Around The Farm

Our much delayed springtime has now burst upon us with dramatic force. The fantail pigeons are scrambling for nesting material:

Males are pairing up with females and fighting with other males:

A pair of white doves (pigeons) is indeed a peaceful scene:

The pigeons haven't shown much interest in going outdoors but I still wanted to open the window for fresh air. I worried, however, about foxes and hawks getting in so I now prop a baby gate in the window. As for the smaller, lower chicken gate, I have blocked that with a nailed board to keep out predators:

I bought this at Walmart because I wanted to grow an Oriental Poppy like my mother used to have. Alas, when I opened the package, I found two tiny, dried out sticks no bigger than a wooden kitchen match. I planted them but have little hope of them growing. I'll check our local nursery for already started plants:

In March, a woman at church asked if I could find her some Pussy Willows. I couldn't identify them then, but they are looking pretty obvious now. Furthermore, they're right along the road on my own property. Well, next year I'll know where to find them:

Blue and two cows searched the south field for edible greenery:

The little hens still want to go outdoors, but I don't dare let them because of our bold and numerous foxes:

"Foxes? I ain't afraid of no fox."   ---   Indeed, that is the problem:

The Easter Egger bantams are laying nicely this spring:

And two of them seem inclined to be broody, wanting to sit on their eggs:

A couple of the Barred Rock bantams hatched eggs but panicked when the eggs hatched and tried to kill the chicks. I rescued about five of the chicks and some of these hens are probably from that time:

What's Going On Around The Farm

Our snow finally melted and spring seemed to have arrived, but Georgette and the other household pets weren't much affected, one way or the other:

 The cattle's hay bale feeder had been on the east side of the barn all winter so the barn could act as a wind break:


 But with warming weather, I moved it out into the field. Even though there is no green grass to eat yet, the cows' hay consumption went down, presumably because they now need less energy to keep warm. I liked this photo so much that I put it on the farm website:

 But there were some scary moments also, like when my basement flooded:

 The water was rising rapidly, and had reached the motor at the bottom of the furnace. I put on tall boots and waded in to turn off the circuit breaker:

 I had to rush to the hardware store to buy a pump, and then I set it up with the discharge hose spilling out over the septic tank. Yes, we had snow that day, I hope for the last time:

 The chickens are happy and one of the new Easter Egger Bantam hens has gone broody. She seldom leaves the nest box. The other hens have been sneaking out the door at every opportunity to raid the pigeons' eggs. I finally hooked two bungee cords to their door so it will snap shut quickly and keep the ravenous, marauding hens in their own room:

 I began letting them outside in nice weather, though for shorter periods than I used to. I hope the shorter outdoor times will help protect them from foxes. The Easter Eggers took a dirt bath and then rolled onto their sides to soak up the warm sun:

 The Barred Rock bantams did likewise, but a few feet down the side of the house:

 Remy is mighty happy to have warm weather and snow free fields. He's done less playing than I would have expected, though. Like the hens, he seems to spend much time lying down and sunbathing:

 And sometimes he scratches an itch:

 Blue and Remy still like to hang out in the barn, but spend much less time there than they did in the winter:

Spring In The North Country

It was a long, cold, snowy winter and spring came about a month late to the north country. But it arrived suddenly, explosively. These pink buds appeared one day:

And turned into old fashioned Bleeding Hearts the next day:

The lawn (and I use the term loosely) was suddenly filled with Violets:

My little rooster pecked around the Daffodils:

The Shadbush trees bloomed along the edges of the north field:

I began hauling more brush out to the brush/lumber pile in the woods and discovered that some animal had stripped the bark off of all the branches in the top half of the pile. Mice? Deer? Porcupine? All of the above? I'll probably never know:

Dandelions, simultaneously the most beautiful and most pesky of flowers, bloomed everywhere. Notice the little orange beetle on the flower to the right:

I left 18 eggs for my broody hen to try raising chicks. I had to mark them so I could remove any new eggs which other hens laid in the nest. I continued to remove the newer eggs and refrigerate them for feeding to the dogs later:

The cherry tree bloomed, but not prolifically. There won't be a bumper crop this year like there was last year:

The pear tree, however, bloomed enthusiastically:


The apple blossoms budded, but hadn't yet opened when I took these photos:

The flowering crabs, likewise, were only buds on the day I took these photos. Spring indeed arrived here with all its splendor, however belatedly: