A new message for the chooker moles...

You don't want to lay any eggs huh... loving your new palace... lots of lovely laying mash and fresh food... free ranging every day... your own personal security cat (another story for another blog)... guard dogs  at night to keep you safe from foxes... WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO MAKE YOU LAY A COUPLE OF FRIGGIN' EGGS?

So.... [calm now] I asked some friends and was given some sound advice (see picture below).

Wait until they wake up in the morning...

On another tangent, the keets had their first outside experience today (@ 2 weeks old).

This meant introducing them to some of the other members of the family. Roman immediately assumed they were a gift for him to look after.

Baillie initially wanted to chase them (she's on a diet and would chase an aeroplane through the sky at the moment) but then her massive motherly instincts kicked in and it was pure love... for ages she didn't even move.

Those funny wee birds have more than tripled in size in just two weeks. Pity they're possible the dumbest animal to walk this earth.

Max the Manx also came over for a visit but his intentions were not as pure.

On a highlight, we had a little party for my birthday last night. Thank goodness we live in the country. One word: ROWDY. I love my friends.

The Chooker Mole Palace

It's finally finished!

The all new, chooker mole palace

After much (way too much) rain delay, and the pressing urgency of the old chook shed literally falling down around the poor chooker moles, we ended up dragging the nearly finished new shed into the garage and finishing it yesterday. Thanks to John and Mitch for helping MOTH and I to move it into place. All that recycled hardwood suddenly got very heavy.

And of course, I couldn't have made this without MOTH's significant help (well I possibly could have but would no longer have all my fingers).

The whole thing (including chandelier) cost less than $250 and is totally made from recycled materials. Doesn't look like a swing set now!

Now all I need to do is convince the ungrateful moles to use it (they went in for a look last night and then roosted on MOTH's tractor).

But I have a plan... with the current chooker mole population down to just 4, I'm off to buy some new moles and then will put tractor roosting moles in the palace with the new ones for a few days. Tough love here!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION new chooker mole palace

The chooker moles have had it pretty good for the past few years in their (free from neighbour, made in China, came with Chinese instructions, constructed by MOTH and son with spare parts left over) chooker mole palace. Apart from the odd python and the loss of a couple of the girls, it has served them well.

The chooker mole palace in early days being inspected by the donkeys (actually they were trying to get in and steal the chook food)

But time and the Queensland weather has taken its toll.

Didn't think it would make through the Xmas storm season in 2012  but it did...

Then TC Oswald came along and gave us all a good pounding. But the chooker mole palace did not fall down (well not all of it anyway).

Ceiling modifications made by MOTH got the chooker mole palace through TC Oswald, albeit it no longer water proof

So, more heavy rain today and the girls are DESPERATE for a dry house to live in.

Following an idea I got to build a new choker mole palace out of an old swing set, I set about buying bits and pieces on ebay and at the local scrap yard late last year.

We started this construction project in December but have had to put it on hold for either searing temperatures, howling winds or heavy rain. Today, we got back into it and have made some good progress.

The new chooker mole palace under construction

This palace will have all of the mod cons, including this chandelier that I reconstructed from a couple of ebay purchases. I've also bought some lovely hand carved wood panels for extra decoration.

Every chooker mole palace should have a chandelier

Unfortunately my favourite mole disappeared during the week, so now we only have 5. The move into the new digs might be a good time to introduce some more. MOTH is desperate for more eggs to sell at work (this story is a post on its own - coming soon).

Funny, I'm the one that feeds them, looks after them and buys their feed... such is life (and I wouldn't change a minute of it!)