Birchtree Farm

Up until this week, it's been generally chilly, with just a couple warm days here and there to tease us. But this week it will be consistently up in the 50's and 60's with bright sunshine. I've been outside doing spring cleanup chores - things like raking the lawns to get rid of matted down and thatched dead grass, not to mention a winter's worth of dog poop (you wanted to know that, right?) :) The snowplows had thrown sand and gravel from the road 15 feet up onto the lawn so that all had to be raked out. In some places it was half an inch of sand covering the lawn.

Also, in the back where the woodpile is, there were the remains of all the wood chopping and splitting that was done last fall - bark slabs and chips of bark and small bits of wood. Then there were all the sticks and things that the dog dragged out of the woods or off the woodpile, or out of the scrap lumber pile and left lying all over the place. So I sorted out the good scrap lumber, threw the useless scraps into the kindling bin, and anything like small bits of plywood and paneling from the disassembly of the old kitchen cabinets into the garbage. Then I raked all the bark and dead leaves and dumped them into a pile to compost over time. I also cleaned out under the lean-to where we kept the working haystack, getting all the hay chaff and damp hay off the pallets and folding up the tarp that helped cover the hay.

Next I need to get the garden in shape and get a couple raised beds made. I have started some seeds indoors: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, and cabbage. Peas need to be planted directly into the garden Real Soon Now, so I really need to get the garden area figured out and get that done. As usual, I probably have been too ambitious with my garden plans, but I'll do my best.

The poultry figured out pretty quickly how to get around the electronet I had been using to try to keep them towards the back of the property. They either went around it, or went through it and their feathers kept them insulated from the shock. So I rolled it all back up again and stored it away.

At least one duck has started laying, but the eggs end up in the poultry yard, having been kicked out or rolled out of the duck nestboxes we built. Twice I retrieved an egg and placed it back into the nestbox. I'm hoping once a clutch is laid that someone will start incubating and we'll have fluffy ducklings 35 days later!

Well, the three little delinquents showed up this morning in time for breakfast. I suspect they spent the night under the shed. Although I looked under there last night as best I could, there are some areas that are hard to see. After everyone was out and about for a while, I happened to see three of the older ducks (that didn't disappear last night) coming out from under the shed, as if they'd been taking a tour or something... "oh yes, very nice, you say this is the family room?"... I wonder if they are checking out potential nesting sites.

Today I put up electronet to try to keep the ducks, chickens, and guineas confined to the back and keep them from coming across the front yard, and heading for the driveway and the neighbor's back yard. We'll see how well that works - I can't surround the whole back yard so if they go out of their way far enough, they can just walk around.

Three Muscovies have disappeared - poof! - gone. They were there this afternoon when I went out to feed everyone, but at dusk when I went out to close up the chicken coop, there were only four ducks accounted for. Ken and I tramped around with flashlights, but no luck. Strange thing is, there are no tracks of any predator-type animal in what snow is left, although there are large patches of snowless ground, enough that some animal could conceivably have come and gone without contacting snow. But besides that, if they were grabbed by some predator, unless there were three predators that all showed up at the same time (unlikely), after grabbing the first and taking off there should have been a ruckus and it would have been hard to not hear that. AND, there should be some evidence - bunches of feathers scattered around for example, but there aren't.

The other possibility is that they went off somewhere and as it started getting dark, they decided to sleep where they were instead of coming back to the poultry yard with the others. This is what I hope happened, and that they will show up tomorrow.

Link: http://birchtreefarm.com

As of tonight, I have uploaded the files for our farm website, which now links to this blog. Please visit Birchtree Farm!

Thanks!

Can I just tell you how annoying guineas are? I mean, really, really, really annoying. We started with 8 guineas keets and high hopes. We now have 3 and our hopes are considerably lower. There's a pretty bad tick problem around here, and guineas love eating ticks and other creepy-crawlies. People who have guineas say they never see another tick after getting them.

However, guineas are very loud. They make a sound that has been characterized as "buckwheat! buckwheat!" They will go on FOREVER making this noise once they start up. They're sort of like watchdogs. Little annoying yappy watchdogs. They "go off" at anything perceived as dangerous, like, a leaf falling in the woods. You know, really scary stuff.

The other thing about guineas is that they appear to be really really stupid. One person described it this way: "All the guineas in the world share the same brain."

That pretty much sums it up.

As an example, they will fly over the fence and wander around the yard, or they will fly up into a tree, and then fly down. Then they walk over to the fence and run up and down the outside of it, because they can't figure out how to get back inside the poultry yard!

Last night one forgot to come in for the night, so she spent it up in a tree somewhere. This one also happens to be the one that makes the most unnecessary noise. This morning, just as it was starting to get light, I heard this incredible racket. It started out like the usual "buckwheat!" thing, and then rapidly degenerated into something that sounded like she was being slowly pulled limb from limb. I really thought something must have gotten hold of her and was taking her apart. About the time I got out the back door, there was only silence. I flicked on my flashlight, and she exploded out of the tree directly above me and went over the house and it sounded like she flew directly into a tree. As in flew INTO it, not landed in it. You know, like Daffy Duck as Robin Hood: "Yoikes! And away!" [whump!]. I went out on the front porch and I could see her silhouette up in a tree, apparently still all in one piece. So I went back to bed.

When I got up an hour later, she was on the ground, running along the fenceline, trying to figure out how to get back into the poultry yard (sound familiar?).

After breakfast I went out to do chores. I always feed the sheep first. She had by that time flown up to the top of the chicken coop. The whole time I was taking care of the sheep, she was on top of the chicken coop screaming to the world. A nice quiet Spring morning. When I finished with the sheep, I threw a scoop of scratch down and she flew down and started eating, and FINALLY shut up.

I've been told that after they reach a year old, they mellow out a bit. That will be sometime in June. If they don't relax this summer, they are either going to freezer camp, or I'll sell them to someone who likes guineas and/or doesn't mind the noise. I think the chickens and Muscovies will do their part to reduce the tick population and the guineas may not really be necessary. At this point I'm almost willing to take the chance.

If you really like guineas, don't be offended. They just aren't for everyone. Maybe you'd like to make me an offer? ;-)