Chickens it is...

Last week we obtained 10 laying hens and a rooster for a total of Eleven chickens at St. Simeon Skete.  

Our chicken coup arrived last Tuesday.  





Made by local Amish,





 it is solid and secure against the area scavengers - raccoons, coyote and fox.  

With a little shifting around;


 


the coup was finally in place. 





Its really a nice coup and we all did our share of  "checking it out", especially Chase! 

I was worried I may lose the coup to Seraphim who found it to be a quite nice small hermitage...



But Andrew explains to Seraphim that its made to contain  things a little smaller than he is.  

Claudio arrived from Georgia and helped get the wire around the window to keep the scavengers out.  

Its definitely been a team effort arranging for all of this.





On Wednesday Denny brought the lovely birds...





We caged them only briefly in order to embed them into their new surroundings.   



At night we placed them into the coup. 

After their brief embedding, we allowed them to be Free Ranged, however, 

they seem to be truly identified with the skete life - preferring not to go into the world, rather they are more comfortable to stay in their “cell”.   

Denny did a great job in picking out this batch of fowl, as they are extremely friendly.  

We leave the door open and they have access to all the acreage at the skete, 

instead they hang out in the coup until a human comes by.  

Then they run up to you and wind in between your legs like a cat wanting attention.   

Once you leave, they go back into their coup.  

Linda and I have little to no experience with chickens, 

so we are googling our way through the learning process 

of this adventure, enjoying it all the while.   

Linda has even tried to blend the skete's African Connection by carrying the water back and forth from the Kellia on her head. 

We look forward to that first fresh egg!  

That should happen in about a month.  

In the meantime, life goes on at the skete.   Just about every night 

we are relocating another raccoon who has wandered onto the deck of the Kellia and wreaked havoc.  

After many nights with no sleep we began trapping them in a critter-friendly "have-a-heart" cage and driving to a relocation destination several miles away.  We chose an area in the wildlife conservation sections of the lake.  There are dumpsters there for them to pick through and lots of woodland by the lake.   I hope they stay there!  We've tried to convince Linda to paint the toenails bright red of the captured raccoons so that we will notice whether or not they are returning.   So far, she hasn't bought it.   


James is recovering from a terrible stomach flue along with malaria in Sierra Leone.  The work there continues strong.  


Pa Bah is improving but weak.  Please keep him and the mission work of NHA in your prayers - always.  And your tax-deductible donations would be very helpful as well.  hint, hint...


Wishing you all a wonderful week, we hold you in our prayers.  God bless you.