I just had to share…
Beep Beep’s babies are almost as big as she is!
The Re-Farmer
Critters
Bribery will get you everywhere
We have had little success in getting the kittens more comfortable with us, though we have been able to touch the odd one.
This evening, we resorted to outright bribery.
Wet cat food.
It worked. Kinda.
Beep Beep and her kittens were out, and we started off with a can of paté. They quickly finished it off.
So I brought out a second can of chunks in gravy cat food.
I even found a broiler pan in the old garden shed to put the food on.
Why there was a broiler pan in the garden shed, I have no idea. But I will leave it there to put the cat kibble on, instead of in the dirt, until the kittens start regularly coming around the other side of the house to the food bowls there.
My daughter was able to pet BOTH of Beep Beep’s babies!
Once their bellies were full enough, they were no longer willing to let my daughter pet them. The tuxedo is a little more willing, but it will step back and hiss when touched. The tabby just runs off.
They are getting so big. :-D
We won’t be able to keep this up, since canned cat food is so much more expensive, but I hope we’ll eventually get them associating us humans with good things, and that they will become more socialized.
The Re-Farmer
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Just sittin’
Now if only they would stay sitting when we come out, so we can say hi. :-)
The Re-Farmer
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Orange you cute!
All in a row
I’ve started a routine of putting cat kibble out for the kittens in the evening, when we tend to see them out more often.
When I came out through the sunroom, where we keep the cat food and bird seed, I startled Butterscotch and the one kitten that followed her to the food bowls by the house, so I made a point of putting kibble out near where her kittens are, first. Then I went around to the garden shed, where Beep Beep has her kittens, and put more there.
I never saw Beep Beep’s kittens, but in the time it took me to move from one area to the next, Butterscotch and her babies were hungrily eating together!
The bigger orange tabby couldn’t squeeze her way in, so she went around the other side.
Too cute!
If it weren’t for the size difference, we probably couldn’t tell the orange tabbies apart!
I also got video. :-D
That was about as close as they would let me come, though Teeny Tabby did let me touch her (his?) back while eating, a couple of times. I’m not sure if Teeny was being braver than the other kittens, or hungrier! :-D
The Re-Farmer
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New Bird Visitors
I had a lovely surprise this morning, under our bird feeder.
The first was a norther flicker, right under the bird feeder.
The only other time I’ve seen one was quite a while ago, and well away from the house.
It was quite thoroughly drilling into the dirt!
Look at those bright yellow streaks in the wings!
Unlike the one I saw last time, this one did not have the distinctive black big marking. The difference between male and female, perhaps?
Then, while the girls and I were watching the norther flicker, a humming bird showed up!
I tried to get a photo, but it was moving so fast, I could barely get it in the camera frame, and it would be gone. Focus? What’s that!
However, I did get this shot that I really like.
Completely out of focus, but has an artsy feel to it that I really like.
I’m told we only have one variety of hummingbird in our area; the ruby throated humming bird. This one, which had no red on it, and its back was very green and shiny, would have been a female.
In the near future, we intend to plant a butterfly and hummingbird garden. :-)
The Re-Farmer
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What’s that over there?
What the kitten is staring at so intently is a blue jay eating the cat kibble I’ve been leaving out for the kittens.
The blue jay is bigger than the kitten.
Wise kitten, watches from afar! :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Mighty Hunters of Toes!
Hang in there!
Beautiful Shaggy Friends
The babies are getting so big!
I love when they are at the fence by the road. Such gorgeous animals.
On a side note, when the time comes to replace our fences, this is kinda what I want to have. Pressure treated wood posts, and a steel wire mesh, rather than the barbed wire we have always had. It’ll cost a pretty penny, but will last much longer, look better, and be more secure.
The Re-Farmer
