FRANCIS'S BLOG 04/18/2026
Crime most fowl 🐔
We had two coop-escapes today. One in the morning:
And one in the afternoon:
The Department of Horsefarm Security is calling for the immediate replacement of the current bird netting (these buzzards are obviously too much bird for this netting) with something more substantial (don’t expect me to do it, I can’t hold a hammer 🐴).
Sly says over his shoulder,
“I know—I’m expecting the mouse to hit the fan at any moment!”
Everyone knows how Luigi fights with Schrödinger—it must have been a very good can of Paté.
Ducks sharing their room with the hens.
Since the roosters outnumber the hens 6 to 4, and have been chasing and biting the hens mercilessly, the ducks have agreed to share their apartment:
Duck and hen get along fine, and the roosters like both the extra space and the less distraction from "poultry pulchritude.” 🐔
Chickens spend the day less cooped up—
—thanks to some bird netting (which we wish was easier to see). Minnie can spend the day outside too, but she’ll keep to her own cage until she’s feeling completely recovered. 
Trench Warfare 😺
Schroeder uses the dry “riverbed” as a blind from which to hunt swallows.
It didn’t work in World War I and it’s not working now.
Semi-free-range chicken horror story! 🐔
This story actually happened last Sunday, but we held off until we were sure we didn’t need to do an obituary. Above you see how, under cat cop supervision, we temporarily open up the coop, to give everybody some elbow room.
It normally works fine, except some of us like to fly up and perch on the fence. Well, we lost sight of Uki (aka Psycho Psally the shiba inu) for a nanosecond, which was long enough for her to take a bite out of Minnie, the littlest of the white hens.
At first we thought Minnie lost only some feathers, but Ann was aghast to find herself staring at bare minimum 2 square inches of exposed white meat—horrors! We really thought Minnie was headed to chicken heaven.
Mary was called in the assist her mother in some emergency surgery. Here is Mary holding brave Minnie while Mommie prepares to operate!
The next pictures show a successful stitch-up!
Minnie is recuperating in intensive chicken care. She’s wears a sock under her wings—initially to hold a bandage, but now just to keep her from picking at her stitches.
She is watched day and night by DHS cam 1, but she’s doing fine and we hope soon to return her to “gen-pop.” 🐓
Yum! 🐎
As the only one around here who doesn’t go running off like a maniac at the sight of an open gate, I get to gobble some goodies while the rest of the nags are under lock up. 🐴
Horse Crime. 🐎
During the night, apparently someone either got thirsty or decided what the place needed was a water feature:
Somehow, somebody pulled or kicked up the pump handle inside the stable—the result being the above babbling brook.
Here we see Charlie and Iris on each side of our new mini Rio Grande. 🐴
Stormy had a big day last Thursday. 🐎
This past Thursday evening, Stormy had a growth removed from under his left rear leg. He was very brave taking his anesthetic, and slept standing up through the procedure. Mary checked his stitches this (Friday) morning and evening, and he’s doing ok.
Ducks rush in where donkeys fear to tread. 🐴
The ducks discover the leftovers on the floor of the feed shed.
Misty and Stormy share breakfast.
In the 70’s, Misty would have been called a "smother mother.” But in her defense, Stormy is an industrial-strength momma’s boy. 🐎
Evil Cat is becoming decidedly less “evil."
He doesn’t automatically vanish any more at the first sight of a cat cop.
He obviously approves of the cuisine. 😺
Here is a 100% horse-hair nest. 🐎
If the birds use any more of it, we’re going to start charging them rent!
