Fall is Truly Here

Oh my goodness, your blogger is so glad fall is truly here. 

The verges grow more brown and yellow by the day. 

The light is changing almost daily. 

My compost heap is blooming!  The milo on the right hand side of the picture is beginning to mature and turn yellow and bronze. 

That space in the middle is the chicken dust bath, and all those flowers were volunteers from dumped pots. 

The poison ivy growing up the trees is turning bright red! 

Since my last post, the buff Orpington I put in with Doug decided to vote with her wings, and flew out.  Doug was all alone, and had actually stopped crowing.  Last week, I went to Leavenworth and met a wonderful young woman who is breeding in her backyard.  I bought a mixed pullet from her, and a young Silkie pullet, like Doug.  

He is crowing again!  

Ummmm we are having a problem with this guy, Rocky. 

Rocky was a this-year's baby, and was weaned a month or so ago. 

He has been eating cat food and chicken feed here.  

He eats with the chickens and cats all around him on the deck of the big hen house, where he is here... but we know that will not go on long.  He is maturing. 

He comes on the porch, where he pays no attention when my son is out there, just eats the cat food. 

Last week, I heard screaming from the big hen house in the evening.  I went out there, and Rocky had made himself at home in a nest box.  I shoo-ed him out the door. 

Fifteen minutes later, I heard screaming again, and he had gone in the little henhouse next door to try to lay down in a nest box there. 

I removed him. 

This is him the other morning, he was waiting in the huge maple for me to come out and feed the cats and put all the bird seed out. 

I have the big trap out, and am afraid I am going to have to catch and remove him... he will have to go out to the Leavenworth County Fishing Lake.  The thing is, I know that catching him and removing him to a strange place will likely kill him.... but... I may not have an alternative, because it won't be long until he wants chicken dinner for himself.  

I am in a quandary, because you know I cannot kill a living being. 

Two weeks ago, I had the tree eaters here to trim the huge maple by my house.  They told me they estimated it had probably four or so years to go, because the center is rotting. 

This is the limb I initially called about, because I felt it was on its way down. 

THEY LEFT IT. 

The guy told me it would "heal itself". 

This was the partial eclipse of the moon as seen from here last week. 

At 1:30 in the morning two mornings ago, I got up to let one of the cats out 

the back door. 

This is what I saw: 

That's all I've got for today! 

Those of you in the hurricane's path, please take care of yourselves as best you can. 

 

Autumn! Best Time of the Year!

Autumn, the best season! 

Despite some higher-than-normal temps, it is beautiful here in northeastern 

Kansas. 

If we could just get a little rain....

Four days were promised last week, with storms warned.  We did have clouds and 

thunder on Thursday, but despite a few sprinkles, the storm moved over.  Friday, 

we got a light rain.  I'm back to watering the plants again. 

I took that at sunrise on Sunday morning.  Yes, it's really that beautiful, and I'm glad to be alive and well enough to admire it. 

I put a bowl of cat food in the pasture daily for squirrels, the feral cats, and anything else that wants to eat it.  I stood and admired the view.  Yes, I miss seeing the sheep, but no... I do not miss emptying the 

heavy troughs every few days.  I am considering... right now, just considering... broadcasting some wildflower seed and letting the pasture grow up next year.  However.... this pasture was not cut the 

year I moved back, and had to be cut down with a tractor and bush hog (Called a "brush hog", here). 

So, there's that.  

It would make it hard for the wild critters to get around. 

It also kind of admits to defeat for me. 

A beautiful web in my garage on Saturday morning. 

Alas, by the evening, it had been destroyed, probably by a

 cat going through, or a chicken (on the anchor strings). 

This garage and the accompanying shop, a small barn with a cement floor, were 

near the original house on the property, which was on the south fence line. 

It was a u-pick berry farm back then, and encompassed my neighbor's ten 

acres and my neighbor to the east's acreage.  

My happy boy, Jester.  He is going to be ten this year, a venerable age. 

He is maintaining his weight, and except for the burst anal gland, has been 

getting along well.  I have switched him to a food that he seems to like, Bil-Jac Picky Eater. 

(chicken liver flavor).  We are going to the vet every six weeks now, for anal gland expression, and sure enough, last Monday he was found to need it.  The vet and I just looked at each other.  It will be a regular thing now. 

I am having trouble finding a good picture to show you all how very tiny Olive is.  She is the smallest of all the hens, probably not even a pound.  She is a Silkie, and that is Pipsqueak, one of the two Silkie roosters next to her.  One of the bigger pullets (now hens, they are all laying) is particularly mean to her, and she doesn't often come outside.  I would put her with the three Silkies who are in their own little pen, but I am not sure she would be happy with them. 

Those are two of the young pullets.  This is NOT the one that is attacking Olive. 

Can you see Molly? 

This beautiful girl is Cleo, who started out in the Little Red Hen House. 

Part of a big group of feral cats from Missouri, she is truly wild. 

She has been neutered and had a set of shots, but will not come 

near me.  I have learned to look in the morning and evening in the fenceline, to find her waiting for some canned food.  She is living now in the wild 26 acres across the road from me.  It's funny, because I can sense when she is around.  She will let me come within ten feet 

to put her plate down, and the porch cam has caught her eating on the deck many times. 

I go out at 5:30 in the morning in the dark to put a bowl of cat food out so she can eat early. 

There are Wanda and Yeller on deck on the seventeenth.  Wanda will meow to me  now when I go 

in the shop morning and evening to fill their dishes.  I keep dry cat food out there all day, but take it 

up at 8 so the darn raccoons won't get it.  Yeller will lay and stare at me, but he is not ready to be friends yet.  I have actually not seen him for two days, and am a little worried. 

Wanda is mousing at the big hen house too. 

Rusty has been missing for a week, but I am not worried... yet... of all, he can take care of himself. 

The harvest moon on the horizon... I got a bigger picture but it did not have the perspective! 

These are mourning doves on the feeder one morning. 

I have to say something here about the wild birds. 

Last year, I spent hundreds (probably thousands) on the 

blend of wild bird seed I have fed for years.  Like everything else, 

the price of the grain has been passed on to the consumer. 

I am no longer feeding from swinging feeders except for one 

very small one on my deck. 

Every night, I go out to the flat feeder (on the right just barely visible in this picture) and I scoop out 

what seed is not used that day.  I leave just a tiny bit for the raccoons. 

In the last three weeks, almost no wild birds have been feeding.  I have not seen a woodpecker in a month, and I actually threw away suet that had molded ... no one had been eating it. 

Several other people here locally have mentioned that they have not seen any woodpeckers. 

I would say only a fifth of the birds who normally eat have been coming to the feeder. 

I have a separate feeder for the small birds, with a blend of small seed, sunflower hearts and 

dried mealworms.  There are some still eating there. 

I do not attribute it all to Molly lurking around either, because others locally are 

writing about it.  I suspect natural food is in great abundance right now. 

It has been so good to have a respite from the expensive feed for a bit. 

I am not going to feed with the swinging feeders this winter, and won't put seed out in 

abundance as I did before.  

The only remaining swinging feeder is in back of Molly here. 

 (laughing)

There is a comm tower across from my bedroom, and I always watch it for birds. 

Here is a vulture (my favorite bird, and soon to leave us for the winter) in the horaltic position last week. 

Two weeks ago, I was ready to tear the plants out of the 

big planters in the forefront here.  They all looked dead.... and then, miraculously, the weather got a little cooler, and the vining plants began to bloom again profusely, and the geraniums perked right up! 

I have actual sweet potatoes growing under those vines, and next year, I'll plant only sweet potatoes in those planters, as the calibrachoa got drowned out. 

 Some nights I don't get the bowl in fast enough :-). 

Proof that this is my little slice of heaven. 

A good thing to remember when you are wondering what your life is about. 

 

Spring is Truly Here!

Looking east, you can see the pasture is greening up.  The sheep will return, soon. 

I will lost my view of the ponds, once the trees leaf out, but I hope to have those 

cedar trees removed this spring. 

From the other direction, you can really tell!

I am letting the chickens into the yard for a couple of hours a day, but once 

the plants are coming up properly, they will be restricted to their own side. 

See the squirrel eating companionably with them? 

I'm so proud of Jes, he looks still so overweight here, but he has done very well walking. 

He is also eating less. 

I interrupted his path up the driveway as I was outside.... and I'm glad I caught him, because I had left the gate open for a trip.  I will not be able to do that once the sheep are back. 

This is Powderpuff.  She is the only silkie living in the old hen house now, and rarely, rarely comes outside. 

There are only five birds left in that house, Singleton the Rooster and four girls.  Tonight, I am 

going to take her over to the Little Hen House and put her with the other silkies there.  They have a little tiny yard (Until Ben and I make their bigger yard)... and I think she would do better over there with the small birds.  I have hesitated to move her because she has lived in this house for the last three years.  We will see how she does.  She is a very gentle little bird, and does not lay. 

If the silkie roosters are too much for her, she will come back. 

Singleton is the Boss Man.  He keeps his daddy, Ferdie, and his brother, Buddy, in line. 

He did not suffer a lot of damage in the intense cold last month. 

However, I have lost six hens, one at the beginning of the cold snap, and five since then. 

As of this afternoon, I have unhooked all the heated waters but one.  I left it 

near the Big Hen House but will unhook it in a another day or so.  I unhooked the 

heated basins, and will clean them out good tomorrow, let them dry, and 

put them away for next winter. 

I am going to unhook the heated bases under the hen waters too... I'll leave them for tonight when we 

are going down into the thirties, and unhook tomorrow.  Temps look like they are going to be 

decent now for the next ten days. 

I believe Spring is truly here!

I love these guys!

This is Oscar's tree, in the front yard, on the north end of the property. 

Oscar, my heart dog, my Min Pin, is buried under it. 

When we bought the place in 2005, there were daffodils growing clear 

around the tree, and the box you see was whole. 

It has burst now, with the big trunk.  The daffodils are almost gone. 

Every year I tell myself to plant some more, but there is poison ivy growing there, too, 

and I have not done it.  I am going to make a promise to myself to do it this year, so that someone in the years to come can enjoy the spring show. 

Winter was hard on Ferdie.  You see he has lost the points on his comb. 

I love Ferdinand, he has been the gentlest of roosters, and I hate that his sons push him around. 

These little girls are thriving in the Hen Spa.  They are still under light, and will be for a few more weeks. They are pullets, and I suspect some kind of production red breed.  They were found abandoned in a park in Independence, Mo., and a rescue sent them to an avian vet, the only one in the area.  

She posted them, and a friend saw it, and notified me.  I went last Saturday to fetch them. 

They were found in a ten gallon aquarium, someone had left food and water but it was all spilled and soggy, and it had rained.  The vet tech told me yesterday that they will be inundated after Easter, and I told her I could take a few more. 

I am not criticizing the people for getting rid of them, but for the way they did it.  They may not have realized the big rescues would take them.  I will tell you WHY they did it... they are dirty and smelly and they peep constantly, and they have to have water and feed changed out constantly, and they just do NOT belong in someone's house.  Yes, I know people raise them inside, but folks, they have germs and they smell if confined closely. They look so cute in the store. 

I would take a few more, if asked, to help them out, but only a few.  

I'm blessed to have two big brooder cages. 

On Wednesday, I get my second Moderna shot.  I see light at the end of the tunnel, my friends. 

I will be wearing my masks for the foreseeable future, but the light is coming for all of us. 

 

Are We There Yet?

It's not even summer, but back in the nineties tonight for chores.  I took a few minutes to sit and watch the little birds.

Here you can see the Half-Mille Half Silky chicks.  Cute, aren't they?  They have Silky heads and Mille bodies.   They are doing great in the little coop Kathy made.

I'm thinking of ordering a second one, so that I can put Fancy and April outside for the rest of the summer.

Here is the pasture pen. As you can see, the hens are still steadfastly setting.  I am not sure if these are the original eggs (which would be 8 weeks old now!, and therefore unhatchable) or if these are new ones.  Only one chick hatched and is healthy.. another hatched but one of the hens killed it.  I am debating whether or not to pull all these eggs this weekend.

Notice the tail up?  Inca stood in front of Tony for ten minutes tonight, inviting him, and finally kushed.

She gave him a very perturbed look, finally!

He ignored her.  When he was gelded, he was truly gelded, and I have only seen breeding behavior once since then.

Click on this to see the big healthy muskrat in the middle of the picture, eating out of the feeder.  He wasn't the only one.  I was sitting in the pasture filling the trough and pool when I realized it's no wonder all the food is disappearing.   It's like they are pets, I went into the yard and one calmly stayed there, eating, not six feet from me.  Sheesh.  I have poison to feed them, but I am always wary that the chickens, who love to chase and kill mice, will ingest a poisoned mouse and infect the eggs with the poison.  I guess I am going to have to bite the bullet and do something about it, the mouse situation is out of control.  The Duck House, out of view to the left, had no eggs tonight, because our resident snake has moved into it.  I sure hope he doesn't find the standard chicks in their pen... he can't eat them, but he could suffocate them trying.  They are not the smartest chicks on the block, instead of roosting in the little hutch, they pile into a corner and snuggle against each other.  In the hutch I could protect them by shutting it up each night, and the snake could not get through.  I guess we'll have to see what happens (and cross my fingers).

And while all this fun was going on, look what was approaching from the west?  I am praying we get some rain from this one, too, as the ground needs it so very badly, as do all the crops around here that will start suffering with it's lack.