Pigeons, Chickens And Lots More Flowers!

Things have been happening fast this spring. The Snowball Bushes, sent to me by a friend several years ago, are already blooming:

I caught my fantail pigeons hanging out with a wild Starling atop the barn roof. I'll have to speak to them about the company they keep:

The Lilacs bloomed and then faded, but not before I photographed this black and orange butterfly on one of the flower clusters:

The Bleeding Heart bloomed profusely. I plan to move it when it is finished blooming:

Normally taller, this clump of Blue-Eyed Grass was kept short by the lawn mower:

The Lamium is blooming:

And the chickens finished the spring egg laying rush and then slowed down. Sadly, one hen has disappeared. I never found a pile of feathers, a sign that she'd been killed by some predator, so I just don't know what became of her:

I dug up Iris and Asiatic Lilies when we built the generator shed, planting them in a new location this spring. But one small bulb was trying to grow from under the shed's corner. I dug it up and planted it with its relatives:

I gave the fantail pigeons an all day bath, and they splashed and played like toddlers in a kiddie pool:

Several years ago I cut the ancient Spirea down to the ground. It came back up nicely the following spring, but only this year did it begin blooming again. I see now why it is sometimes called Bridal Veil Spirea:

Our springtime is always late and it was even more so this year. My Iris is one of the first plants to push up through the earth each year, and the chickens eat it back down to the ground until there are many more plants to eat. But the Iris keeps growing and finally began blooming:

Farm Update

The farm is beautiful this time of year, and I sometimes think that my mother would have loved it here, with its old fashioned perennials and friendly animals. The Siberian Iris began blooming in June:

And the Lamium produced pink blossoms:

Though sparse in my fields, the Ragged Robin flowers turned some neighboring fields an amazing shade of purple:

A neighboring dairy farmer gave me some sunflower seedlings which have reseeding themselves outside his barn for years. I transplanted them and have been keeping them watered:

The Mock Orange bloomed in June:

And the old fashioned rose was suddenly covered with buds. This is the plant from which I started a cutting in front of the house. The new plant is only about 6" high now, but it survived that awful winter we just had:

And the white Peonies bloomed in June. This one patch of them had a yellow Day Lily in it:

And looking out my bathroom window, this is the view to the northeast:

And the view to the southeast:

The Blue-Eyed Grass began blooming everywhere, growing about 8" tall where it's not mowed, but happy to grow and bloom in the lawn also:

I let the chickens out every morning so they can scratch and peck. This morning, they clustered near the barn, where the sleeping cattle could be seen in the background:

The Mock Orange and the old fashioned rose, side by side:

Farm Update For May

I'll begin with a roadside scene which I found attractive. This was just up the road from my house, a typical springtime brook and fallen tree, everything blessedly free of snow:

The Bearded Iris outside my door have been struggling to emerge. I say "struggling," because the chickens routinely eat the tender tips off the leaves:

The Siberian Iris seems not to be as tasty as its relative:

The Lamium, which I transplanted from beneath the Lilac, is emerging from its winter nap and looking good:

The chickens, outdoors again after the fox scare, spend their days looking for tasty treats in the lawn. Also, notice the cattle in the background, collected around their hay bale feeder:

I scooped up several tractor bucket loads of composted manure and drove it over to the Iris bed next to the house, using it as mulch. I also buried a hen there which had drowned in the stock tank. Now she's fertilizing the Iris:

Everything looked healthy and happy when I was done. Of course the chickens could not leave it that way and immediately began scratching through the mulch, making a mess:

A neighbor reported having seen the fox again on the dirt road beside my property. Even worse, she'd also seen two den holes in the bank below my cow pasture. I drove down to see for myself. But I have continued to let the chickens out every day and will continue to do so unless the fox begins hunting them again. Hopefully, it will move away or get killed:

Another neighbor struck a deal with me where he'd spread half my composted cow manure on my field and half on his own. I loaded his manure spreader with my tractor and he hauled the spreader to my north field with his own tractor:

It was a marvelous thing to watch and I was much impressed. Whoever invented the manure spreader was a genius:

The Daffodils in the side yard were the first flowers of springtime:

And each morning, I let the chickens out for the day. I never tire of watching them strut and waddle their way down the plank, cautious yet anxious to be outdoors for the day:

Photos From Around The Farm

I had to find a bigger bin to use as a chick brooder:

The chicks were growing like weeds and feathering out nicely:

Outdoors, the Lamium was spreading and blooming profusely:

The iris stopped blooming, but the Asiatic Lilies began. Notice the hen scratching beneath the flowers:

The chickens love grass clippings, and run to the lawn mower as soon as I shut if off:

I have a very old fanning mill in my barn's hay loft. I took a photo of it and sent an email to the Power and Equipment Museum, offering to donate it. They declined the offer, saying they already had several fanning mills:

And one morning, I walked into the bathroom and found Georgette harassing a bat. I shooed her out of the room, closed the door, opened the window screens and endeavored to get the bat out the window. At first it tried hiding under the bathroom scales:

And then it tried hanging from my Mexican moon:

It landed on a bath mat and I eventually got it out the window. With bats dying of white nose syndrome, it's more important than ever to be spare them and help them:

The wild elderberries which live in my old silo base began to bloom:

Their blossoms are really quite attractive and soon will be berries, feeding the wild birds:

I took a photo of the baby fantail pigeons at one week of age and was shocked that only one had lived. But it was growing at an astounding rate, its eyes were open and I think we're going to have a new fantail pigeon to share the barn:

(Very) Late Springtime On The Farm

I have been working on building new shelves for the pigeons, as well as a door to let them outside for fresh air and exercise:

Spring arrived very late in the north country this year, and these photos are about 2 weeks old, so things have advanced even more than these pictures show. The many lilacs around the farm house did not put on a great show this year, though the individual flower clusters were quite nice:

This low ground cover, called Lamium, was undoubtedly planted beneath the lilacs many years ago by the previous owner. I've moved it around and it is growing well:

One Flowering Crab bloomed pretty well this year:

And the wild strawberries in my "lawn" did quite well:

The apple blossoms, however, were quite disappointing, except for one tree on the corner of the property:

This one apple tree bloomed profusely, albeit briefly:

The chickens spend every day, all day, grazing, pecking and scratching:

They get lots of exercise, sunshine, fresh air, greens and bugs:

Not all the hens follow the rooster around, but about six of them do:

I have one old Fashioned Bleeding Heart and it did well this year:

The Flowering Crab whose flowers look like rose buds produced only four blossoms this year - and these are them. I'm glad there were at least four of them to look at: