Around The Farm

The baby chicks are not such babies anymore:

They now live full time with the big hens. I heard my first rooster's crow the other morning so there will be more and more of that as time goes on:

And they have the freedom of the outdoors all day, every day. Blondie, the stupid one, is beginning to figure things out. She (or he) is the light golden colored bird at the far right of this picture:

 The Rose Mallows in front of the house came into full bloom, the pink first and then the red:

And they amazed people as they drove by:

I look up to the sky when I first arise and let the dogs out. It's often a beautiful, mysterious sight:

I wait until dawn before going out to do the morning chores. The sky is often beautiful then also:

My two bargain basement roses are both blooming. I kept the labels which told me the variety names but they are both pink and I can't be sure which is which:

One is lighter than the other and has fewer petals. but when I look at the labels, they are not helpful. It doesn't matter, of course. They are just pink roses:

The elderberries began ripening but were eaten rapidly by the birds. I tasted them and found them lacking in flavor, so I didn't want to compete with the birds. I do, however, want to eat my own bush cherries next year. I only got one this year. It was the last cherry on the bush and it wasn't ripe, but I knew it was my only chance to taste them as the birds had eaten every other cherry:

Morning sky in the northeast:

Morning sky in the southeast. This is part of the reason it is such a pleasure to do the morning chores:

Pictures From Around The Farm

The pigeons are happy to be rid of the chicks and get their room and privacy back:

My plum tree once again produced some nice plums:

I cooked about eight cut up plums with a diced apple and sweetened it with brown sugar Splenda. It made for a fabulous dessert:

Daisy, the mama cat which someone dropped off at my barn, has become very sweet and friendly. Alas, the local shelters are full and of no help at all. Their low cost spay and neuter programs are backlogged for many months. I plan to get Daisy her shots and then spayed. Then I will try to slowly introduce her to the menagerie which lives in my house. Will she recognize Bugsy, her own kitten? I suspect not, but will be watching to find out:

I went for many weeks without finding any eggs. Then one day I found this nest atop the hay bales but hidden by an old board. I threw out all the eggs and hoped that the hens would start using the nest again. They did not. There surely are other hidden nests, inside or outside, but I have only found one of them. I have an indoor nest which gets one to three eggs each day:

The wildflower called Butter-and-Eggs began blooming in the south field. It's one of my favorites, largely because of its creative name, but this was the only plant I saw this year:

One section of one apple tree produced an abundance of fruit this year. I sent much of it to a friend from high school who now lives in Texas and was hankering for a taste of the north country:

The baby chicks began staying with the big hens and spending their days outdoors. They were frightened and confused at first, but soon learned:

All eighteen of them stick together most of the time and never stop peeping. They sometimes venture farther from the barn - but not too far:

They're pretty smart and adaptable birds, all except one. Do you see that golden colored bird with a white bird right behind it? He or she (I can't tell yet) is more stupid than any of the others and I joke it's because it's a blond. It will be interesting to see how the dumb bird survives:

I do the morning chores just as the sun breaks over the northeast horizon and sometimes spreads its colors to the southeastern sky. I love to see it:

The pink Rose Mallows bloomed first and then the red flowers began. Notice the cluster of giant buds behind my hand. It will be a grand display this year:

Summer Happenings Around The Farm

Someone dropped off a family of cats at my barn during the night. I began trying to trap them and finally managed to get this little black fellow. He was a veritable love sponge but quite unhealthy. I rid him of fleas and treated his eyes with ophthalmic ointment I had from previous pets. I think I'll keep him, but first need to get him to the vet. He's been staying safely out in the barn until I'm sure he won't introduce any health problems to my elderly house cats: 

The baby chicks have grown so rapidly that I often think I can see the increase in size each day. But I have been afraid to let them outdoors because I haven't caught all the cats someone dropped off. Maybe they went elsewhere, but I can't yet be sure:

The fantail pigeons, however, have finally accepted living with chickens. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em:

They are a stunning variety of colors and patterns. Half of them will be cockerels, however, so will need to be eaten. That may seem sad now but won't be when they get old enough to fight all the time and brutalize the pullets:

In the meantime, my remaining Barred Rock hens are enjoying their summer freedom:

Life is good when you have lots of food and water - and no predators hunting you:

I don't know if anyone sees my farm sign, but I notice it when I have to clip the grass which grows all around the base:

It's been a lean year for apples. So far this is all I've found - pretty slim pickins' compared to previous years. Nonetheless, the cows enjoyed them. The horses took them in their mouths and then dropped them:

A fantail pigeon came to the open window and considered taking a flight around the yard:

The first and so far only Clearwing Moth of the year arrived in August and, as usual, went straight to the Tall Garden Phlox:

It was smaller than normal, but still looked like a miniature hummingbird:

I love watching them feeding on nectar with their roll-up proboscis:

Around The Farm

Early mornings in August are beautiful. Sometimes the skies are pink and sometimes the far field is covered in mist:

My little hens have been allowed their freedom all day, every day:

And they make the most of it, traveling everywhere:

Sometimes the hens all stick together and sometimes they go solo:

I use fish nets to clean the debris out of the stock tank every day but Remy discovered that he could reach them and began ruining them by shredding the netting and bending the frame with his teeth. I had purchased three fish nets (which aren't cheap or available locally, by the way) and he ruined two of them before I wised up and began hanging the last net where he couldn't reach it:

The baby chicks aren't such babies anymore. They began living freely with the pigeons and then gradually were introduced to the big chickens. These things must be done slowly and carefully lest one of them get hurt:

Of course they are bantams, so they'll never be big. This is about the age of three weeks, not quite as big as he broom head;

They are developing some pretty colors. The sad part is that about half of them will be roosters and I'll have to pay someone to butcher them. The upside is that I'll have some good chicken dinners:

The pigeons are not really happy about the chicken invasion but they can at least fly up to a high shelf and escape the peeping mayhem:

The Rugosa roses have been blooming wildly in spite of the drought. It would have been an even more spectacular display if we'd had more rainfall. The white wildflowers growing with the roses are Bouncing Bet. They make a nice combo, almost as if it had been planned:

I cleaned the chicken coop and dumped the resulting litter, poop, etc. in the tractor bucket to be dumped later. That turned out to be a mistake because the chickens went into the barn and scratched most of it back out of the bucket and onto the floor:

Most of the pigeons stay indoors but there are six or seven who enjoy getting out for a bit of fresh air in the morning. By afternoon, the metal roof is too hot:

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: