Winter is on the way...

Winter is very quickly coming to Northern NY. In just 3 days the trees are various shades of red, brown, yellow and orange. In my opinion, the prettiest time of the year in our region. According to an online almanac this is supposed to be a "horrible" winter for us this year. We are really a month ahead of where we usually are with our rainy season taking most of the leaves off the trees. This time of year when most people are taking stock of their harvest, it is a great time to ponder the things we love and don't love so much. Also, I've noticed that this season brings out the worst in many folks.

My hens are doing well so far. Eric has (mostly) fixed the bottom of the cemetary livestock fence so the chickens cannot slip underneath it. So, we've been letting them out for a few hours a day. The last two days have been rainy and quite dreary. Watching them preening under our Mulberry and Norfolk Spruces when it rains is my form of exciting entertainment. Phoebe and Scroungy hang very close together. Everytime I go outside to check on them Phoebe puts her head down and runs straight for me. It's the cutest thing to watch! Scroungy while flapping her wings following suit. The other flock of 10 loves to dust bathe underneath the Sassafrass trees. It's a beautiful site to see all of them grazing by our backyard fence. They will also spend hours foraging for black oil sunflower seeds underneath our bird feeders. It's Phoebe's favorite place. Ole Meanie loves to run the length of the yard, flapping her wings. She just loves to be outside.

Oh..almost forgot... Ole' Bitty, after 6 weeks of broodiness, has finally decided to quit....at least part time! At times she will retreat back to the nest and her plastic egg. I wanted to get her a few chicks, but Mypetchicken.com and Meyer's were the only hatcheries that 3 was the minimum order and they were out of the breeds I wanted. Hopefully, she'll go broody again this spring.