I had fun and games in the morning. With just one cat cage that would only fit 2 hens in, I had prepped a cardboard box for the second pair, but after struggling for 20 mins plus to get one into the box, and then the second one, without one or both escaping, I woke up Wheri to help me.
Fight the chickens…or wake a 14 year old…..hmmmmm. Wheri is awesome with all animals and afraid of none, so we had it done in a jiffy.
Sia has been in Tonga for 2 weeks and due back Friday, so Naita had asked his daughter Suzzanah to be there to help with English, even though he is pretty good.
Suzzanah gave me her phone and email deets to keep in contact and said she is there almost every day. They actually had a few hens there already and were quick to explain that Naita was sooo excited to be getting hens, it seems he had told all in sundry about it and been asked to rehome some! He now has a new lease on life. Building a new run with nesting boxes etc. He was so very proud of the job he made of the run build as well as the fact that the new hens were already laying, and is keeping a log of everything he does, how many eggs laid etc.
Suzzanah said he is down there almost all day checking and changing things and making it better. He told me, before he just sat in front of the TV with nothing else to do and this has been so good. He is very happy. He had hens in the islands but was still able to learn new things from me. He remembered the hens having mites and was pleased to find out about the Diatomaceous earth and didn’t know about the oyster shell or why hay isn’t as good to use. They were very grateful for the feeder, drinker and other bits I left. These hens are in good hands and have made such a positive difference to Naita especially, it was a real pleasure to hand them over.
My next visit was Carla who was super excited to be getting chickens. The family had made the coop up ready which was awesome, and then her and I put the feeder together. The children Lucian and Ares were all over the chickens and not the least bit afraid. They have cleared some space but there are still piles of timber there.
Tom, Carla’s Dad was going to run some fencing around the coop to give them extra space, which will be ideal. Her Dad has had chickens before and he also is excited about having them behind their transitional housing to use as an educational tool for their new people. The garden is going in that area also.
They had three cats who came to inspect the chickens, pacing curiously around the cage. I hope the cats are just curious rather than predators. I haven’t had that experience, though I have heard they can be. Our cats have always just wandered through the runs and I thought that was great to keep rats and mice at bay. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Lucian and Ares are super excited at their new arrivals.
It’s fine to have the feeder outside so once the run has an extension the feeder can go out there. The beauty of these feeders is it keeps the birds, rats etc out so food isn’t wasted or attracting vermin.
It’s cool seeing the chickens roll out and we’ll see over weeks how this goes.
I didn’t have a support person for Kiani so we did a zoom. My very first on my own guided by Jo, my tech advisor! Kiani has a perfect backyard and she wants to turn the whole area into a food resource. They plan to home school with a 3 and 5 year old, and are vegan, so very keen to get things in place. I’m super excited to help there.I visited Ashley next in her new home. We picked a spot that would work for the garden and she said of all the things she was saddest about in the hurried move from the last place, was leaving the garden, so is very grateful to be given another. She said living in that previous place was toxic (though she didn’t know it then) and feeling safer, she slept for the first 2 weeks after arriving at this place. She feels the new school and new house will be so much better for her whanau. It’s nice to be contributing to a reset for her and her children, so fingers crossed this works out. She has a problem with cats there so I’m going to provide a couple of lavender and rosemary plants that might help as a deterrent, according to google.
Another awesome work day!
Rākau Tautoko 