Animals
- Our Bird List For The Great Backyard Bird Count
Friday Feb 12th, we didn't participate. It was COLD, overcast and rainy all day. We did send Youngest Boy Bean to fill up the bird feeder. Saturday Feb 13th. The weather was some better but we couldn't get the Mom to go outside so we...
- Still Weeding After All These Weeks!
I have been spending the last couple of weeks getting the gardens in shapein anticipation of an "Open Farm" day we are having this Saturday.We have invited Hubbs' co-workers for a day of picnicking, farm tours,hay rides, fishing, etc...just in case...
- More Projects For Spring
Each spring we add to our bluebird houses. We now have about 21 bluebird houses scattered around the property. Every February Hubbs cleans the old nests out of the bluebird houses. Invariably one or two become home to some mice during...
- Tomtom The Omnipresent
Today I received a couple of calls wondering if everything is ok at Bee Haven Acres. This question came about because of my obvious lack of blog posts these last couple of days. Yes! Everything at Bee Haven Acres is hunkey-dorey (is that really a word?)....
- Not-so-brave Maddie And Other Tales.......
This morning while cleaning the pastures, our Newfie, Maddie decided to keep us company and crawled under the pasture fence. Maddie is extremely wary of the horses, but her love for a breakfast of roadapples helps her to forget her fears. However,...
Animals
Cleaning House
Well, it is the middle of February and soon time for the Eastern Bluebirds to return for nesting. We spent a part of this morning cleaning out all of our nesting boxes in preparation for their arrival. Old, dilapidated boxes were replaced with freshly painted new ones, and the rest were swept clean and checked for stability.
Over the years we have created a bluebird trail on our farm to encourage the repopulation of this lovely species. The bluebird used to be quite a common species, but loss of habitat, insecticide use and predators have decreased their numbers significantly. Their chief predators are the sparrow and the starling. The sparrow will move into a bluebird house and break the eggs or peck the chicks. They have even been known to peck the adult birds to death.
Bluebird boxes should be hung 3 to 5 feet from the ground and placed no less than 100 yards apart as these birds are territorial. We have hung our boxes on our fence posts and also have had extra fence posts placed at intervals along our woods. It is a good idea to have other housing available close by for tree swallows. Tree swallows can keep other competing birds from inhabiting the bluebird houses. It is especially good to have plenty of berry producing growth closeby as this will serve as a source of food in addition to the insects that these birds consume.
Besides being a beautiful bird to observe, the bluebird can help decrease the flying insect population in your yard.
- Our Bird List For The Great Backyard Bird Count
Friday Feb 12th, we didn't participate. It was COLD, overcast and rainy all day. We did send Youngest Boy Bean to fill up the bird feeder. Saturday Feb 13th. The weather was some better but we couldn't get the Mom to go outside so we...
- Still Weeding After All These Weeks!
I have been spending the last couple of weeks getting the gardens in shapein anticipation of an "Open Farm" day we are having this Saturday.We have invited Hubbs' co-workers for a day of picnicking, farm tours,hay rides, fishing, etc...just in case...
- More Projects For Spring
Each spring we add to our bluebird houses. We now have about 21 bluebird houses scattered around the property. Every February Hubbs cleans the old nests out of the bluebird houses. Invariably one or two become home to some mice during...
- Tomtom The Omnipresent
Today I received a couple of calls wondering if everything is ok at Bee Haven Acres. This question came about because of my obvious lack of blog posts these last couple of days. Yes! Everything at Bee Haven Acres is hunkey-dorey (is that really a word?)....
- Not-so-brave Maddie And Other Tales.......
This morning while cleaning the pastures, our Newfie, Maddie decided to keep us company and crawled under the pasture fence. Maddie is extremely wary of the horses, but her love for a breakfast of roadapples helps her to forget her fears. However,...