The Peahens Have Escaped

Oh word, one of those days...

At 1.5 inches of rain this morning, found the peahen kennel tarp roof completely bowed inside from rain collection. The supports set up the night before massively failed - the rainwater was too heavy. The plan: get a bunch of 12-foot 2x4's and corrugated metal roofing, and put up a properly supported roof.

Two sets of wet, muddy clothes and rain gear later, the roof was up. I also set up some sturdier roofing for the goose enclosure while I was at it, picked up all the extraneous tarps & clamps that the roofing projects replaced, and left to get groceries for the humans and feed for the animals.

Get home, at 2.5 inches of rain later... and it looks like we had a minor squall of some sort on the property. The new roof was completely blown off the peahen kennel, and the peahens long gone. Can't say that I blame them - if the roof blew off my house, I'd split right quick as well.

Wherever they are, I hope they're okay.

[pic courtesy of facepalm.org]

Which Smells the Worst?

Alrighty, pop quiz: which smells the worst?

1. chicken feces
   
2. goose feces
   
3. peafowl feces
4. dogs who've been rolling in carrion
   

Answer?

e. whichever is plastered all over you at the moment.

Last night was peafowl feces. We moved the girls out of quarantine, as after five days there were no signs of obvious diseases, coughs, sneezes or feather loss. They weren't going voluntarily from the larger quarantine quarters into the smaller carrying cage we'd positioned at the quarantine door, so I had to crawl into the quarantine quarters and herd them out while Spouse held the carrying cage. By the time they had been scooted out, my jeans, arms & hands had managed to squish into every fresh pile of poo that was available on the straw bedding. Peafowl poo alot when they're concerned, it seems.

The Muses are now housed in a brand-spankin' new 10'x10'x6' chain-link kennel. Once they've been in there a few weeks and have acclimated to our property and its rhythms, they'll be released into the general population. Then the kennel will be used to corral the (currently stinky) dogs and keep them out of the way whenever we have contractors or the propane delivery guy on the site.

The girls settled in well. Personally, I had to wash my hands before taking a shower afterward.

[pic: one of the girls... Euterpe?]