Chicks & Peafowl & Frogs & Bats

It’s been another hot day on the farm, and high time to get the bigger chicks out of their brooder box and into a “big chicken” pen.

They weren’t too sure what to make of such a big wilderness to explore, and didn’t want to come out of the cage at first. The Farmer walked up behind them and shook the cage a little to encourage them to go out.

Once The Farmer moved out of the way, a couple of the peahens decided to come up on the other side of the fence and check out the small fowl. That gave the little ones the needed incentive to move. I’m sure those peahens looked gigantic to them!

Besides, they were thirsty, and I had put out a fresh jug of water for them.

This evening when I went out and checked on them, they were running around in the tall weeds at one end of the pen, playing hide and seek. I stayed a while to watch them flitting about, then walked down into the bottom pasture to enjoy the fireflies fairy twinkles for a while.

From there I wandered on over to the pond and listened to the frog chorus. I got a surprise bonus, and watched a fancy aerial display from several bats.

They were munching up some of the bugs flying above the pond. It was too dark for the camera to focus on them zipping around down close to the pond, so I had to catch them up in the sky. Listen close and you can hear the frog chorus, with a short solo from our peacock.

Summer nights may be hot, but they’re still pretty cool.

Peachick Surprise

A couple hours ago I looked in an incubator to see one peachick almost out of an egg, and another just pipping. But a while ago I decided there sure was a lot of peeping going on, so I peeped too… peeped right in the incubator that is!

Here’s what I saw: It’s the 3 Stooges! Or maybe it’s 3 little T-Rexes!

What a nice surprise! I’ve got 2 peachicks in a brooder box already, and 3 more hatched out now in the incubator.

This is more like it!

More Dancing with a Peacock Prancing

It’s Saturday Night Live around here every day. We have chickens tap dancing across the lawn, roosters who think they’re Irish, goat kids who try Russian folk dances around the fields, and occasionally I do a little break dance (aka falling on my… behind).

Today we feature the Romeo of the Roost, our handsome Prince of Peafowl, Sir Peacock of Prance, waltzing around the aviary.

During the day he periodically prances about, trying to entice one of his harem with his lovely fan of feathers. He sashays around the aviary, looking for love. Finally, he tires and has to let his feathers fall.

This frenetic activity will continue for some time yet, as he dances his courtship during the day, and gives raucous cries at night, telling the world he’s looking for love.

It’s Desperate Housewives meets Dancing With the Stars.

Snow!

It’s snowing here for only the second time this year. Now everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line, don’t be laughing about how excited people in the south get over such a little dab of snow!

When I went out to do chores this morning, the first thing I saw was Toby cavorting around with snow dusting his back.

A couple of the peahens were out and had even more snow on their backs.

After I finished taking care of the critters, I walked down into the woods. There was snow dusting all the leaves on the ground, and some sticking to the trees. I took a picture of the slue on one side on our property.

I  didn’t see any owls or deer today. They probably had the good sense to stay tucked inside some sort of shelter.

My quince bush has frozen blossoms. Right now the iced blossoms look rather pretty, but I’m sure when it warms up they’ll all turn brown and die.

 Back up near the house, the birds were busy at the feeders and birdbath. We always have several cardinals and woodpeckers dining at our buffet.

They take turns at the feeders, and sit on the fence posts patiently waiting their turn.

You can see what blustery weather we’re having by the way the feathers of this lady Cardinal are all ruffled up. She even tucked one of her feet up in her feathers to stay warm.

We won’t get any accumulation worth mentioning from this morning’s snowfall, but it was still fun to see some snow for a change!

Colder weather is here again!

Tuesday it rained all day, and yesterday was overcast. Today it’s bright and sunny, but a cold front has moved in, and temperatures dropped drastically. It doesn’t seem to bother the animals. Wish I could say the same for myself!

I notice the peacock has pretty well re-feathered, and has nice new plumage in time for courting.

He hasn’t starting displaying his lovely fan of feathers yet. The incessant honking that signals breeding season usually starts in February sometime, along with Mr. Peacock dancing and prancing to get the girls attention.

Then it’ll be Saturday Night Fever 24/7!