Around The Farm

The icicles hanging off the house addition were smaller this year, perhaps because it has been so cold that there have been fewer melts, perhaps because the heat is turned down inside the addition:

 The white fantail pigeons are getting restless, pairing up and choosing nest sites. I have cleaned up the manure buildup since I took this photo. They are pigeons, after all. Imagine what it would be like to be a statue:

 I also cleaned the main floor of the barn, a major job:

 But the biggest job was cleaning the chicken room. I began by letting the little hens outside, the first time since I last cleaned their room:

 They hurried excitedly toward the house:

 They knew there would be spilled seed beneath the bird feeders. They are overjoyed to be outside and it is a shame that our large and ravenous fox population makes it impossible for me to let them out anymore:

 When their room was clean, I used the leaf rake to herd them back inside. They remembered the routine. They're not as dumb as people like to say they are. I did notice, however, that their lack of time outdoors has allowed their toenails to grow overly long. I may have to trim them:

 Newly fallen snow means a morning of examining the tracks to see what wildlife passed through in the night. There was at least one Cottontail rabbit, and perhaps two;

 And a fox comes to visit every night, walking around the barn and then exploring inside:

 Over by the milk room, I saw this and interpreted it as evidence that a Least Weasel had killed something:

 One day I saw Remy and Gracie lying together and nuzzling. They are friends:

Around The Farm

I was working in the main part of the barn one day when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I wheeled around and saw a Least Weasel in the southeast corner, scrambling to hide itself. To my surprise, it was pure white. I knew that some weasels turned white in the winter, but was surprised that this tiny critter did. Least Weasels are perhaps only 6" long, excluding tail, and not much bigger than the mice they like to eat. I wasn't fast enough to get a photo, though, so this picture came from the internet:

 The herd continues eating about one four foot diameter hay bale every two days. When it was below freezing outdoors, the bales would be difficult to unwrap so I began dropping them onto one end from as high as the tractor could lift them. This knocked off most of the snow and enabled me to walk in circles around the bale as I unwrapped it. I hope those days are all behind me now for this year, though I am still feeding hay:

 Life is good for the cows and horses. Notice little Blue between two lounging cows. He's not much taller standing up than they are lying down:

 The white fantail pigeons and bantam chickens have been sharing their rooms for most of the winter, at least during the day. At night, I separate them back into their own rooms:

 The older hens, the Barred Rock Bantams, were hesitant to come out with the pigeons at first, but they overcame their resistance:

 I will be hesitant to let them all outdoors again, but the one day they were outside this winter went well, with no fox attacks:

 Life is good if you are a well fed chicken with heated water, safe and secure from marauding foxes:

 The new Easter Egger Bantams began laying green eggs in January, with a few pink eggs mixed in. I began noticing, though, that the number of pink eggs kept increasing:

 Eventually it became obvious that the Barred Rock Bantams were laying many/most/all(?) of the pink eggs. The odd thing is that they never looked pink before they were mixed in with green eggs:

 Our usual visitation of Snow Buntings, down from the arctic breeding grounds each winter, never seemed to happen this winter. But in mid-March, I began seeing small flocks of them up the road. They look all white as they flash past the car window:

 Snow Buntings are shy and don't hold still for observation. They fly away at the slightest movement, including stopping the car within about a hundred feet. I have to use the zoom lens to get a photo:

 And the Snow Geese began traveling back north during our big blizzard in mid-March. Once again, I didn't get a photo, so took this one off the internet. I'll keep watching for a chance for a good photo, though:

Snow, No Snow, Snow, No Snow, Snow

Our weather has been changing minute by minute. On this day it was snowing again and I tried to refill the sunflower seed feeder. But the Chickadees couldn't wait, one of them landing right on the open feeder. So I backed up and snapped a picture:

One surprise snow coated the pasture gate with coils of white snow in such a lovely pattern that it could have passed as a Christmas decoration:

Beautiful sunsets are common, but on this night it was so spectacular that I had to try to capture it in a photo. The real thing, however, was more wondrous than any photo:

I took three photos and then tried to choose the best one. I couldn't decide, however, so am posting all three of them. This is number two:

And number three. Living here can be spectacular sometimes:

One day all the snow melted and the sun warmed everything up, including the leftover Rugosa Rose hips:

And one day was so darn warm that I opened the door to let the chickens out for the first time since winter began:

Only ten of the thirteen came outdoors, but those ten sure enjoyed themselves:

They spent almost the whole day beneath the bird feeders, cleaning up all the seed which had fallen to the ground:

No foxes appeared to spoil the day, so the chickens enjoyed the warm sun, even rolling onto their sides in heap to soak up the rays:

Blue and Remy can get inside the barn at any time, day or night, and they often take advantage of it. In fact, I often accuse them of coming into the barn just to poop:

Snow again. On this morning, I found tiny footprints inside the barn. They seemed a bit too big for mice, but not big enough for other mammals I could think of. Perhaps the Least Weasels have returned (or never left):

Around The Farm - Flowers, Weasels and Chickens

The old fashioned rose bush I had saved has burst into bloom in a spectacular way. The tiny cutting I took off of it also produced a flower this year:

And the Mock Orange began to bloom. This was just as its flowers began to open:

The Rugosa Roses clearly were not harmed by the pruning I'd given them:

The Rugosa Roses are just outside my door and fill the air with their aroma:

I've had some vermin problems. There were Red Squirrels in the stone foundation, Norway Rats beneath the trash cans and Meadow Voles and White Footed Mice in the barn. The last invasion was Chipmunks in the barn, but they all disappeared - so much so that I stopped putting out poison. Then one day as I walked toward the barn, I saw this little critter:

It was a tiny weasel, about the size of a Chipmunk. Least Weasels are common but seldom seen predators which can take down animals many times their own size. That's when I knew why I no longer had rodents to worry about. I did worry about the bantams and pigeons, but if any of them had been eaten, I'd have seen the telltale feathers. So far my tiny weasels have ignored my domestic birds and their eggs:

My cherry tree bloomed this year but I see very few cherries forming. Alas, many of my apple trees didn't seem to bloom at all this year:

I kept the chickens locked up for 11 days because they kept disappearing. I finally let them out:

They scattered across the lawn with great excitement and so far, there have been no more losses:

The Mock Orange and old fashioned rose, side by side. They made a striking couple:

And then the white Peonies began to bloom:

Here's a close-up of the Mock Orange, a favorite of the Swallowtail butterflies. As you can see, summer is here and it is beautiful: