Feeling like Fall

We had Florida and NJ visitors just 2 and 3 weeks ago, and they must have brought that hot, humid southern weather with them. Now it's gone back south, and so have they. Low humidity, some rain, some clouds, some sun, and down in the 50°s at night. I was almost tempted to fire up the woodstove when I got up this morning and it was 62° in the house.

I got over it.

It is beautiful up here this time of year. No complaints, although that seems to be what we all do. Too hot, too cold, too wet, not wet enough...

The first 4 baby chicks are looking like teenagers, and at least 3 of them are looking like roosters. The second batch of chicks (still only 4 and that's probably all we will get) are still tiny and less than a week old. Hard to get pics of any of the young ones because they don't stand still long enough.

The goldfinch in the top pic was right outside the living room window in our weedy daisies. He stayed still just long enough for me to take this shaky photo.

The Woody on the porch is always cooperative for his photo shoots. Doesn't even care that the cushion has fallen over him.

And the 3 mommy horses seem unconcerned that their 3 babies are napping on the ground, looking like they are dead. People have actually stopped their cars in a panic when they see horses playing dead like this. I walk the dogs over there just about every day, and we are all used to it by now.

Another birth day!

Quick post because we are headed out...

This hen disappeared, and was found sitting on 11 eggs. I wasn't sure the eggs were even fertile, so I snuck another hen's egg under her just to be sure she got one chick.

This afternoon, there were 2 chicks. And 20 minutes later, there were 4! Keep 'em coming mom!

Peters family photos

Thanks to B&E, who should be happily back in Florida in a few short hours, we are the recipients of some great old photos of the Peters family. The Husband's father, Jim, was the brother of the NY cousins' dad, Bud, and both are featured in this photo. Left to right: Dad Jim, Grandpa Martie, Uncle Bud, Great Grandpa JT Barber, and Aunt Cay.

Apparently Mr. JT Barber was an interesting character, as I am pretty sure this is him in the second photo, panning for gold in Grass Valley, CA in 1915 or 16 as written on the back. Hard to read the handwriting, but I think they label him as Hard Pan Jim.

I love old photos!

Twin bucks and digging chicks

For several months now I have been seeing 2 young bucks near the house. They must be twins because they appear to be the same age, probably about 3 years old, and they are still hanging out together. For the past few weeks, I have only been seeing one of them. These are the best pics I could get at 6:30 a.m. while Woody and Cyrus were out there barking at him. I thought maybe the twins had separated, but then later this morning I saw them together again (with Woody and Cyrus barking at both of them). Watch out buckies, the hunting neighbors have seen you too.

The 4 remaining chicks are getting big, but still sleeping under mom at night. At least now they are easier to count because they don't fit under her very well anymore. Last week I closed up the coop one night without counting them, and the dark one with the light head was left out all night. Luckily it only rained a bit in the morning. Husband found the soggy little one at the door trying to get in when he went out to open up the coop.

The 2 hens wandering by in the background of the video are the BFFs who were sitting on eggs crammed in the same nest box together. And for a week or so when it was really hot and humid, sitting on no eggs in the same box, because I removed the eggs which were too old to hatch. The box is really only big enough for one, but for some reason they had to share. They are still sleeping in the 1 box together, and hanging out together during the day. At least they finally decided to come back outside and join the others. Chicken relationships are always fascinating.

Now just 4

First day of freedom with all 5 chicks: 3 dark ones, 1 sort of dark with light head, and 1 blondie behind the water jar.
Mom is hiding too, behind the feeder.

The 4 remaining chicks out for a stroll with mom. 2 crazy girlfriends in the background. They still spend most of the day in the same nest box sitting on eggs that aren't there any more. The stripey B&W one is the one I tried in with the chicks before black mom. She didn't work out too well in her new job...

We freed the mom hen and 5 chicks from the crate on Sunday. She had broken the last 2 eggs she was sitting on, and now she is able to keep an eye on the babies. I should have waited another day because we went to a concert Sunday night (John Pizzarelli) and were not here to check on them. I had them still barricaded inside the coop on the floor where I had set up a new crate, but when we got home around 10 p.m., they had all escaped the barricade and mom had them huddled in the corner. All 5 survived.

Yesterday, they were free to run around outside in the grass (weeds). Last night, mom got them back in the coop, but still wasn't interested in the crate. Only 4 survived. I am not sure what happened, but one of the dark chicks was dead, partially underneath the crate when Husband went out there. :(

Now that I can see them in these photos close up, I think the remaining 2 dark ones are from Golden Laced hens, the one with the white head is probably from a Barred Rock, and the golden one could be from a red hen, but really not sure. I think he is going to be a rooster as he is bigger and feistier than the rest.

We will just have to wait and see. Stay alive little chickies! Your mom is doing her best to protect you. And so are we.

Enjoying our freedom!

Food for thought

We have some visitors from NJ (soon to be from Venice FL) up for the week. And our favorite visiting photographer Sarah, her husband Jason and daughter Ella were here too. They just left this morning.

Sarah's iPhone magically takes much better pictures than mine. Maybe the iPhone is not the problem. Hmmm...

Can you stand another one?

Can you take another sunset? I'm hooked. Can't stop taking these. We'll call it practice in Photoshop since I still have not mastered the panoramic feature.