Everyone Lived

Everyone Lived. 

Those of you out in the country know those words mean a lot. 

We were down to eight below the last two nights here in NE Kansas, and it is only minus 2 right now, as I start this blog post at 10:15 AM. 

It is miserable.  My poor cats in the shop are miserable, two were under the hanging brooder lamp this morning, and the Lasko heater from last year is barely making a difference.  I bought a new Lasko heater a month ago, hooked it up one night and 24 hours later, it blew the circuit and I am afraid to use it.  I need to have an electrician come, but it was just before Christmas and.... money. 

I did buy a new heated dog water bowl when I went out and discovered the dog bowl from last year had frozen in the old hen house.   The cats are using a low basin that I used to use outside for the wildings.... and yes, friends, there IS still one outside for them and I just watched scores of birds using it, so I'll have to refill it shortly. 

 

So there have been HUNDREDS of memes over our snowy weekend here, and I am the first to tell you that the four inches we got was nothing compared to what they have gotten in many other places.... but.... the cold... brrrrrr.  

In the middle of all that, I had two lovely little fosters, Bella and Franny. 

Franny, the blonde on the left, and Bella, the darker girl on the right, had lost their mama, sadly.  They were lovely little girls, but Bella far more infirm than Franny.  Franny did NOT like the cats.  The cats were terrified of two pound Franny. 

They have gone on to a wonderful rescue in this area.  I may get Bella back as a hospice rescue, we will see. 

Of course, they were here on the coldest days of the year. 

The shop camera caught me looking down one day... and I can tell it is not from the weekend, because I am wearing a white covid mask that covers my entire lower face and keeps me warm!  I don't care how I look as long as I am warm!  Warmth is the name of the game. 

This girl is gravid, and I hope she does not have her babies in this weather, they will surely die. 

 

She was not alone.  

I have only seen one raccoon all weekend, and there was food left out on purpose the last three nights, and it is still there.  There is also a pile of food in the garage that has not been eaten.  Possums and Raccoons tend to den up in the bitter cold. 

There is a heated dog bowl on the front porch, a heated bowl in the shop, and a heated bowl in the yard.... oh, and one under the porch of the big hen house, and I am putting food out there, too. 

I need to put my boots on shortly and go out and replenish water and feed again in a few minutes. 

Just prior to the really cold snap, I caught a picture two nights in a row of a possum in Bob's heated house on the porch.  Bob is in the house, and he and Bullseye are not happy, but they are NOT going to stay out in this cold. 

We have been doing a lot of this (Bob). 

A blue jay. 

Not one, but two Cooper's Hawks, way at the bottom of my pasture, looking down on the Spehar's ponds. 

That was a water bowl I brought in from the barn yesterday.... Coco is modeling.  The cats out there have a heated basin now, and they are doing ... okay... in the cold. 

I'm seeing a LOT of these guys (crows). 

And hundreds and hundreds of these flying overhead.  The bean fields are all under snow,  I am not sure where they are eating. 

I love them and I worry about them. 

Right now, I estimate there are two to three hundred little birds out in my yard, eating, and I need to go replenish here shortly. 

The Coopers are beautiful. 

This was the ONE day it was not blowing or snowing last week, and I let the birds out .  They have been in ever since.  Buddy, the last big rooster, is suffering in this cold, his comb looks like it will fall off.  I hung a second brooder lamp in his house yesterday and I found him directly under it this morning, it is closer to the ground than the first.  I was so glad to see him under it. 

That is before the heavier snow... yes, it's beautiful, 

but so hard on animal and human and bird. 

Say a prayer that THIS human does not slip and fall and break anything, because it will mean the end of my dream here! 

Everyone be careful and be safe. 

Missed a Week!

Missed a week, how about that?  

Things are humming along here in Northeast Kansas, Leavenworth County. 

I got up this morning to this: 

Oh, yes, it's beautiful and it actually was not too cold out!  

See the platform feeder in the second picture?  No one could get to any feed, so 

I put boots on and trekked out there and cleaned both feeders off and filled them. 

I cleaned off the hanging feeders, too... and put the small feeder down on the ground.  I filled both water bowls. 

I did not take pictures but within a few minutes, there were many birds out there eating.  I especially like watching the finches on the two hanging feeders closer to the house.  

I am satisfied with how I am feeding this year, and the seed you see on the ground in some of the pictures is seed that fell from the feeders.  In past years, I have spent hundreds of dollars on wild bird feed... I can no longer afford that. 

I feed a mix from Sam's Club that is 99% black oil sunflower, with a tiny bit of peanuts mixed in... and a tiny bit of filler "parakeet feed", as I call it.  Everyone eats it.  One bag lasts about nine days. 

The finches get sunflower hearts into which I mix dried mealworms.  I feed (sparingly) some dried mealworms in the platform feeder you see above, daily.  One five pound bag of mealworms is now 50.00 at Tractor Supply... so I made this months last an entire month.  

I love watching the birds on the more permanent feeder that Keith built years ago. 

My ragamuffin farm girl, Zoey.  This girl LOVES to do chores with me. 

She knows the minute I start to get the bucket ready in the afternoon... her head comes up and she is ready to go!  If Buddy feels up to it, he comes with her. 

They are such good friends. 

The Big Moose went to the doctor on Tuesday and had blood run, got his nails trimmed, and got weighed.  114.4 pounds!  The doctor did not say anything but the techs and I talked when I picked him up, and he is on a diet to lose ten pounds to give his aching joints a rest.  He is taking Gabapentin daily now for his arthritic old joints.  He remains a hospice foster for Bonner Animal Rescue, and I cannot say enough good about this group. 

Zoey and Fritzi came to me through them. 

Three weeks ago, I was out at 3 AM with Zoey and Buddy. 

All of the sudden, I was surrounded by coyote howls, some that sounded as if they were in the yard with me, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. 

There were some from across the road to the west (26 wooded acres) and some from the foot of my pasture to the east, and some on the north in Spehar's pasture that wraps me.  I came in, shaken. 

Because of the skunk dying by my hen house, I have removed the feeder that was in the pasture. 

So there is no more of this going on. One came up two or three times after the feeder was pulled, but I have not seen any in day or dusk for those three weeks, but friends, they are still around. 

A few days after hearing those howls so very close.... I was on the porch of the big hen house one morning and thought "What am I hearing?"... I live 2/10s of a mile from a state highway, and the traffic does not stop until early morning hours... over that traffic, I could hear coyotes calling each other in broad daylight.  In all my seventeen years here, I have never heard that!  

So, fast forward to Friday night.  I got out of the recliner at ten to take Zoey out.  If I don't, we end up at an outlandish hour, rain or not.  I carried her over the deck, put her down... and the most chilling howls came from Troy's pasture, and near his pond, which is about 300 feet behind his house.  I cannot see past my yard light, but I could sure hear them.  For once, Zoey got scared... and in the middle of the horrible chorus.... there was a single scream that ended.  Zoey ran for the door, and I always have her on a leash after dusk.... I ran with her.  I picked her up again and carried her down on the east side, and she did finally squat and then stood at attention, no tail wags, and stared down into the pasture.  The coyotes had moved away after the scream, to the east.  

This is my Teenie girl, who hangs out on the porch of the big hen house. 

I have not seen her since Friday afternoon, when I took these pictures. I am praying so hard the scream I heard was not from her. 

She has not been there all day today, and I have checked all my cameras.  There is another cat, Alien, who looks like her... I have seen him.  

I have seen Diamond Lil, the most elusive of all the ferals. 

Not Teenie.  

I had her spayed at Leavenworth Animal Welfare Society and I am just hoping she is all right. 

Wanda is still living in the big hen house.  Coco, the black cat, now sleeps in the old hen house, and I lock her up there every night.  I sleep so much better knowing that they are safe. 

Both can go in and out during the day. 

The Silkie rooster and hen are spending the day inside today, their outdoor pen was full of snow.  It has melted somewhat and I let the bigger birds out, but I am keeping them in until morning.  I have to carry them in and out twice a day.  

You all know that eggs have become very high at the grocery.  One reason is that avian flu has hit the US hard, with 50 million birds lost last year.  IF you have one bird test positive, from what I understand, the entire flock must be culled.  

It has come within two counties of me.  

I feel somewhat protected as I no longer have a little pond here.  There are three ponds east of me, and one across the road to the west.  I have seen geese land on the three to the east.  I understand ducks are more likely carriers of it, but I feel like the likelihood of a wild duck landing here is very slim. 

Here is the difference it has made in practical terms.  Chicks have gone sky high. 

People are buying chicks who have no idea of the smell, the noise, the constant care that must be given to keep them warm enough, fed, and watered and keep their cage or container clean to prevent disease.  The farm stores sell flimsy shelters for chickens that are designed really to hold only two full size chickens at adulthood... and cannot withstand an attack from predators. 

If you want to buy full size hens, good luck... it's a seller's market, and the prices have gone sky high. 

We have not had a flock at the National Agricultural Center for three years because of covid.  We would like to put one there again this year, and I have begun putting out feelers.  We want only six or eight birds, but to find adults, I am going to have to pay over 100.00 for them.  I may have to settle for some aged hens in order to get any, and the alternative is that I start chicks and all the work that entails.

So... we shall see. 

My oldsters this week... this coop used to have thirty birds in it, it now 

has six, plus the two silkies in their pen. 

(One hen was in the rafters) 

The rooster on the floor has lost enough toes that he can no longer roost. 

I still have seven younger girls and Doug, the Silkie rooster in the little hen house, 

and Singleton the white rooster and one older Ameracauna hen in the old hen house.  She laid four green eggs the week before Christmas and I have not seen another egg out of her! 

This was my egg take yesterday.  I used to get dozens a day. 

It is 2:19 and the sun has just come out!  So good to see it! 

We have been told we are going to get more snow on Wednesday. 

(It disappeared almost as soon as it appeared!) 

Zoey on Duty. 

This is how Molly and I spent most of the morning in the recliner, after chores. 

She has her head tucked under my sweatshirt. 

My favorite food truck was here this week! 

They are back, in Basehor, (five miles) on Saturday the 28th. 

It gives me something to look forward to.  

Things could be worse. 

At least this family had each other. 

I remember when my kids were little we lived in a drafty old house, and 

I would huddle on the furnace grate in the dining room and read in the evenings. 

There are a lot of people who romanticize how "life on the farm" was fifty, sixty and seventy years ago... too often it was like that picture above. 

Mama says take care of each other, and we will see you soon! 

 

End of January

We are already a month into a new year, and it does not seem 

possible!

I have been doing a lot of this, this month! 

(Pulling hay from the garage storage building to the 

little hay barn by the sheep pen). 

I have to tell you, honestly... it has been beating me up. 

I tried using the tractor one day... HUGE mistake. 

I managed to get it stuck four times, and get it UNSTUCK four times, 

but....there the wagon sits until the ground is dry.  I can carry a full bale 

in this wagon, and it takes me two trips to do a full bale in the fat-wheeled cart. 

Right now, I have two bales left in the little hay barn, so I must move some this week. 

Unfortunately, we have had enough melting that the yard is slush and hummocks. 

We have had snow several times.  It IS beautiful, but it also is 

wearing me out.  I have to walk very slowly with heavy boots on, 

and watch every step.  I don't intend to end up like last year with a 

torn Achilles tendon, or worse.  So far, so good. 

It's fun to see what has been going back and forth across the yard in the snow. 

This is actually what I am most afraid of... ice. 

My little friends are still visiting the porch nightly, 

more possums than raccoons, actually. 

I love watching them. 

The "new" stray kitty is often on the porch eating, too, 

and my neighbor is also seeing him/her.  They are 

wondering if it is sleeping in their barn. 

My beautiful feral, Rusty, is the new logo picture here. 

He will let me get within three feet of him before he trots away.  I think, if the tracks in 

the snow are right, that he is sleeping in my shop/barn. 

He has food in a bowl by the hen spa, food on the porch, 

and food in the pasture feeder, where I often see him. 

Oddly enough, he does not like wet cat food much. 

There he is WAYYYY down in the bottom of the pasture last week, 

hunting. 

I recently had two red hens in here, treating them for vent gleet. 

Vent gleet can be caused by wet feed, and I do regularly keep 

a feeder outside for the hens (It is in right now).  The first 

healed up fine, (I hope) and she is back out with the flock.  I brought this 

one in on Thursday night, and Saturday, I brought her out of the cage to the 

kitchen to clean her up a little more.  I felt what I thought was a shiver, 

but now think it was her heart racing... when I began cutting feathers, 

I realized she was not standing... she had died in my arm. 

See how her wings are drooping?  Despite the fact that she ate and 

drank that morning, I believe she was very weak.  I put her in the 

pasture for the wildings... and as of right now, Monday morning, she is 

still laying there. 

The flock I have now is four to six years old... there are a few birds I bought over two years ago 

that were already two, and there are birds that were at the Ag Hall four years ago now. 

Chickens are masters at hiding their illnesses, because they are prey and must do so in the wild. 

I have decided that there will be no more birds in my house... it was a mess.... and 

really, I believe they do better where they can hear their flock.  I have a brooder pen in the 

hen spa I can use as a nursing cage if it becomes necessary again.  

I checked the first hen, she was hiding under the nest box last night but her eye was bright, and she 

went out with her sisters this morning. 

When we warm up a little, I'll clean that hen house out again, it was cleaned in November.  I prefer to do it only twice a year because I deep bed, but I will clean it again just in case. 

I have started getting four to six eggs a day again from the old hens, 

and nothing from the six younger in the old hen house. 

I've seen lots of geese moving lately, but no snow geese this year.  Yet. 

I love feeding the critters and watching them. 

I let the chickens out yesterday after three days inside because 

of snow and cold.... they were SO GLAD, and all I saw was 

fluffy butts in the air as they pecked happily along the fenceline. 

The little birds have been happy, too, with a return to some sunlight. 

I sure love watching them!

These guys have had a good winter, so far. 

As have these two, Fritzi and Jester.  It will be good to come out of hibernation 

soon, though!