Turf Wars

So many of my posts share a common theme...
how well our farm animals get along between species.

That's not saying that the farm is without conflict.
No, there's at least one war daily.
The funny thing is...
the fighting is always limited to two particular species.

For example, right now there is a turf war amongst the roosters.
The henhouse close to our barn has been the scene of a hostile takeover.
Rod Stewart has kicked Henri and Rooster Number 5 and 6 out of the house.


Rod has become one big bad rooster.


It's funny, because prior to this he was always the wimpy Pee Wee Herman type.
I guess since he is the eldest rooster, he has decided to claim 
the henhouse and all of the hens as his own.


The unlucky ousted roos are stuck sleeping in the maple tree outside the henhouse.
When winter and snows come, I will have to open the upstairs of the barn for these
fellows to get out of the elements.


The second group of animals in fighting mode is the cats.


Ever since Sophia moved into the barn there is at least one cat fight daily....
usually over food...
resulting in Sophia retreating to the rafters.


From this safe vantage point, she hisses demeaning slander to whomever has 
infringed upon her space.

So, you see, although life on the farm is somewhat idyllic,
it is not without a little conflict.
Given a little time, though, these little spats usually work out just fine.

You might remember how we were plagued by a black bear this past Spring.
The destruction of our bird feeders and a few visits to our decks and garage
by this rather large fellow prompted us to call the Game Commission
for the placement of a trapping device with the hopes that our pesky
interloper could be relocated.
No such luck.
We succeeded in catching a raccoon and an opossum, but no bear.

In fact we were under the impression that the bear had moved on,
since we had no further visits after the trap arrived.
That is until this week.
(Picture courtesy of bear-tracker.com)
Our neighbor spotted 3 bears coming out of the woods next to our house this week.
Needless to say, the bird feeders are down.
The garage is closed.
And we are being quite cautious.
By the end of the month, these bears should be in hibernation for the rest of the winter.
I just wonder what Spring will be like when they wake up hungry!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Another blogger just over the hill from us was hiking with her family this past week-end and they spotted two cubs that ran up a tree and they heard the mother nearby. You can bet that they scurried back to their car! Black bears are quite docile, but that's not to say that a mother bear won't attack if she feels her cubs or she are in danger. Be careful... we keep our garage closed too.. even during the daytime.
Good for Rod, taking back his domain and ladies. Are the roos okay sleeping outside? We have nighttime critters that would love a nice roosting roo:-( Thankfully we don't have bears around our place. My goodness, so much activity around your farm. It makes for such delightful stories for us to enjoy.
Unknown said…
Bears....as in plural...oh, my!!! Be safe!
Country Gal said…
We havent seen any bears here they are all wayyy up north ! Sounds like Rod has been faking the whimp and carefully planing the entire time for a hostal take over of the henhouse lol ! Great post and photos. Hope the bears move on. Have a wonderful day !
Anonymous said…
I am just a lurker that has come over from Dogtrot. I absolutely love reading your blog. Can't wait to see what is going on. Hope you don't mind having me lurk around.
Linda in Mississippi
Diana said…
This may sound wierd, but I'm happy to hear that your animals are'nt perfect like I thought they were. We don't have a farm, but we have a cat, and just recently we have a puppy left off by some heartless, well we won't go there. No peace here between the cat and dog, but I said to my husband, that you have perfect animals and they all get along, I just couldn't understand why it couldn't happen here. So now you have made my day! Love your Blog, read it every morning.
Absolutely love your roosters. What a head of feathers those boys are showing off.
Bears....Okay now I am really jealous. I would love to see bears strolling through my yard. Living in South Dakota, we have no bears here. We are slowly seeing the mountain lions move east though.
Great post.
This N That said…
Sophia seems to have upset the peaceful balance of cats..Hope they work it out!! Then there's handsome Rod..who knows what goes on in their little heads?? One against the masses..and he wins??? As for the bears..THREE !!! 3 more than I'd want around..I hope the dogs respect their space....