Mike has hated the 75% dead crab apple tree in the chicken yard since we got the girls. Its deadness and proximity to the coop make him nervous, he's not a huge fan of the girls laying in the tree, and we both had serious concerns about the girls using the tree as a means to hop out of the yard and into the waiting jaws of our Very Bad Dogs. So he decided that the day after Thanksgiving would be the designated tree removal day, and he enlisted Taperman's help in felling the tree. Unfortunately, we were a day late for one girl. On Thanksgiving morning, Winston and Lily (who are now best friends, sadly for the chickens), were extra thankful for poor PTSD chicken. PTSD chicken is the girl that I rescued from Bullet and Lily in September, and she had been getting out of the yard every day recently, looking extremely confused about what she was doing in the great out of doors. Anyway, on Thursday morning Mike discovered Winston, dead PTSD chicken, and Lily (who was thoroughly tangled in the non-functioning electric fence). Lily, at least, had the sense to look guilty. I took this loss better than the first one (and now that I've revealed my pregancy to the Internet, you'll understand what an accomplishment this is), but it did add extra motivation to get rid of the tree and try to better secure the fence.
On Friday morning, Taperman and Mike headed out with the chainsaw, polesaw, and bow saw to plan the tree demolition. First, we had to coax all of the girls into the house, which was quite challenging. Alice and Agnes in particular had no interest in going inside and missing the excitement, but eventually the three of us got the chickens all into the house and shut the door. Then, the real work began.
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| Mike collecting the last batch of tree eggs |
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| Taperman and Mike strategizing |
Taperman and Mike had to take down the tree branch by branch, given its location close to the chicken coop, barn, and fence. After recognizing that Mike's hands are critically important to the continued existence of the farm, Taperman took the lead on the more dangerous aspects of the operation.
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| Taperman making the first cut |
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| Mike using the bow saw to take off a small branch |
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| Mike securing a tow rope to one of the side branches |
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| Taperman attacking the main tree |
It took about two hours and the use of the truck (with Mike noting several times how much easier the whole endeavor would be with a tractor), but eventually the tree was down. The girls were thoroughly confused, and have expressed their displeasure by laying eggs in random places throughout the yard. We have noticed a significant increase in the number of eggs now being laid in the house, so hopefully the few holdouts will convert to indoor laying soon. I'm not terribly worried, as chickens really don't like snow, so once their yard is fully blanketed, I don't think they'll have much desire to lay out there.
I do need to get Mike to take out the logs that are still in the yard. As you can see in the above photo, the girls love climbing up on them, and the tallest log seems to give them enough of a boost to get out of the yard.
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