Farm Photo Album For July 31

It's been an idyllic summer, with lush greenery, bird songs, blooming roses and peaceful, contented chickens roaming the yard:

Haying began in June on neighboring farms and continued through July. Second cuttings should begin soon:

The corn did very poorly here this spring, just as it did last year. There was too much rain when it was just getting started. This field, however, was growing nicely:

I got all banged up, with a black eye and bruised, skinned knee while getting Gracie into the squeeze chute for the artificial insemination man. In the end, however, she was bred and is now pregnant. Or at least I hope so:

The baby fantail pigeon continued to grow rapidly. Here it is at 16 days:

And at 19 days:

The view from my upstairs front window. Peaceful, isn't it?:

The chickens roam far and wide, but like to stay beneath the apple trees when it's raining. You can see one cow in the background:

One pair of fantail pigeons seemed to be nesting earnestly, but when I lifted her up there were no eggs, no hay. I think she's imagining a nest beneath her:

The father of the growing baby has been quite active and friendly. I'll wager he'll be the first one brave enough to leave the barn for the great outdoors, at least if any of them ever do:

The hens love it when I use the push mower, rushing to it as soon as I shut it off in order to feast on hot grass clippings:

And all around the yard there's clucking, scratching and an occasional crowing:

Photos From Around The Farm

I had to find a bigger bin to use as a chick brooder:

The chicks were growing like weeds and feathering out nicely:

Outdoors, the Lamium was spreading and blooming profusely:

The iris stopped blooming, but the Asiatic Lilies began. Notice the hen scratching beneath the flowers:

The chickens love grass clippings, and run to the lawn mower as soon as I shut if off:

I have a very old fanning mill in my barn's hay loft. I took a photo of it and sent an email to the Power and Equipment Museum, offering to donate it. They declined the offer, saying they already had several fanning mills:

And one morning, I walked into the bathroom and found Georgette harassing a bat. I shooed her out of the room, closed the door, opened the window screens and endeavored to get the bat out the window. At first it tried hiding under the bathroom scales:

And then it tried hanging from my Mexican moon:

It landed on a bath mat and I eventually got it out the window. With bats dying of white nose syndrome, it's more important than ever to be spare them and help them:

The wild elderberries which live in my old silo base began to bloom:

Their blossoms are really quite attractive and soon will be berries, feeding the wild birds:

I took a photo of the baby fantail pigeons at one week of age and was shocked that only one had lived. But it was growing at an astounding rate, its eyes were open and I think we're going to have a new fantail pigeon to share the barn: