Around The Farm

With the foxes apparently gone, I took a chance and let the chickens out again:

They were excited to get outdoors to spend their day:

Some hens immediately ran into the barn and some ran to the orchard:

One of my $5.00 roses began to bloom:

The fantail pigeons came out, as if to say "Welcome back" to the hens:

And the Rugosa Roses formed a myriad of new buds in preparation for a new flowering extravaganza:

The baby chicks at 21 days had grown so big that they were becoming difficult to house, to handle and to clean:

At 25 days I gave up and let them out of their brooder to live with the pigeons. So far, all is well:

The big hens made a new burrow into the hay inside the barn and laid their eggs in it:

I found a baby sparrow in the stock tank. I previously have found a hen and another sparrow, drowned in the stock tank but this one wasn't dead yet:

I lifted it out and set it in the sun to warm up. An hour later it was gone, so I am hopeful it got its chance to live a normal sparrow's life:

I snapped this photo one morning of the eastern sky, just as the sun was about to slip above the tree line. Rural life can be cruel sometimes, but it can also be peaceful and beautiful: