Bird-ternity Ward....

What the flock?  I am surrounded by feathered bodies and their immediate needs.  No wonder Lee hated growing up on the farm.  He liked the tractors and anything that had a motor. He hated the cows (which confuses me some as he is definitely a connoisseur of mammary glands) and pretty much everything that was related to farm responsibility.  Being the first child didn't force him into servitude as he was followed quite closely by 5 more siblings who appeared to enjoy that lifestyle.  Now, nearly 65 years later, we seem to have a little hobby farm.  I'm thinking it took over 6 decades for him to appreciate not having to do the chores and therefore made them more alluring.  I, on the other hand, lived in town.  We always had a dog and the occasional kitten that liked to ride home from the farm where we would acquire it.  Fan belts and radiators don't mix well with kittens.............twice.  Our kids had various pets throughout the years; dogs, kittens, hermit crabs, hamsters, gerbils and even a pigeon.  I was not informed we had a pigeon until Jessie wanted to hurry home from a skating party one night so she could see how her pigeon was doing. I quickly corrected her saying, "We don't have a pigeon!"  I was wrong.  One was residing in her bedroom and had nicely covered her entire room, (Barbie house roof included) with pigeon shit....lots and lots of pigeon shit. This feathered friend started out as an injured Hewitt Brothers' pigeon, became a "homing" pigeon and ended up a dead pigeon. Traumatic to say the least!
Fast forward 25 years and we have a lovely, quiet, rural home nestled in the trees surrounded by wild animals and birds.  You'd think we'd be content just to fill bird feeders.....not!  We now have 10 chickens in the coop, 3 small silkies (hens) in the smoke house, 4 darling ducks in the garage and 2 tiny turkeys in a tub at Jessie's.  You'd think they could all eat the same thing, wouldn't you? We have 5 garbage cans of food lining the garage wall each holding a different supplement for our feathered friends. Some are on weight watchers, some on cracked corn and even some on laying mash....(I'm pretty sure Lee thinks I should eat a handful a day of that!!!)  They all drink copious amounts of water and the ducks drink, spill and swim in theirs ALL DAY LONG!
This all brings me back to chores.  It does get me fresh air time. It has honed my birding skills and educated me to the value and perks of herbs and all things fresh and healthy.....for my feathered friends.  Other than the fun of watching these critters enjoy our little heaven on earth, we reap the rewards of eggs and fertilizer.  Since I love giving away our colorful eggs, the coffers are in the red for our hobby farm.  We really don't care as we don't have to do it, we just love to do it...


And for our other feathered friends at Eagle Point, we've managed to barely see one fuzzy, gray eaglet head.  We're hoping with the onset of warmer temps, we'll see it better and maybe see a sibling as well.... fingers crossed.

                            Look right under the peak of the heart shaped branch!