I didn't take the entire day off yesterday. Just after lunchtime I got to feeling a bit less beat up and went out looking for something to do. As usual around here I didn't have to look very hard. I climbed up into the hay loft and started cleaning some of the old loose hay out. I got two pickup loads hauled away and burned on the garden spot before the wind picked up and I decided to stop.
I get really nervous starting outside fires around here and if the wind is blowing harder than about 5 MPH I simply won't burn anything. However out here on the edge of the plains it is pretty common for it to be a perfect day to burn one minute and super windy an hour (or less) later. So I only got about half the loft cleaned before I was once again looking for another project to work on.
While standing there keeping an eye on the old hay burn I noticed about three or four pair of Bluebirds flitting around. They were checking out the old house locations and generally not happy because the cats have chased em out or away from their old nesting boxes. Some of them have fallen into disrepair as well. I know shame on me but I just haven't had time to think about the Bluebirds nor really the money to go buy new houses for them.
This is where having your Mother in her little retirement mini-house complete with her little porch she loves comes in handy. She had been gone all day off doing who knows what which as I have mentioned before I think was one reason she made this move so she could come and go as she pleases answering to no one. Anyway I had kinda wished she was around while burning the old hay because I could have had her watch it while I got another load rather than standing there myself wasting time watching dried up grass burn. She showed up after the hay was all burned off of course.
She had noticed the Bluebirds earlier that morning herself and had went out to buy a new nesting box for them. So now I had another thing to work on.
I decided to put this house up on an old Mulberry tree I had trimmed out last year and decided to keep. It's still within the hunting range of the cats but is also in the middle of the sheep pens between the dry lot for the ewes and Frazier's pen. While the cats will roam through there they don't stay long because the sheep start following them so I am hoping this will offer the nesting Bluebirds some protection.
This morning there were three pair of Bluebirds fighting over the new house. I really like to keep a couple pair of them around because they are super efficient at cutworm control in the garden. They will position themselves on the poles and trellis in the garden and grab worm after worm all day long and when the cats ran em off last year I noticed right off let me tell you.
After I got done feeding this morning mom and I watched the three couples fight over who was going to get to move into the new house and last I heard she was talking about how we needed another few houses. I am betting when I get back later today she I will have to find a spot for another two Bluebird houses or so.
Anyway I am off to look at a used three point tiller this morning so I might have a "new" toy come afternoon. Hopefully the Bluebirds will have the house issue settled by the time I return.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!
Cats always some more trouble than they are worth it seems to me. Give me a dog anytime PP
ReplyDeleteJohn
John - I used to be more of a dog person than a cat person but the cats just keep showing up and honestly in a few cases I kinda have to admire their intelligence and tenacity. When they know they need to worm their way into your heart they are relentless. Once they figure they are safe, well not so much. Then again my last cat was such a charmer I couldn't resist her feminine wiles she pretty much had me wrapped around her paw. I good hunter is worth his or her weight but otherwise they just take up space.
DeleteWe are suppose to have a lot of bluebirds here, they have bluebird festivals and the little town 9 miles from us claims to be the bluebird capital LOL, but we can't say we see a lot of them, maybe we just need to put up some houses for them.. Did not know they were so good at cutworm hunting! Think I will put some by the gardens.
ReplyDeleteTexan - They are relentless bug killers in the garden. I will sit out there and watch em constantly flitting down grabbing an insect and taking it back to their house to feed the kids. Bluebirds are the state bird here in Missouri and we have always seemed to have a lot of them but the wrens will often run them out of their nesting boxes.
DeleteWe have feeders here in the city but no bird houses. The bluejays that visit the feeder are big bullies to the finches & cardinals. We're scairdy cats when it comes to burning outside unless it's in a barrel. However, I have several cousins who are absolute pyromaniacs.
ReplyDeleteDFW - I only fill up the feeders during the Winter months here. Usually it's just Cardinals and Wrens. Don't see as many Bluejays as we used to. Once the Redwinged Blackbirds show back up I know Spring is in full effect though.
DeleteI am so paranoid about fire. I think anyone with a big old wooden barn is and the wind can shift and pick up speed here so fast open fires make me super nervous.
I like to put up poles in the garden when I don't have a bunch of bean trellis in place as the birds will perch and hunt bugs better that way. I am even trying to plan ahead to where I plant things that the chickens won't destroy in one area and allow the chickens in to that fenced area of the garden to do bug and grass patrol. Of course that gets tricky depending on the chickens. Blue birds are preferred so they will have run of the rest of the garden. Our cats tend to be mouse hunters and are too lazy to go after birds much.
ReplyDeleteSf - I use t-posts and line for my Tomato trellis so poles are always available for the bird. I also get a group of Quail each year that take up residence in the garden but don't seem to do as much bug control I was expecting. I have had a couple of people tell me chickens are the bomb at bug control. I really need to just get some and find out.
DeleteThe one cat we have Pantheon, the orange and white one, is a merciless bird chaser. He doesn't catch one often but he will follow em and hope for hours. The first stray that showed up here Sasha will climb up and sit on top of the bird houses trying to catch the Bluebirds.
The starlings are making it hard for the blue birds around here.
ReplyDeleteI have always been close to paranoid about fires around the homestead.
MV - Here it's the Wrens that will take over the Bluebird houses. I have kinda noticed a reduction in the starling numbers of late.
DeleteSnakes were getting into some of the bird boxes and eating eggs, so with the newest box I switched to electrical conduit - which I am not usually in short supply of. Rigid conduit (GRC or IMC) works best.
ReplyDeleteRuss - We used to wrap stove metal around the poles to keep stuff from climbing up. One year we had a bunch of flying squirrels take over one of the bird houses.
DeletePP,
ReplyDeleteI hope you brought back a tiller. Ours hubby is working on, for some unknown reason it doesn't want to stay running.
Love those blue birds, we don't see this bird down our way.
Sandy - We brought back a tiller alright but not sure it is going to work like we thought it was going to. I will do a post on it if/when I get it to work.
DeleteBluebirds have always seemed to be a pleasant looking bird to me but alas, down here we do not have them. Had no idea about their love of cutworms - wish we had them down here all the more.
ReplyDeleteTB - They love all kinds of works and bugs but when the cut worms and tent caterpillars are ont he move in the garden the Bluebirds are all over them.
Deletethe Moose wants to know how many mulberries you get from THAT tree!
ReplyDeleteIzzy - I have no idea. My son goes out and fights the birds for them about the time they start turning ripe. He loves them and will just go out with a bowl and start grazing. We have Mulberry trees all over the place around here although the good producers did all get cut down a few years back by the powerline guys. My son still complains about that.
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