Songbirds here moving around a lot less and Starlings appear to be weaning chicks early since the chicks go straight after the cicadas that are super easy to catch.
Like many parts of the US, we are having an emergence of periodic cicadas represented by three species, each with their own annoying song, even though they look a lot alike. The are really abundant on the ground where many will never be able to fly and ultimately reproduce. Not letting them go...
The hen above is the product of four generations of line-breeding anchored on the hen (Sallie) below that was 2-years-old in 2012. The matriarch hen looks a little lighter I think because we did not have as much tree cover and the pens were not yet covered by shade cloth. Feather bleaching. In...
Some of my hens in free-range setting would construct nests in open like a wild turkey or quail does. The same hens would limit their foraging, so it was within a hundred-foot radius of the nest. The hen would then challenge birds, including crows that come into that radius and near or on the...
I have 11 units like shown with cock and white hen. They can be moved onto fresh grass with some difficulty. Still having issues with Black Rat Snakes as they can get at nest even in the side ways barrels after dark.
Snapping turtles are hard to keep out. Larger ones will go after largish fish and amphibians and small fowl while smaller snappers can even go after insects and other smaller eats. Bigger turtles will prefer water at least a couple feet deep to use as cover. Otherwise, they will move out at night.
I brought Toggles back into house to keep him out of rain.
Look at check marks on tail feathers from when he was down with coccidiocis.
There are no similar marks on his wing feathers I can see.
He is getting extremely buddy buddy with me where he perches on my shoulder to preen and sleep...
Gate to a pen left open. Owl knocked game camera over by perching on it. Owl is likely a young one since I hear it calling a lot. The owl is calm enough to visit during day even though area is relatively open. American Crows and Red-tailed Hawks that typically harass such owls during the day are...