This Post Is For The Birds

This post is about the birds - but not all birds, just the fantail pigeons and bantam hens. I'll begin with the pigeons. They have been prolific this year and, in spite of some deaths from old age, have increased in number to 43:

They began to look unhealthy, so I put anti-bacterial medication in their water for a week. It seemed to help a lot:

Then I cleaned their room, a job I do not look forward to. I now plan to attempt to sell about half of them, but haven't done so yet. Stay tuned:

The little hens seemed as healthy as could be, so they never got medication:

Their egg laying went down to an average of one per day (for the whole flock):

But they were healthy and happy, despite not being allowed to go outside:

But on the day I cleaned the pigeon and chicken rooms, I did let them outside. They seemed ridiculously happy, running and chasing bugs, rolling onto their sides to bask in the sun, strutting and clucking:

Alas, three of them began fighting like roosters. It didn't last, though, and hens don't have spurs like roosters, so I wasn't concerned (although I did break it up). They were soon friends again:

The little Easter Egger bantams went one way:

And ventured too close to the dog fence, where Seamus watched them and dreamed of chicken dinners:

And the Barred Rock bantams went off on their own:

When the cleaning was all done, I went out to bring the hens back inside and found feathers. I began to panic, thinking a fox had gotten another hen, but when I used a leaf rake to herd them all back inside, I learned that they were all there and in fine shape. I may let them out occasionally now that autumn is here:

Beauty As We Move Into Autumn

The little garden where I'd removed the giant stump (well, most of it anyway) was slowing down and the Yarrow appeared to be mostly finished blooming for the year:

 There were a few white flowered plants, but I feared they'd drop their seed and increase in number, so I cut off any remaining white flower stalks, leaving the fancier colors, which I prefer:

 The fantail pigeons have finished nesting and all the babies but one appeared to be on their own, no longer requiring their parents to feed them:

 Alas, they began to look kind of shopworn and unhealthy, so I put medication into their water:

The little hens still look plenty healthy, so I haven't given them any medication:

 Their egg laying has dropped to about one small egg per day. Soon it will be no eggs at all:

 Many flowers are still blooming, so I brought three more vases of them to church. This one included Frans Hals Daylilies, Tree Hydrangea and some of the very smallest sunflowers:

 Green sepals from former Rose Mallows, purple (wild) New England Asters, pink Rose Mallows, Tree Hydrangea and two colors of roses (magenta and orange):

All sunflowers, various sizes and colors:

 Far less attractive was the barn floor, soaked with horse urine and manure. I was able to scoop up most of it with the tractor, but had to fork it into the bucket as I got toward the end:

 A giant puffball appeared beneath the bottom wire of the electric fence alongside the gravel road. It grew rapidly. Last time one grew there, the Amish woman from down the road asked for it (many people love to eat them) but so far this year she hasn't asked. I don't find them edible at all. They look like Styrofoam and I found them to be just about as tasty as Styrofoam:

We've had a lot of Monarch butterflies this year. They are flying everywhere but don't generally hold still long enough for me to get a photo. This one landed on the Frans Hals Daylilies, and held still just long enough for me to get a picture:

Flowers, Pigeons, Chickens

August this year brought abundant flowers, so many that one Sunday I brought four vases of them to church. This one contained four colors of Daylilies and Blue Sea Holly (looks a bit like thistles):

Yellow Heliopsis, red Echinacea, blue Delphinium and red/green leafy branches from a Ninebark bush:

All wildflowers from alongside the road: Pink Joe-Pye-Weed, yellow Goldenrod and Purple Loosestrife:

White Tree Hydrangeas, multicolored Sunflowers and pink and red Yarrow:

Meanwhile, the little hens were living comfortable lives in their coop inside the barn:

They all get along well together and I never see any fighting. They have no rooster, but I sometimes hear crowing coming from their coop. I looked it up and learned that sometimes, in the absence of a rooster, one hen will become more masculine and began crowing:

It was me, and I keep everybody on their toes!

Egg production is way down, which is fine with me. This day I had only two small eggs, one pink and one green. Soon, as we head toward winter, there will be none:

The white fantail pigeons in the adjoining room are multiplying at a fast clip:

This mother had a nest on the floor with a six day old baby:

A nest up on a shelf had two recently hatched babies. The parents are on them so much that I haven't been able to get another photo since this one:

Chickens, Flowers, Turkeys

The little hens were closed up for the night when I snapped this photo. I made sure they had lots of food and water, then I collected the eggs and went back to the house for my own dinner and evening ritual:

 I never did learn what this mysterious Daylily is called, but it sure looks pretty in the early morning light as it begins to open:

 This Daylily I know the name of. It is called Paradise Pink:

 My favorite planting this year was the multicolored Yarrow. It's so thick that it's crowding out the weeds and so floriferous that I have a constant supply of colorful flowers:

And the red Yarrow is my favorite:

 But there are plenty of other colors and combinations as well:

Just a couple of days after I deadheaded the baby roses, I was shocked to see this Sevillana rose, barely 10" high, loaded with flowers again:

 I am still bringing flowers to church, including three vases full this Sunday. This was a collection of white (wild) Bouncing Bet, three colors of Daylilies, and Rugosa roses:

Several colors of Yarrow, yellow Heliopsis and blue Delphinium:

 Multicolored Sunflowers and Gloriosa Daisies:

Up the road from me is a pair of Narragansett turkeys, a male and female, who march out into the road and sometimes stop traffic. The male seems to be trying to assert his dominance as he displays to each car. I find this one of the delights of country life:

Around The House And In The Barn

The first Daylily to bloom was the Chicago Arnie's Choice variety, planted last year, and they are spectacular:

 The five baby roses in the front of the house are still tiny but blooming so exuberantly that I began deadheading them, cutting off the spent flowers so the plant can use its resources to produce more leaves and roots. After the first such operation, the adjoining lawn looked as if there had been a rose multiple murder:

 The multicolored Yarrow has continued to make new flowers faster than I can cut them and put them in vases to bring to church each week:

 And we have a new crop of baby fantail pigeons. The little guy on the left seems to have the same sort of extra personality as the two who preceded him:

The bantam hens are producing fewer eggs, but I still get enough to give a dozen to a friend each week:

 One of the new baby Daylilies, called Always Afternoon, is blooming already in spite of being only about 8" tall and planted only this spring:

 The Rugosa roses are lovely and aromatic, just outside my door and clearly benefiting from the severe pruning I gave them this year:

 And what can I say about the Sunflowers? They are growing so fast that it amazes me - and, as you can see, they're already blooming:

The little plum tree is growing plums - not many, but that's good because it isn't built to bear much weight on its limbs:

 The apple trees have baby apples:

 The pear tree has a few pears, but not too many. Most of last year's abundant pears went to waste: