[Homestead] Spring-in-the-North Alert!!
EarthNSky
erthnsky at bellsouth.net
Sun Apr 19 00:48:50 EDT 2009
Mogrits wrote:
> A few years ago I posted that hawks were decimating our duck
> population. They gradually worked through 8 mallards and a pekin and
> really got attached to this area. There are a couple hawk nests
> hereabouts and they can really make some racket. I miss the ducks-
> they were raised from ducklings but were never really tame nor never
> really wild. Every day was an easter egg hunt for mallard eggs- they
> just dropped them wherever the urge struck.
Well, one way to look at it is that the hawks are indigenous, the pekins
and are not. Mallards, of course, are indigenous throughout the Northern
Hemisphere and even Australia, not even close to being threatened or
endangered, but almost all North American raptors are in trouble. I
know what you mean about missing them though-I miss having ducks and
geese,too. Everyone that sees the hawks here asks me why I don't kill
them. I am utterly flabberghasted by it. I'll probably pay the price
in chickens later on if my luck doesn't change, but hopefully, my
goodwill gesture will put a few good kharmic credits in my accounts and
the hawks will eat the rodents and snakes. I learned today that there
are at least two other mating pairs with chicks within a three quarters
of a mile radius.
>
> But watching these hawks work is also a thing of beauty.
That it is. I've been really impressed with their dedication to
providing food to the chicks. Watching them weave their way through the
tree branches without flapping wings is awe-inspiring.
>
> I've been turkey hunting (unsuccessfully thus far) this year and am
> enjoying the birds. I wish woodpeckers would take a liking to pine
> beetles.
Wouldn't that be nice! I heard a pileated woodpecker just today. It is
unusual for me to hear or see them this time of year-usually here I see
and hear them in November and December. This place is covered up with
lesser woodpeckers, sapsuckers, flickers and the like.
Yesterday I wrote that a pair of bluebirds were building a nest in one
of my birdhouses...correction on that. While working in the garden
within about 10 feet of the birdhouse, I heard chicks and wouldn't you
know there are 3 baby bluebirds in there!
Speaking of birds, I sold 8 mutt chickens yesterday, 6 pullets and 2
roos, for $90. I want to sell 10 more, at least. I'm thinking of
putting them on Craigslist. I gave away three to pay a barter
agreement, and I actually lost one from something or another.
Yesterday, while collecting eggs, I found an older hen, one I think may
be the result of a recessive game chicken gene<g>, hiding in a nestbox.
I thought I saw blood, so I pulled her out and saw that she was nearly
decapitated. I had noticed that she was being roughed up and was a bit
bare-backed, but this was a horrible injury, very deep and dripping
blood, the wound went 3/4 of the way around her neck. I honestly
thought she was near death, so I thought I would give her freedom as a
thank you gift. I set her on the ground and much to my surprise, she
puffed up and tried to attack me! Wow, what an ingrate! I left her
alone and hours later, she was foraging around in the grass, staying
near the coop and the other chickens. At dark, she was still living and
apparently going to make it, so I put her in the chicken tractor and
gave her some food and water. Until she heals up, refeathers, and puts
on some weight, the chicken tractor infirmary will be her home. Today,
I noticed that one of the new hens in the main coop is not a hen at all.
I have two roosters in the same coop, so I need to act on that rather
quickly. I think my little mutt game hen might have been tag teamed.
DH asked me why I would save her..she's old, flighty, and doesn't have
the best personality nor is she very pretty. I showed him the huge egg
she laid for me today. 'Nuff said. Maybe I will name her Susan after
Susan Boyle, the singer who gained overnight fame because she could sing
really well, but whose common and plain appearance was less than
Hollywood star quality.
B
--
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public
debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered
and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed
lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of
living on public assistance."
--Cicero, 55 BC
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
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