First signs of spring

[baymule]

Robins live here all year and my grandfather's name was Robin. I have a chicken named Robin too, not after my grandfather, but because she is a black sex link with a red breast.

 

[Carol Dee]

Hey... I like people named Robin. Just am not sure a Bird Robin is much of a harbinger of Spring!

 

[Smart Red]

= = The Spring Bringer = =

How does the red-breast robin know
That time has come for spring?
How does it carry warmth of sun
Upon its earth-brown wing?

How can so small a courier
Bring such a weather change?
From blowing cold and snowy skies
To breezes warm and rain?

I know at last Spring has arrived
When robin red-breast sings
To proudly tell the waiting world
The season that he brings.

Although the males tend to arrive before winter lets go of its grip, by the time the females arrive and the robins start strutting and singing, spring has arrived, indeed.

 

[Lavender2]

No robins yet, but this little guy is ready for my gardens to show up... this is today ...



Yeah, I know, looks like Spring huh?

 

[thistlebloom]

Looks like he's got his hosta radar activated!

 

[so lucky]

We are buried in snow here, but I am encouraged by everyone's stories. It has to come here eventually.

Today is beautiful, headed for 38 F and sunny. Back down to single digits and 20's this week, but I've noticed the sun is getting stronger and "cutting into the banks", so to speak. My FIL always proclaimed February 22 as the day the "water started to go downhill", as he would see the melting snow banks flowing down the street. He passed away Monday at 93, but we will always commemorate February 22nd in his honor.

Bucka, I missed this the other day. You said your FIL passed away on Monday. So sorry for your loss. Lots of times we get as close to our in-laws as we are to our parents. It is very hard to lose them. And now today was his special day. I hope it was a pretty day for him, and you.

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks, so lucky. He was our last living parent, which makes it all feel very strange. DH will need to sell the house he grew up in, which is also the house his mother grew up in. One person asked if we would be moving in there, but it is a small lot in town. We would not trade our house that DH built (nor the 70 acres of land) no matter how much sentimental value the other property has.

It was 45 and sunny yesterday, so the water was definitely running downhill! So much so, that I bailed out part of the chicken run. Great spring cross-country skiing too, but it looks like the polar vortex is returning this coming week.

We did see robins 75 miles south of here in Portland a few days back...

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

We've been seeing many robins and it's been pretty warm out for a while. Ma almost hit three robins on her way home from work, flew right in front of the car.

I'd be more likely to call the weatherman dumb than the robins, even with all of their modern technology they are sometimes wrong. Mother nature will always find ways to outsmart us.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Thanks, so lucky. He was our last living parent, which makes it all feel very strange. DH will need to sell the house he grew up in, which is also the house his mother grew up in. One person asked if we would be moving in there, but it is a small lot in town. We would not trade our house that DH built (nor the 70 acres of land) no matter how much sentimental value the other property has.

It was 45 and sunny yesterday, so the water was definitely running downhill! So much so, that I bailed out part of the chicken run. Great spring cross-country skiing too, but it looks like the polar vortex is returning this coming week.

We did see robins 75 miles south of here in Portland a few days back...

Best wishes for you and your family!

 

[HEChicken]

How many Muscovies do you have? We've had up to two-hundred before but that was our first year when we were just figuring out how good they were at hatching eggs.

I started with 6 (2 drakes, 4 ducks) and hatched a bunch last year. I think at one point I had around 30 but I butchered most and got back down to 6 again to go through the winter. This will be my last year with them. I'll let them hatch but will butcher everything in the fall. I don't care for the mess they make with the waterers.

I've actually been pretty unimpressed with them in every way. I got them because they were touted to be great meat ducks, great layers and great broodies and mothers. They ARE good meat ducks, growing enormous in about 12 weeks and the meat itself is good. But I found the other two claims to be not so spot on. As layers, they lay consistently, one egg a day, same time of day (early morning) until they've laid a clutch and then that's about it. One of mine last year did lay two clutches but the other three only brooded once so after their one clutch, they were done. It is frustrating to keep feeding them with so little return. As for brooding, they were great at sitting, just not so good at hatching and keeping the ducklings alive. They were, however, very good at contaminating their eggs. They would walk icky feet all over the eggs and before the 5 weeks was up, most of the eggs turned rotten. The first time it happened, the duck rejected the egg and I picked it up, put it in a plastic bag, tapped it against a post and there was an explosion followed by a stink bomb. SO glad it was in the plastic bag - even then the smell was horrendous. I've raised chickens and turkeys for years but had never had a rotten egg before that. Following that, I'd say about 60% of the muscovy eggs were rotten. So by the time they got done sitting, they each only hatched a few ducklings. One duck wound up with a single duckling out of the 20 eggs she started with! (She was the one who did brood a second time and hatched several on her second attempt.) The best hatch was 7 ducklings but that mother lost two of them in the first week. They would just show up dead - no sign of why they died, except I don't think she was taking very good care of them. Compared to chickens and turkeys, I was underwhelmed by their mothering abilities, quite honestly.

I did a little better incubating them myself, which is the only reason I even got up to 30! At least I was able to keep them clean and didn't have any exploding on me.