Cleaning The Chicken Room

The day arrived when I could no longer put off cleaning the chickens' room. I let the little hens out again:

They enjoy their time outdoors, but I can't do it on a regular basis because we have so many ravenous foxes. Also, the hens are kind of ravenous themselves, and attack my seedlings and new plants:

The flock made a break for the front of the house:

  They ran past the car:

And stopped on the lawn, where they searched for edibles:

When I thought I could trust them to stay out of the road, I went into their room and removed the feeder and waterer. This photo doesn't make it clear, but I can tell you that the crap and bedding on the floor was 8" to 24" deep. The 24" part was beneath their roosts, and it was both heavy and stinky:

Other places were more dry, but this was still an unpleasant job:

I had to shovel the poopy mix into a plastic tote and then carry it out through the pigeon room, down an aisle and dump it into the tractor bucket. By the way, the little hens have shown no interest in their xylophone since the first day:

Each time I drove a tractor bucket load out to the compost pile, I also pushed some waste hay to the pile. To my surprise, there was still ice beneath the hay:

Three of the hens got tired of being outside and came back into their room where they felt safe. They're used to me moving around, so it didn't bother them that I was still cleaning:

When I was done with the chicken room, I used a leaf rake to herd the hens back inside. This is a routine we used to follow every day, and they still remember what to do. The dogs would have loved to chase them, but the fence prevented that:

Once all the birds were back in their newly cleaned and comparatively sweet smelling room, I once again locked them safely inside - but left three windows open for ventilation:

Birds And Plants

Just when we thought spring had arrived, we got another cold spell. The fantail pigeons, though, stayed safe and warm in their room inside the barn:

The little hens, similarly, had their own room in the barn and hardly noticed the weather. I even turned on the light for them on dark, cloudy days:

There are now three Easter Egger bantams and seven Barred Rock bantams:

  The Barred Rocks are getting too old to be good egg layers, but that works out well for me as I have no use for lots of eggs:

The six little baby roses were positioned in the back room, next to a window. One of them, a variety called Watercolors Home Run, surprised me with a flower just a few days after they arrived:

 

It's a pretty, pastel color mix and apparently a highly floriferous variety. I'm already pleased with it:

The hardening off process has begun. On mild days, I put the little roses outside to become accustomed to our weather. After all, they surely were grown in a greenhouse:

The Day Lilies are emerging. Now I need to do some weeding:

And the old fashioned Iris are coming up. The big, modern Iris on the other side of the house have not yet emerged:

I let the little hens out for a day and they explored everywhere:

They pecked and scratched. They clucked and ran and flapped their wings. They lay on their sides and basked in the sun. A couple of them fought like roosters until I broke it up. Spring is arriving:

Around The Farm

My camera is working again, so I've resumed taking photos around the house and farm. As always, the "hottest spot in town" is the kitchen corner, with its floor pillows and dog beds:

 And the second most popular spot in the house may be the yoga mats. They were put there because Seamus could no longer walk on the hard floors without slipping and falling, but they've since become playthings for the kittens and sleeping places for all the pets. In this photo, Sammy was demonstrating his total trust of gigantic old Seamus. I was nervous, but Sammy's faith in his big buddy proved valid:

 Little Caspar, when he isn't running full speed all over the house, likes to sleep in the pet bed atop the bureau:


 The sheep farmers up the road had a bale and a half of expensive, good quality hay which their sheep refused to eat. They brought it down to me and dumped it in my pasture in three loads, hoping my animals would eat it:


My animals balked a bit at first, then began eating it. It lasted seven days, helping make a crisis at the end of the season less likely. I am still worried about running out of hay this spring, however:

 Ah, the look of green grass, something we can no longer see because it's now all covered with ice and snow:

 The two miniature horses' hooves began to get sore again, but when the pasture grass stopped growing, they had to eat hay. I got their hooves trimmed and they again began to heal:

 Blue still likes to recline on the wasted hay when he gets the chance:

 The white fantail pigeons raised two end-of-season babies to maturity:

 It's getting kind of crowded in the the pigeons' room now. I may have to sell some birds this spring:

 The little hens are molting but I still get an occasional egg:

 Notice that brown Easter Egger hen at the top of the picture. She's molting so much that she looks like she's going bald. She needs to hurry up and grow new feathers because it's cold, cold, cold here!

The Franklin County Fair - Part 1

On the second day of my sister's visit, we took a drive to Malone, New York in order to see the Franklin County Fair. We began in the goat barn and with this friendly face:

I used to have dairy goats and still think they're one of the best animals there is. They're certainly about the friendliest:

  This sign was on a pen full of youngsters. It was clever and I got a chuckle out of it:

  Goats love people and they begged for attention:

We walked across the lane to visit the horse barn, stopping along the way to greet this friendly cat with giant feet and extra toes:

This warning caused me to be careful. I think this horse was like Remy - friendly, but inclined to explore with his mouth:

Next stop was the cow barn. It was all dairy cattle on that day. Beef cattle would be exhibited later in the week:

Lots of people stayed right there with their livestock:

And they kept them immaculately clean. I figured they must have to pick up manure every 15 minutes or so to keep them so clean. Cleaning up urine soaked bedding might be more difficult:

These cows are obviously well cared for and accustomed to much handling:

We walked over to the arena and saw what at first appeared to be children showing their goats in front of a judge. We watched for awhile and learned that the actual competition was the next day but the judge was giving pointers to the children, explaining what to do and what not to do. It was fun to watch:

Next was the poultry barn, where we found these Guinea Fowl:

And Buff Laced Polish chickens:

And quite a few Peacocks. But there was still much to see at the fair. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

A Day In The Sun

The sun came out, the skies were brilliant blue and the temperatures soared. It was such a pleasant relief after the rigors of winter. I walked out into the pasture and found the cows lounging in the hay they'd wasted:

They were soaking up the sun and chewing their cuds, happy to be alive and comfortable:

It was a friendly scene:

The wind was strong and gusty, but the warm temperatures meant that it felt pleasant. Remy walked under the Box Elder tree with his mane and tail blowing in the wind:

Blue must not have like the heat because he stayed in the shadow of the barn and didn't want to leave:

Inside the barn, the pigeons cooed and built nests:

And the hens roamed all over the yard:


I began picking up the winter's accumulation of dog poop, nearly filling two empty feed bags. There was still more to be picked up, but I got most of it. The grass will be growing soon, especially in the dog yard where it is so very well fertilized:

Then I walked around the yard to see what might be coming up. The tulips I planted last autumn had pushed up through the soil:

And my hardy Magnolia was putting out shoots. Will it bloom the first year? Probably not, but it was fun to imagine it might:

The old Daffodils in the middle of the lawn were coming up and already had buds on them. I'll be mowing around them for a month or more:

The old fashioned Iris by the Cedar tree were up, but the new Iris I planted last autumn hadn't come up yet. Spring has finally come to the north country: