Littlest chicks and a morning moon

The 4 youngest chicks are getting big too. The 1 on the left is looking a lot like a rooster...jury is still out on the other 3. Unlike the older 4, these were all eggs from the hen in this picture—a Cream Legbar who lays blue eggs. And the daddy rooster for all of them was our Buff Orpington, which would explain why they are all varying shades of blonde.

Husband has seen, and we both have smelled a skunk out by the coop recently. Skunks are very fond of chickens. I have seen what looks like predator damage on some of the older hens (missing feathers not from molting) and the one young roo from the other bunch has some blood spots on his feathers. I also found 2 dead pidgeons near the coop.

Both moms are keeping their babies back closer to the house. Let's hope Mr Stinky doesn't find his way back here.

The bucky twins are still hanging out here, especially during the wee hours of the morning. Cyrus likes to tell us whenever buckies are trespassing. It just so happens that was at 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. last night. And I went to bed at 1 a.m. Thanks, Cyrus.

I did have the pleasure of seeing the moon on my 6 a.m. trip outside. I hope no one driving by noticed my mismatched PJs. In spite of what it looks like in this picture, it was pretty bright out there.

Big chicks, big bucks

Unlike the WoodMan, these 4 big chicks are not the best posers. It is hard to catch them all together, and even harder to get them to stand still. I think these are about the best pics I will get, as the little ones are no longer little, and they are starting to wander off separately to investigate the world. Somehow mom still manages to get them all in the crate with her at night. Too funny to see them almost under her wings. So far, she gets best mama of the year award!

And the other not-so-good posers are the 2 bucks who are still hanging out together in the back 40. Part of me can't wait for hunting season so that these 2 will stop coming by for a visit at 4 am every morning getting the dogs all riled up. The deer who hang out here usually disappear during hunting season, not because they have been shot, but because they find a better place to hide when the hunters are here. As much as I want them to leave, I will miss them...

Colors

I have often wondered about the names we give to colors. We are all prejudiced, no matter what we think, by how we were raised.

My orange cat is the same color as my white (Irish/German) hand, even though his white is actually white. My Yellow Lab (mix) was pretty much the same color orange, and my Buff Orpington rooster as well. He's more orange than all of us in this picture.

What we name our colors does not matter. We are still the same people/animals no matter what you call us.

I am guilty of this as well, having a good laugh about our illustrious orange Commander in Cheese, but there are so many other things to hold him accountable for, his color is nothing.

What we name our colors means nothing.

What we are inside is everything.

Pile of sticks, pretty weeds, crazy cats

Husband had some fun with the chainsaw over the weekend and cut down a lot of dead branches. Wifey had great fun breaking/cutting/sawing up the big branches into woodstove-size pieces for the chilly weather that will be here all too soon. Sparrows for some reason are loving my big pile of sticks (on the right) so I will leave it there awhile for them to play with. On the left is my hydrangea bush that has been eaten up/beaten up by the deer since I planted it about 5 years ago. The fencing around it has been no help at all in protecting it. At least we got a decent number of blooms this year.

Speaking of blooms... I think this is chicory. I love blue flowers even if they are weeds.

And this is probably Orange Hawkweed. Also an attractive weedy flower, but tiny.

Finally, I don't know why, but every cat we have ever had is a pain when I am trying to change the sheets. Willie staked out his spot on the corner of the bed while I undid the old and put on the new sheets everywhere but on his corner.

So I chatted with Evie on the phone for a half hour and he finally gave up. Then of course they had to play with the old sheets on the floor for the rest of the day.

I will have to catch some photos of the 8 chicks soon. The first 4 are almost as big as their adopted mama, but are still sleeping under her wings at night. That's the pic I should get, but hard to capture in a dark coop.

And the last 4 are getting bigger and braver. Congrats to the 2 good mamas for keeping all 8 alive for this long!

Sunsets and a dry rainbow?

 

The wicked humid heat has returned, along with the gorgeous sunsets. Sometimes they are just too nice not to photograph! This from Monday night.

And the second pic I took today while out walking Cyrus. If you look just above the fence post, there is a hint of a rainbow over the mountains. No rain at all today, just sun and clouds. Not even rain yesterday or last night. I think the rainbow is from all the humidity in the air. I never saw this happen before!

Teenagers and toddlers

These 4 teenagers were born on July 21, making them about 6 weeks old in this pic I just took today. They were imprisoned with their adopted mom until August 5, for about about 2 weeks. I thought I could introduce them to a bigger crate on the floor of the coop and close them up in there at night, but they were not interested. Mom had them out and about in the yard the very next morning. 

It is hard to catch a photo of all 4 plus the mom, as they are feeling all grown up and wandering the property, but she does still do her best to still keep them all together. I am pretty sure that 3 of them are roosters. The smaller one with the black head could be a hen, but with our luck, a roo too.

 

This mama was found sitting on 11 of her own eggs tucked under a wooden pallet next to the garage (far from the coop). I managed to coax her and her eggs into a small crate so I could lock them up at night and keep them safe from critters. She hatched these 4 on August 19. Unlike the others that were contained in a larger crate all day and night for 2 weeks, these guys (I HOPE they aren't all guys) had some freedom during the day in a larger enclosed space by the garage. I carried them out to the coop on Wednesday night. Mama kept them inside the coop for a couple of days, and then just yesterday she brought them all the way back here to the house. (This photo is from today, back at the house again.)

I was a little worried she wouldn't be able to get all 4 tucked in the coop last night while we were out playing and singing with Tom and Roberta, but we got home around 10 pm and there they were, all safe and sound.

As Maryellen would say "Yay for that!"

Happy September 1!

So I say it feels like Fall, and we get more hot and humid weather, the very next day. My punishment, I suppose, for commenting on the beautiful autumnal cool air. Hx2 for a few days, then it cooled off again, and now more hot stuff coming this week.

Also from my previous post: the goldfinches are still loving the yellow daisies. These are not really daisies, but a wilder form of rudbeckia that we bought at least a dozen years ago as a seed packet at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Somehow they made the trip north with some other plants I dug up and brought here. They come back every year, bigger and stronger. This is the first year they really took over the side of the house, just outside the living room windows, and started coming around the front by the hostas.

Monkey just recently discovered the goldfinches. It's true they get lost in with all the yellow flowers. There's one next to his right ear in the photo. He has been too busy watching the sparrows eating the grass and weed seeds, and even an occasional hummingbird. Great cat TV!

Monkey has also discovered that it is great fun to lay down across my keyboard and mouse while I am working at the computer. So I think we will end this post here.