I've Been Robbed

Saturday I had just walked outside, when I noticed one of the red hens running in the pasture. She was running so the other chickens would not get her bounty. In the first picture, she had just laid it down. (I guess to get a better hold of it.) She had caught a little snake. I missed what would have been the best picture. The black hen right behind her grabbed the snake and they were tugging on it. Then the black one got it and ran off. The red hen is the mother of the two baby roosters. They got nothing.

Feeding Fish

As you can see, I finally got the pond water clear. It was clearing with the spitter and plant filters, but the umbrella really gave it the boost. It has been clear for several weeks now. Yea! Now when I feed the fish, I can actually see them and see them well.
The big gold fish is the only one left from my first group of fish. Last year I lost all but him. This spring I bought the two small ones. I thought the multi colored one was a shubunkin, but after taking these pictures I believe it is a koi. The white and gold one is also a koi.

Key Limes

A couple of years ago my friends (two of my friends) gave me this key lime tree. The first year I had one lime. But, last year I had many little limes. They taste really good. This year I'm hoping to have even more. You can see from the pictures I have all sizes and blooms still coming. Can you taste the pie? I can't either, but if I have a lot of limes I might give it a shot.

Nasty Little Varment

Chicken problems again. Every night I close up my chickens in the hen house and count them to make sure everyone is there. Well, Saturday night everyone was not there. I was missing one of the large roosters, two hens (one barred rock and one sex-link) and one pullet (one of the americaunas). I just could not believe four missing, so I looked every where. Nothing. The next morning I let every one out to go about their business. A couple of hours later I heard a commotion and went out to check. Something had got one of the little white roosters. So, last night I set my trap. You see what I caught. I don't believe that this coon got five chickens in two days. Maybe more coons, or a fox, or a coyote. I know I'm going to have to keep setting the trap for a while. I relocated the coon this morning. He better not come back.

Oscar Stole The Squirrel Food

Oscar and Calamity are visiting again. Yesterday evening while we were out feeding fish and chickens, Oscar found the piece of toast I had thrown out for the squirrels. Or chickens, if they wanted it. Here comes Oscar trotting across the yard with it. He decided he was going to bury it. Poor thing doesn't know very much about burying. He dug in the ground about two times and then tried to cover it up. He didn't have much dirt so he used dead grass or something. He stood there for a few minutes and then just decided to eat it. The first picture is of him burying it and the second eating it. You can see Skylar's legs and understand how he reach this decision.

Hungry Young Squirrel

I was piddling around in the backyard and noticed I could walk by this little squirrel and he would look at me and keep eating. He is eating the chicken's chops. So, I went in and got my camera and came back and stopped at a farther distance than I had been. I would take a picture, then take a step or two closer and take another picture. I had my camera on zoom, but I was able to get about ten to fifteen feet from him. I guess he has seen me enough not to be afraid. There is usually five to ten squirrels at a time munching on the chops. Chops is ground corn.

Visiting Terrapin

I don't remember what I was looking for when I look under my Sweet Olive Tree; but, there he was. Just chilling in the sand. I don't think he appreciated my putting a flash in his face. I went back out about an hour later to get a different snap shot. Gone. This was last week on one of the really hot days. Hopefully, he found another cool spot.

My pink water lily finally bloomed. It has never bloomed a lot nor made very many lily pads. That was the reason I added the yellow one. As you can see I had a yellow and a pink on the same day. Yea! They were very pretty. Hopefully it will bloom again soon.

That Was a Close Call

After the mother hen took her chicks from the nest two weeks ago, she would not take them back to the hen house at night. So I set an old ferret cage out by the hen house for her. I had to put her in the cage the first few nights; then she would just go in every night and I would go out and close the cage. That was working well. Then last week a raccoon tried to get her. I had an old sheet on two sides of the cage to prevent a coon from reaching through and getting a baby. He got a hand full of feathers from the mother. As a result, she wouldn't go in at night. I would have to go get her and the chicks and put her in every night. I also covered most of the cage with the sheet and set a trap for the coon. Since the chicks are two weeks old now, I made a little nest on the ground in the hen house for her and the chicks and put her in there. Hopefully, this will work out okay and she will start going back in every night.

Treat Time

Most days I give Poppet and Suki each an apple. Just because they like it. After I had given them the apple, I decided I would take their picture again. I had to reward pictures with another treat. Suki was not having any of this picture stuff, treat or not. For Suki to give up any kind of food, is seriously bad. Poppet was a good girl and let me take her picture, so she gets all of the carrot.