Sunday bath for the kids

I spent far too much time yesterday "overthinking my chickens" according to The Husband. They had escaped their enclosure and were out and about with mom in the morning when he opened the coop door. I spent a hot and steamy afternoon scooping out the dirty hay on the floor, and then made a nice new fenced in portion of the coop for them to play in. One of our older hens, Miles, even jumped in with them and gave it the thumbs(?) up.

Hub goes back about 2 hours later and they had escaped again, with Mom. So as of today they are free range chicks just like the adults. Not my ideal way to care for those stubborn little bits! Mom didn't seem to mind.

Then I go out this afternoon and can't find them anywhere! Finally Miles pointed them out in the doghouse taking their Sunday baths with Mom. Miles must be Mom #2. She is often hanging around keeping an eye on them.

Also, I gave 3 of our fertile eggs to Larissa for her hen that went broody. At least 2 of them hatched today. Once they stop being adorable, she has promised to return them. That would up our total to 27 if all 3 hatch. I believe that's a new high for us, but sadly, the numbers are always changing. That's the price they pay for being free range.

5 chicks now

She's hatching one a day for the last few days. I see 3 eggs left in there mom. Did you give up on those or do we get even more little chicks?

I gave her some cold grapes to hatch with those tomatoes.

4 chicks now

There might be 1 or 2 more chicks on the way, but as of now we have 3 blond chicks and 1 little black one that looks like it JUST came out of its shell.

Momma is better about letting me go in there now that she knows I am not harming her or her chicks. I will keep them locked up in the crate in the coop for as long as I can. Normally I would let her take them out for a stroll as soon as she is ready, but I don't think we are done with the mystery predator yet. Thankfully it has not found its way inside the coop.

There is 1 grape tomato in the nest that I gave her yesterday. She ate a few and tucked the rest under her...to hatch? For a late snack? Not sure...

The hummer and chick #2

The columbines have pretty much stopped blooming and all who I promised seeds to will have them as soon as they ripen a bit more...which means my visiting hummingbird has to go elsewhere for his cocktails.

Here's another of my bad pictures. Little hummer at the top of the Zebrina hollyhocks. This is a garden in progress. I am letting some of the weedy wildflowers, including Zebrina, come back under the living room windows. Added some heirloom tomatoes that I don't really have a home for until I work out a garden plan next year. Old German is a large yellow, and Large Red is not actually all that large, but I bought the original from The Farmers' Museum, and have kept it going for 3 years from seed. Even with the heirlooms, still not as tasty as my old Jersey tomatoes!

And the big news with no photos: chick #2 was born today! Didn't even know except when we picked up mama to move her into the crate for the night. Broken eggshell under her. Hub felt around in the dark until he found the little one. Thank heavens (thank Husband!) it didn't stay out without mama overnight. Mama was very well behaved about the move. Thank you Mama.

Life and death on the farm

Having just lost Little Roo to what I think was a mink, and having the mink still out there probably waiting to make a second raid on my chickens, I was relieved today to find that the broody hen in the coop hatched her first little chick. I need to move her from her second floor nesting box to the crate we prepared for her and the little ones on the floor. Once they start hatching and exploring, there is no way she will be able to keep them in this tiny box 5 feet off the floor that is meant for egg-laying, not child-rearing.

She is giving me the Mom Stink-Eye in this pic. Moving her will not be easy...

I set a HavaHart trap for the mystery marauder who is most likely a mink. It says they are very smart and hard to capture, but I have no other choice except to try this, or tell the Hub to sit out there all day with the rifle. He doesn't sit. That won't happen.

The other good news is that my very fragrant Munstead Wood English rose bloomed this week too. Even though Old Fartknee has been neglecting her, even surrounded by weeds blocking most of the sun, she still managed to put on a show for me. Thank you Rosie!

A mink and a mending knee

Little Roo showing off for Happy and Hoppy, two sisters who are inseparable. Hoppy bounces along rather than walking like a normal Happy chicken.

Little Roo in front looking a whole lot like his papa, Big Roo.

I was all set to write a post called RIP Big Roo. Yesterday we had something attack one of our hens (2 piles of black feathers in the driveway) and a dead rooster with his own pile of feathers, on the other edge of the property. This morning when I went out to check on the poor bloody hen, there was Big Roo in the coop with her and several other hens hiding out on an otherwise nice day.

It was poor Little Roo who lost his life. I am sure he came running to protect his ladies as he does that every time I walk the dogs anywhere near any of the chickens. He will come half flying, half running from wherever he is to move them out of danger.

He was the first rooster here to ever have a real cock-a-doodle-do as his call. Big Roo only gets as far as the doodle. Rest in peace, little guy.

Some questioning of neighbors moving into the house at the end of our driveway point to a mink as the culprit. They saw one in the driveway a couple days ago, and when I mentioned that to the Hub, he thinks he saw it recently as well. I will try to live trap and move it to a new home, but hear they are not so easy to catch, and not a pleasant job if you do succeed.

Not looking forward to it.

I think he moved in when I stopped walking the dogs. When I injured my knee almost 3 weeks ago, I stopped walking them out there around the yard. I think it really helps to keep the predators from getting too close to my free-ranging chickens. A danger to let them roam like that, but I still prefer that to keeping them penned in.

The knee is on the mend. Saw the ortho doc yesterday and we are coming up with a plan of action, but for now it is just brace and RICE: Rest Ice Compress Elevate. But I might have to ignore the plan and get back to walking the guard pooches. I think I can be careful enough...

Ye Olde Fartney in her new big fence

I hurt my knee while walking Woody last week, not his fault at all. In fact, he pulled out of his collar when I hollered, and happily came bounding back through the field by the time I got back to the house. If that had been Cyrus, there would have been a chicken massacre on his way back. Thank you, Woody.

I am very happy with the fence we put in last fall. I have done no dog walking at all since Friday the 12th, and the boys are quickly learning to hang out with me in the yard.

Cyrus is getting much better at coexisting with the chickens even when they are inches away on the other side of the fence. And Woody is getting older (like Old Fart-knee) and seems happy to not be walking out there when it is hot and sunny and sometimes even humid.

Being an invalid, I have had more time to work on the gardens inside the fence, and the wildflowers are doing a good job of filling in the rest. Most of my free time is just sitting out there enjoying life.

An MRI tomorrow should give me an idea as to whether it is anything other than just an old knee. Doncha love when that's the diagnosis? You are old.

EAGLES and 2 subtle messages

So I was sitting outside this morning enjoying a beautiful day with some amazing clouds, watching 2 eagles and a turkey vulture flying off in the distance. The eagles disappeared into the clouds for awhile, and then I was distracted by Cyrus chasing our chickens on the other side of the fence. When I returned to drinking my tea in one of my recently refurbished, trash-picked comfy chairs, I couldn't find the eagles right away, although the vulture was still roughly in the same spot.

Then I heard one of them call over on the opposite side of the house. Now a third eagle and what I think was a red-tailed hawk were all up there together soaring through the sky. The hawk is too small to see in the photos, but the sun was shining through his feathers so I have a pretty good idea that's what it was.

This is my very subtle way of putting it out there that I need a better camera. My little old iPhone just can't handle all this excitement. If anyone has a used digital SLR with a good telephoto lens, let's talk! As long as it takes better pics than these, it is good enough.

And finally, my other not so subtle hint is to my builder. He replaced the rotting trim everywhere but on this side of the house. I need him to come back and fix this ugly stuff, and maybe build my little patio while he is here.

Jim: are you listening?

Evening visitor and more flowers

The columbines are hard to photograph because of the way they face down, but they were not the stars of last night's show—we had a hummingbird stop by for a columbine cocktail. He was here last year as well, sounding like a big buzzing bee out there going from one flower to another. I don't have a hummingbird feeder, and I am pretty sure I don't need one.

My large purple irises apparently survived Woody's tromping. The first one opened yesterday, and there is one more stalk behind it. The little yellow flowers down below are Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis). I bought one little plant at a Heritage Plant Sale at The Farmers' Museum a few years ago, and it seems very happy here.

These and the pink bleeding hearts are so far the only flowers that aren't purple in this year's little garden. I do expect the bright orange Calendula will return soon to fill in the gaps.

Dragons and flowers

I think we have finally gotten past the threat of snow, and gone pretty quickly into hot and humid—definitely preferable to snow in June.

I saw 3 dragonflies on my beagle walk today. A pair like this one, and a larger different one, all on the same steps as we were coming back in the house. I only ever see dragonflies when I have a dog on a leash who wants to investigate the funny little critters. Someday, maybe, I will get a good photo.

My William Guinness columbines have finally opened. I brought some seed with me from NJ, and now have promised some seeds to my friends back in NJ. But I can't get the seeds until the flowers are done looking pretty in with my chives. Once they take hold they grow pretty easily.

And I just dug up some of the black-eyed susans, also from NJ, to share with my neighbors up here. They too grow like a weed, but look so much better than most of the weeds we have.

When I'm 64

I had a great birthday present on Sunday—The Husband spotted a very tiny spotted fawn in the backyard. Further inspection showed there were 2 of them, looking like they had just been born.

We also celebrated with a great takeout order from Alex's World Bistro: vegetable samosas and Vietnamese steamed dumplings for the appetizers, Irish bangers and mash for Hub's dinner, pulled pork fajitas for mine. Eating our way around Alex's world. Very tasty, although it loses something (including heat) when you eat at home.

I take these pics of the dogs on a leash when people are texting me and expecting a reply. I am not a good multi-tasker, can't walk with a dog and text at the same time. I thought this was a very cute Cyrus pose, even if a bit blurry.

Big sky season is back. Nearly every evening we are rewarded with a beautiful sunset. Staying home is not bad at all when this is home.