April 7, 2023
Lambing season is definitely upon us. We welcomed 8 more lambs to our flock this week, bringing the total number of lambs, so far, to 18. We trailered some of the yearlings (last year’s lambs) to our Mountain Spring Road pasture for summer grazing. We’ll trailer them back to Hill-Stead in the fall.
We moved one of our sows to what will hopefully be her farrowing spot, and we’ll move the other sow to her own spot soon. We are 2 weeks away from finding out how our first venture into A.I. worked. The suspense!
The local bird population seems to be mirroring our own frenetic activity. Some are full-time residents looking, once again, for homes to raise their brood. Others are just passing through, heading north as spring unfolds in front of them.
Last week, we picked up 25 pullets (juvenile hens) to add to our laying flock. As we drove home with them in an oversized dog crate in the back of the pickup, I wondered if any of the birds heading North watched us go by and marveled at the effortless way in which our hens migrated.
Our bluebirds are back- and very busy. We have one pair nesting in one of the boxes we put up and another pair building a nest in a dead hemlock we left standing on the ridge. It’s been so windy the last few days, I wonder if there has been any marital friction within the pair that chose to nest in the very tall, dead tree. The view, of course, is wonderful, and it’s excellent protection from the 5 foot long resident black snake that roams the ridgeline - but there is indeed a whole lot of swaying, and creaking, with the wind. Every spring the male picks out a nesting spot and signals to the female that he’s found the perfect place. She either approves or rejects it- so where they ultimately nest is really a mutual decision. When the wind starts blowing, though, and the 60-foot-tall toothpick-like snag begins to precariously sway back and forth - I wonder if they both remember that, or if they each hold the other to blame.