Birds

I can count on one hand the different types of birds I remember around our house growing up: robins, cardinals, blackbirds, blue jays, and, more exotically it seemed, woodpeckers. It could be that I was just not too observant, but since moving out of Nashville, I've seen and learned about many birds I never saw before.

This winter, we've had Canadian geese and wild ducks visit our pond. I haven't been able to identify the ducks yet, since they scare easily and keep flying off whenever I try to sneak up on them. (Note to self: I need Chris to get his binoculars out.)

Other birds I've seen around the farm that I'd never seen before: blue heron, eastern bluebird, indigo buntings...

On the way to my Mom and Dad's house, I kept noticing some birds that would fly away from the side of the road as we drove past. I was impressed by their coloring as they flew, and finally got a good look at one and was able to identify it with the help of my mom's bird book. Reading up on them a little, I learned that they nest in gravel, so that explained why I kept seeing them on the side of the road where the gravel was plentiful.

Not my photo.

Last night, the kids and I went to church. When Finley and Joe jumped out of the van, we immediately heard a loud chirping. I walked around to find a kildeer, in a firm defensive stance, yelling her warning at my kids.

I tried to get a good photo, but the light was failing, and my phone doesn't take the greatest pictures. Edging closer, I could see she was guarding three eggs. They are so well camouflaged, they are really hard to see if you aren't looking carefully. You can kind of make them out in the picture... three roundish 'rocks' right beneath her body.

The kids were so excited, they dragged Pastor Doug over to see the mama bird, then Finley ran inside to ask Mr. Jeff if he could put up some sort of protective barrier around her to keep cars from parking on top of her nest. She wasn't met with quite the same enthusiasm, since people that have lived here for a while are used to the kildeer. Apparently, kildeer can be (understandably) mean, and most just find the bird's choice of nesting in driveways and gravel parking lots inconvenient and annoying.

When we were ready to go home, mama kildeer was no longer by her nest, so I don't know if she was off getting a bite to eat, or if she realized she hadn't nested in the safest spot and abandoned the nest. I'm hoping she chose to try a different location.

Ducklings!

Zivah and I just got back from picking up some ducklings... We now have 2 khaki campbells (one pictured on the left) and 2 rouens (one on the right).

Student of the Month!

Chicks and Trailer Life

This is Gimpy.

He has a bum leg.

 I am surprised that Gimpy is still alive. At first, I wondered if we should just put him out of his misery, but we decided to give him a shot at life (for a while at least. If I get that plucker built, well...). He used to get picked on by all the other chicks, but I haven't noticed them doing it lately. He still remains smaller than the others (notice him to the far right in the photo below) but I'm impressed at his determination. He is getting pretty good at standing on one leg. And, no, I don't really know if he is actually a 'he', it just feels right. Anyway, here is a picture of them all huddled in the corner like scared, little chickens. Oh, right. They are scared little chickens.

 The chicks' feathers are starting to grow out, they are getting bigger, and they are getting harder to catch, so the fun of having chicks is starting to wear off. But Chris has been wanting some ducklings, and will probably stop at Tractor Supply on his way home, so there might be some more cuteness in the near future.

Now, for a change of topic, I will introduce you to some of the joys of trailer life. If you know what you are living in is destined for the scrap heap, it gives you the freedom to do things you wouldn't normally. Like putting flaming duct tape down on your linoleum. I was tired of tripping over the edges of this old patch job, and when Chris saw this duct tape, he was adamant about getting it. Personally, I felt camouflage would have blended in a little better, but this works.

In our house in Nashville, it was definitely not okay to put stickers on the walls. Here, we feel free to do so. I think these two complement the old wall paper and cardboard-and-duct-tape-patch-job. They also feel appropriate due to the dominant farmer/blue collar demographic in our area. Other random wall spaces have been decorated with Spiderman stickers Joe got from school.

 A few of the things I will not miss? This is the bathroom door against a wall of our bedroom. (The camera does not quite do them justice. The bathroom is a bit more orange in real life, and the bedroom actually looks like the door color in the photo.) I very much dislike these colors, but don't want to waste the time, energy, and expense to repaint.

 And I love to have clean windows. There is nothing like a good, clear view out of a nice window. But I can't get to the upper glass between the window and storm window without removing an entire window. Things like this will make me appreciate the new house all the more...

The Hatching

Friday, eggs started wiggling in the incubator. I thought the hatching would happen soon after, but oh, how wrong I was. Friday afternoon and Saturday was pure agony for me. Every five minutes, I would check the incubator to see if there was any progress. Finally, Saturday afternoon, I began to see pip marks on a few of the eggs. I went to bed Saturday night thinking that just maybe we would end up with no chicks at all. But at one o'clock in the morning, the first chick broke out. From that point on, we had chicks hatching continually. Here are a few of the photos I took:

the chick breaks around the circumference of the egg so it can break the end out of the egg

a little wing popping out

taking a break mid-struggle

the kids named one of the three black chicks. this may or may not be 'Rockstar'

We've had chicks peeping in the house for the past two nights, and needless to say, I haven't slept well. Today, I moved all but the late-hatchers out to the shop. Maybe tonight I will sleep peacefully.

This afternoon, while giving  the chicken coop got a badly-needed cleaning, I realized there just isn't room in that one for the addition of 23 chickens- even for the short term. We're either going to have to build an addition or get the stable cleaned out to make a secondary coop there... And I need to get that chicken plucker built...