Rumblings & Rain

I saw the sky darken and the motion lights on the barn come on, so I grabbed the camera and went for a walk (yes, I like to be outdoors during a thunderstorm). The wind was blowing, the trees were dancing, and the clouds were diving down from heaven.

Beautiful.

Looking uphill from the back of the barn. 

 

The top of the barn, framed by swirling storm clouds.

The wind begun to rock the grass
With threatening tunes and low,
He flung a menace at the earth,
A menace at the sky.

The leaves unhooked themselves from trees
And started all abroad;
The dust did scoop itself like hands
And throw away the road.

The wagons quickened on the streets,
The thunder hurried slow;
The lightning showed a yellow beak,
And then a livid claw.

The birds put up the bars to nests,
The cattle fled to barns;
There came one drop of giant rain,
And then, as if the hands

That held the dams had parted hold,
The waters wrecked the sky,
But overlooked my father's house,
Just quartering a tree.
                                            ~ Emily Dickinson

Cute, Eh?

I found the little egg in one of the nests the other day, and yeah, I had to save it. It's almost as though a small bird flew in and left it - very diminutive, and therefore cute. The middle egg is of average size; about what the ladies give us every day/every other day.

We've had a few of what I call "rocket' eggs, really large ones, even larger than the one shown. Too large for six-month old pullets, methinks.

Still, the range is interesting.

Rainy day, inside, about to bake more of this:

I baked it a couple of days ago, and it's gone already. I think I may make an herbal loaf (rosemary, or something). Haven't decided yet.

Festive Friday

Well, the gang had quite the little treat today!
I hard-boiled some of their eggs (older and cracked ones) -
Made up a pot of oatmeal -
Crushed the eggs (with shells) into the cooked oatmeal -
Opened a can of pumpkin near the expiration date, added two big glops -
Added some crushed red pepper flakes, turmeric and garlic (good for gastrointestinal chicken workings). Whew! Good thing chickens can't smell.

Took it outside. They came running immediately.
Added some of their layer mash and scratch seeds to the mess. It looked sort of like...alien egg salad. But a weirder color.

By this time, they were all waiting outside the tack room. Some were peeking in through the cat access door. Impatiently. Tapping their little chicken toes on the concrete.

Emerged with the bowl in my arms, and proceeded to spoon out the gunk into their flat Tupperware dishes. Old ones, you know, that we don't use anymore.

THEY WENT WILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone had some, and some more, and YAY! PARTY! And some more. YAY! (again)...peck, peck, peck...chickens waddling everywhere with egg/oatmeal/whatever all over their beaks, faces - oh, the joy of just snarfing something extra yummy on a Friday afternoon! And then to doze in the sun!

Later, I came back out to take some photos of some lazy pasture-ranging as the day wore on:

Stonewall and one of the girls relaxing on the cart:

Buddy patrolling the front of the barn:

In other news, a clandestine friendship has apparently sprung up between an evidently lonely bachelor pheasant and several of our ladies. I caught them together on the loft side of the hill (again) this afternoon:

He had spotted me by the time I took the picture and retreated to the left side of the rain barrel. He is gorgeous, very vividly colored, so who knows - maybe the ladies think him an odd but companionable sort of fellow, a rooster! maybe, then again...maybe not, but hey, whatever, plenty of room to hang out, so yeah...let's!

Happy Friday!
Happy Spring!

The Newbie

Isn't he a beauty? Allow me to introduce Buddy, our new Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel. He was dropped off by persons unknown at my neighbor's house a few evenings ago, poor fellow. My neighbor brought him to us to determine if he might be a good fit for the flock, and, since we had been considering acquiring a youngish roo (one that wouldn't challenge our alpha male), we took him in. Stonewall, our adult rooster, is teetering upon the brink of exhaustion in his zeal to keep up with twenty-four ladies who seemingly have minds of their own. A junior cadet might be just the ticket...as long as he keeps to his rank, that is.

He spent a couple of nights sequestered in a cage, away from the others, and DH let him out today after the others had had a chance to inspect him (he really should have been quarantined for 30 days, but DH made the call). Stonewall immediately stepped between the interloper and his girls, dropped a wing, circled and pushed him to the edge of the group, assisted by a couple of indignant ladies who flew at Buddy for good measure. Buddy wandered away, cooperative, if a bit lost.

This went on for the greater part of the afternoon. The two males did not fight, and I was frankly (and quite pleasantly) surprised, but Stonewall did keep a sharp eye on the newcomer, broke up spats, prevented any romantic, er, interludes from taking place (not that the ladies were entertaining overtures), and generally kept order in the yard. Impressive achievements for a creature almost universally disdained as stupid. (Chickens aren't stupid, by the way. They are charming. And very good at being exactly what they were created to be.)

Buddy exploring his surroundings:

He had cautiously re-approached the far orbit of the flock by evening and, upon finding that he was, by then, huffily tolerated by most of the ladies and the celestial ego object Stonewall himself, he happily pecked around the coop before retiring for the night.

Snow

It was -4∘F this morning when I went out to the barn to feed and water the animals. A bit chilly, you might say, but since the sun is out and the sky is blue, I thought I might shelve my uncharitable attitude toward winter, if only temporarily, and make an honest attempt to appreciate the glories of a snowy day. So - I trudged around the farm until I could no longer feel my toes, marveled at frozen stuff and snapped a bunch of photos, which I now share with you (provided my ISP & Blogger cooperate):

The ladies want no part of whatever that white stuff is lying on the ground, as evidenced by the empty run this morning.

Deer tracks! Nice to see they're about.

Ice crystals along the pond.

Snow covered log near the pond, near the woods.

Snow-covered branch, lying on the ground.

And finally, the barn in winter.

That was fun! And so is this:

Which is where I retire to regain feeling in my extremities. And no, I don't like white walls, but who has time to paint?

Long live winter! (As long as it doesn't live too long.)

EDIT: I see that I failed to mention a very intriguing experience I had the other evening as I was walking out to the barn to check on the animals (we do this before we go to sleep, it's kind of become our custom). I heard an owl! I checked with my son, who had worked with wildlife at a rehabilitation center for nearly two years, and apparently the "hoo-hoo-hoo" call I heard is characteristic of a Great Horned Owl.
So! Score two points (there is one, or more likely a pair of them in the area, and I got to hear one calling).

I had taken this photo a couple of months prior, but decided to post it here, because I like it.

The Barn

Can't resist, just have to post this photo of the barn. It is an old one, probably from the 1920's (maybe 30's, but probably earlier)...hand-hewn beams on the lower level, some of them have been replaced on the upper levels.

It's a beautiful old building.