Strangers In The Night

The evenings, in summertime, are a time of respite from the sweltering heat, from the penetrating rays of the sun, from the busyness of the workday, and from the noise of commerce.  As it gets around 10 o'clock at night, most people are home.  There is stillness and quiet.  All is at peace, or so it seems.  I like to go out and walk and look at the stars, listen to podcasts (Right now THIS ONE) and think.  

I was walking and looked up into the northwestern sky, admiring the masterpiece of the stars in an infinite universe and my eye caught this (apologize for the low quality photography):

A few months ago I wouldn't have known what that was.  Now I know, it is - A Starlink Satellite Train.  SpaceX's Starlink is a satellite train that will provide broadband internet access for people across the globe.  That's something else.  Out in rural America, you can look up and see something manmade way up in space.  It sort of reminds me of the movie, "October Sky" about October 4th, 1957 when the Russians launched Sputnik 1 and many Americans looked in the sky to see the 23 inch sphere pass over the earth.  Whether it is Sputnik 1 or Starlink, there's something a little unsettling about something created by human hands in the heavens.  Fortunately, the Starlink train only lasted for a few minutes and then the stars twinkled once more without competition.

Oh, the sights that you can see at night if you look.  I remember the wise men in the Bible following a star in the sky that led them to the Christ Child.  On Thursday night at around 9 PM we were coming back from the Bayou Beekeeping Meeting and as we turned into our driveway, a flurry of wings became visible in my windshield.  Whatever it was, it flew directly up into the branches of the live oak tree that shades our driveway.  I had a feeling I knew what it was.  We were just talking about "wise" men putting satellites in space and the Wise Men following the Star to the Christ Child and now we see the "wise" old owl.  I opened the door and got out my phone and put it on flash.  The owl was returning my attention with a penetrating stare of his own.  Tricia was concerned that he would swoop down and come into the vehicle with us.  He turned his head on a swivel like they do as if to say, "Nope, I'm going to stay right up here."

I remember spending the first night in our home here in 2001.  We didn't have furniture in the house yet, and we all slept on the floor.  I remember hearing an owl hooting right outside our window.  It might have been in the same tree that we spotted this one in 23 years later.  The owl is welcome on our property.  Hopefully, he'll take care of some of the rats out by the barn.  Hopefully, he'll leave our chickens alone.  That reminds me.  I'm going to go close up the hen house.  I don't want "things that go bump in the night" to be our wise old friend bumping into one of our laying hens.

Look up, be watchful, for your redemption draweth nigh...

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:  Amos 5:8 KJV

Two Birds on the Barn

Our barn now has two birds roosting on the roof.  Neither needs to be fed.  First there is the rooster sitting atop the barn on our weathervane.  This ol' boy was quite busy during Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, spinning like a top, holding on for dear life.  But he held his ground and pointed toward the blowing winds.  He never crows but always knows the direction from which the wind blows.

The second bird on the roof is an owl, but not a real owl - a plastic one.  He is on the right side of the roof in the above photo.  We purchased him at a local hardware store.  His role is to frighten off hawks.  Tricia moves him around from time to time to mix things up and keep it interesting.  We have chicken hawks that fly around and pick off our laying hens.  We'll often find a blanket of feathers on the ground, but cannot find the dead bird.  

Hawks have been putting a serious dent in our hen population.  It would be a very dangerous time to set our pullets free right now.  We're counting on the plastic owl to be a 'scare crow' of sorts.

Slow Time of the Year for Eggs

At this time of the year, egg production really takes a hit.  The shortened days and dark and gloomy weather coupled with not much grass to eat and bugs to munch on means that if we pick up seven or eight eggs, it is a big day.  In the springtime, we'll pick up ten times that amount in a day.

We have around 100 hens and during the big production months, we give away or sell the eggs our family can't eat.  We bring some to church and then we'll normally have our sign out by the road selling our excess, but these days, we pulled up our egg sign and brought it back to the house.  It'll go back up in the spring.  Maybe we'll have to touch it up a little!  It is looking kind of rough...

Speaking of eggs and chickens, as I was opening up the egg boxes in the hen house last Saturday, I glanced in the woods behind the hen house and something caught my eye.  Something seemed out of place.  I opened the back gate and walked and found this grisly sight:

It was a fresh kill.  Overnight some predator feasted on one of our Rhode Island Red hens.  If I had to guess, I would assume an owl or a hawk did this as it took the hen over the fence in order to feast on her.  The predator didn't even finish eating.  If you look into the center of the photo you can see the hen's untouched gizzard.  Further to the right, you can see her liver. 

Especially during this time of year, we lose a few birds to predators.  That's going to happen.  I don't get too worked up about it.  I did set up our cage trap in the woods near where I found the remains of the hen and the very next night, I caught a big, fat possum.  I don't thing the possum was responsible, but let's just say there's one less possum roaming around at night.  Normally the chickens run into the goat barn when predators are in the area.  This one just wasn't quick enough, I guess.