July In The North Country

The Red Polls spend their days and nights in the pasture, and sometimes I don't even see them. But they come back to the barn regularly to drink from the stock tank and lounge on the hay they wasted last winter:

Blue and Remy have had their yearly vaccinations and their hooves trimmed again:

 They are looking good, and staying inside their corral (so far):

 The small chicken door I originally made was simply a square, cut from the barn wall. It finally got so rotten that half of its guts just fell out, leaving it mostly hollow. I brought it into the barn so I could try to repair it:

I'm certainly no carpenter and was distressed at the poor job I was making of the repair, but when it was finally done, it at least worked for its intended purpose:

 And it closed more or less tightly. I may want to add some kind of weatherstripping in the winter, but all in all, it serves the need:

 The strip of sunflower seedlings is growing faster each day, to the point where I can sometimes see a difference from one day to the next. As the sunflowers get taller and leafier, the dogs are losing their view of me when I'm working around the front of the barn:

 The little rock garden began to glow with bright yellow Asiatic Lilies:

And the two Blue Sea Holly plants are so huge that they threaten to take over the entire space. They seem on the verge of becoming "The Beast That Ate Cleveland:"

 But they are fascinating, an odd plant with an odd flower:

 The red and orange Asiatic Lilies, the first to bloom, finally petered out with this final burst of color:

 The six multicolored Yarrow plants are beginning to take off, and one of them is sending up a flower spike. The buds look white, which I hope is not the color they're going to be when in flower. Just to the right of them are the Chives, one of the only seeds which grew successfully. Behind the Chives are unknown plants which might be weeds or might be Globe Thistle. Only time will tell:

Around The Farm

Ever so slowly, the grass turned green - and Blue is happy to see all that fresh food growing:

Remy is happy about it too, and the two of them wander around, clipping the grass and not allowing it to grow taller. The grass is beginning to win, though, and getting longer by the day:

The lawn is growing too, and I had to clean up all the soggy old hay which had fallen during the winter when I was unwrapping bales:

And when the spilled hay was cleaned up, I removed rocks and smoothed out the place where the 88 big, round hay bales had been stored. I won't seed it, but rather wait for the grass to grow naturally:


I called the large animal vet to come look at Violet. He said he'd be out in the afternoon, so I called the cows in for grain and then trapped Violet inside the barn. She was nervous, and we had to wait for several hours for the vet to arrive:

I got her in the squeeze chute when he arrived and he checked for a mummified calf. He wasn't sure that was what he felt, but he assured me it was not a viable calf. In addition, he felt two large, fatty tumors inside her:

The tumors might not be troublesome, but they also might be caused by Bovine Leukosis Virus, which could have caused the tumors. He took a blood sample to test for the virus but the results were negative. He also gave Violet a hormone injection to cause her to abort the mummified fetus, if indeed that's what was in there, but so far I've seen nothing. Stay tuned for further developments

On a happier note, I caught Amy nuzzling and licking Blue. I watched for some time and decided that they were truly displaying affection:

Also, the apple blossoms began to pop at the end of April. I hope I'll soon be posting photos of the apple grove in full bloom:

Our Daffodils also began to bloom at the end of April. I know that seems much delayed to people in warmer climates, but spring comes late to the north country:

It was only in the 50s (F), but Blue and Remy thought it was a bit too warm and lounged in the shade of the barn. They still have their winter coats but are shedding rapidly:

Now confined to the barn at all times, I'm sure the chickens miss their free roaming days - and the foxes miss their easy meals. I will soon have to let the hens out once, however, so I can clean their room:

October On The Farm

There's been a lot going on around here this autumn, but I still try to take time to notice the small, quiet beauties such as this new mushroom in the lawn:

My neighbors gave me some cornstalks to decorate the front of my house and I purchased two pumpkins to add to the look:

But something has been eating my pumpkins, gnawing right through to the core. I'm guessing it's that porcupine I saw a few weeks ago:

I see the dawn sky nearly every morning these days, but few are as beautiful as this one:

The same morning as the above photo. The odd thing was that all this color was in the southeastern sky instead of the northeastern sky, where I usually see it. I have no idea why:

I keep collecting apples (and pears) to feed to the cattle - one bucket each day in the afternoon. I collect them and then store them inside the barn, ready to use:

I cleaned out the chicken and pigeon rooms, nearly filling the tractor's six foot bucket with poop and feathers. I then dumped it on the cow manure pile:

The grass around the fence line of the north field couldn't be cut when they hayed it, so it went to seed, creating a wonderfully colorful picture:

Why do my chickens cross the road? To mess with local traffic, of course:

Right after I cleaned out the pigeon's room, they became bolder about going outside. There were seven this time:

And eight this time. Can you find them all? There's one above the electric entry, two just above the center eave, four on the milk room ridge (one of them at the very end), and one just about the milk house window:

The Eastern White Cedar just outside my door has produced billions of cones and they are beautiful, especially combined with the green and yellow foliage. They're not so lovely, however, when they're littering my porch:

Northern New York Poultry Fanciers Association Swap Meet - Part 2

I'd seen about half of the swap meet, and continued on my way, stopping to take a look at this Speckled Sussex rooster:

This table was selling all manner of horse tack (equipment):

These two black baby pigs had just been sold and were squealing loudly as they were transferred to their carrier:

Two Angora rabbits, very cute indeed:

An unidentified bantam:

Muscovy Ducks:

Chicken coops and rabbit hutches for sale:

Elaborate birdhouses and barn board picture frames:

White Silkies:

Turkeys:

Wood Duck nest boxes:

I went indoors where they were selling coffee, meals and raffle tickets:

I'd secretly hoped that someone would be selling Fantail Pigeons, not that I needed any more. But there were none. So I walked back to my car. The pickup truck behind me held a family who had just bought a bunny and were cuddling it when this woman walked by with a pet goat. It too was for sale, and the family with the bunny decided to buy it. But it was time for me to head for home, so I didn't wait around to see the transaction:

Chickens And Pigeons

I guess, since this post is all about chickens and pigeons, you could call it a fowl post. But I hope you won't call it a foul post. Every morning now, I open the chickens' door and let them out to peck happily all day long:

And they are all excited about being let outdoors:

They run/waddle full speed toward the house:

And directly to the bird feeders, where the wild birds have always dropped lots of seed:


On nice days, they take dust baths, leaving holes in my gardens. They also sun themselves, spreading out their wings (as they are doing here) to collect as much warm sunshine as possible:

After that ritual is taken care of, they spread out all over the yard, the road, the pasture, wherever they can find food or mischief to get into:

The fantail pigeons, however, are locked in a room and never get out - at least not yet. But it's a comfy and spacious room, with high shelves where they can feel safe:

I've not yet seen any signs of pairing off or nest building, but they clearly do enjoy each other's company:

They had been in a confined space all winter and their tails were rather poopy, with ruffled and missing feathers. They're beginning to look more fancy now that they have more room:

But boy, do they poop a lot! If I can ever arrange to let them outdoors safely, I'll be happy to have the poop outside instead of inside:

They roost on the highest shelf they can find:

And come down to the lowest shelf, formerly a work bench, to eat and drink. They seem to be happy birds: