Weather

There was a lot of rain this April. Not unusual for our area, but it gets depressing after awhile. Luckily, we did have a few nice days & the chickens took full advantage of it by taking fabulous dirt baths.

I’m fascinated by the moon & stars. I have a difficult time, but I continue to try to take photos of the night sky. So, when the Blood Moon was supposed to be visible there was no doubt I would try to capture it on my camera. I did get a couple shots of the beginning of the eclipse. But, by the time it was a total eclipse & the moon was supposedly red tinted the clouds hid it & I never saw it. Darn it! Maybe next time in October.

Sadness

April began with the loss of a dear part of our family.

Flower Beds

There was a lot of digging, hoeing & more digging going on this month.

I dug up what was supposed to be our strawberry patch & replaced the few berry plants with heather. I had a helper water the heather after I got them all in the ground.

This is not wowing, but I hoed & dug out a kazillion weeds from the flower bed in the Back Yard. It was a lot of work & I was exhausted. Maybe I shouldn’t let it get so overrun with weeds before attacking them.

There has always been a problem area in the Bird Village. We’re solving that problem by getting rid of the dirt, plants that won’t grow & weeds that grow too well & replacing them with a pond.

Gardening for Food

The tomato plants are off to a good start.

Farmer John rototilled the garden rows.

The kids planted peas.

The ducks were on slug & weed patrol in the garden. Although, I’m afraid they may have eaten the peas the kids planted.

Chicken Keeping

More chicks hatched this month.

A friend & I were vendors at our first chicken swap.

One of our Black Copper Marans is broody. We had to move her from her coop to keep the eggs protected. For the first few hours she was not impressed with the move & paced the fence wanting back home. Thankfully, she eventually sat on her eggs. Since then she has rarely gotten off them. As long as those few hours didn’t mess up the development of the embryos we should have chicks hatching any day.

Now this is what I call a fluffy chicken butt.

Wheelin’ chicken poop to the compost pile.

Aquaponics

Farmer John got the plumbing installed for the first garden bed, fish tank & sump tank. He’s still working on getting the ph & bacteria levels correct before adding fish.

We have lettuce started! The medium Farmer John chose for the first garden bed is clay balls.

Goats

It has been fun getting to learn the personalities of Sven & Olaf.

Olaf scratching his foot. Although it’s kind of a weird photo, I think even his teeth are cute. And, I hate teeth. I could never be a dentist.

Wild Birds

We’ve had lots of birds around lately. But, my favorite was the day an eagle flew over.

There are bald eagles living nearby. But, I never see them around our house. I was ecstatic when I peeked out the window & saw one overhead. So, I grabbed my camera & headed outside.

There were also a number of ravens doing some kind of dance. We often have 2 or 3 ravens around, but I never see this many.

Some how the eagle was a part of the raven dance party. I’m not sure what his purpose was. Was he just flying by & took part in the festivities? Or was he looking for dinner? Eventually, he continued on his way.

During all the raven excitement a couple vultures were circling.

April has been a busy month for outdoor projects! Yippey! I love this time of year.

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Weather

February began with snow, wind, & freezing rain:

The month ended with almost spring-like weather & our crocus in bloom:
 

Flower Beds

Contorted Filbert Tree
Leaves are thinking about making an appearance.

My hellebore never look good at this time of year. I think they just get too saturated with water. They should be blooming soon.

The heather & grass are looking lovely next to the pond.

There’s always work to be done in the flowerbeds. One day I pulled out all the grass that had crept onto the brick edging & into the flowerbed. Hopefully come summer it will look nicer than the soggy mess that it is right now.

I pulled many weeds & old flower stems. Some of it was given to the chickens, some was added to the compost pile & some was burned.

Chicken Keeping

Black Copper Marans hen
When it snowed, the chickens enjoyed a little taste.

Later in the month they enjoyed the weeds I pulled.

This lady is broody, so she’s off by herself… w/o eggs.

Blue Marans
Love this handsome guy.

Easter Eggers

Welsummer egg front & center

February began with embryos developing.

Those eggs hatched and the chicks are already getting real wing & tail feathers. On the nicer days, I’ve been taking them outside for a short time. They seem to have a great time finding goodies to eat.

Aquaponics

The first step in setting up our aquaponics system.
It can take up to 8 weeks to get the bacteria in your water that is needed for the plants to grow. We are starting the process with goldfish & minnows in an old 50 gallon aquarium we had. You can also get the bacteria from your friends fish tank, but we opted to go with this method.

Random Pics of Good Ol’ Country Living

Welsh Harlequin duck

5 day old Easter Egger chick

Bring on Spring. I’m ready!

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My favorite thing about having ducks:
Watching them play in the pond!

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I got ducks!!! I’ve been wanting ducks. But when our chicken population continues to grow & grow, the last thing we need are more feathered friends simply because I want them. The other day Farmer John mentioned how he would like to get a duck that eats slugs. We have Mr. Duck, but he’s not much of a slug eater. The next day I went & found us some ducks… before the hubby changed his mind. They are 4-5 week old Welsh Harlequins & I love them already.

I tried getting an Easter themed photo of the ducks. However, they thought running around quacking was better than standing/sitting still for a pic. Thankfully, I caught this shot mid quack.

It is such a warm, fuzzy feeling watching the little ducks play in our pond.

They just keep playing, swimming, drinking & cleaning themselves. Happy, happy ducks!

Occasionally they would come out of the pond, but not for long. They kept going back for more. Eventually, I had to tell them play time was over.

This poor little guy must have been the runt. He’s smaller than the other two & has wonky legs. They should not be turned in so he’s stepping on his own foot. Supposedly swimming is good exercise for his legs & will hopefully improve the wonky-ness.

I him, wonky legs & all.

Chicks hatching & bringing home ducklings says Spring really is here! Happy First Day of Spring 2013!

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