sweet padding that also holds the stitching together.

 

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Battle-Piper 3000. Get some!

Piper the Silkie’s Persecution: The Sad Story of the Pecking Order

Since I began raising backyard chickens, there have been some ugly aspects that I hadn’t fully grasped beforehand. The first being the awful and soul shaking dispatching of the rooster. I won’t go into that too much because it still fills my heart with a great heaviness to think about. I know that it’s a integral part of animal husbandry, but taking a life is not something I was put upon this earth to do. Still, it had to be done and I couldn’t allow someone else to do it on my behalf just because it made me soul sick. I owed that much to that evil bastard of a rooster.

The second ugly aspect that I’m dealing with currently is the terribly savage way in which the chickens establish the pecking order. The major shit-storm basically all falls upon our young heroine, Piper. She is the cutest and sweetest chicken I’ve ever seen. She follows me around the yard like I was her momma and adores my dog Sasha. She is meek, asks for little and takes nothing.

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Fuzzy Wumpkins

Except, of course, for the continuous daily beatings from the other hens. These big brutes to be exact. Continue reading “Piper the Silkie’s Persecution: The Sad Story of the Pecking Order”