Spring is springing!
It is not unusual to have these glorious tastes of spring at the time of the year, at the end of March. Today peaked at 72 degrees, a far cry from the chilly past few months. The key, we have learned, is to enjoy it, soaking up the sunshine, without getting SUCKERED into thinking that spring is really here. In our first Spokane garden, Steve and I went out on a March weekend much like today and planted EVERYTHING. Then I went to work on Monday and was quickly told I was CRAZY and you CAN’T DO THAT HERE! Our rule is soundly “No planting until the snow is gone from Mt. Spokane”, which typically means after Mother’s Day.
There is no denying that when you live the Northern Life, you really relish the changing of the seasons, and the change is afoot! But we won’t be surprised if it snows a little next week.
Now THAT’s the type of numbers we love to see this time of year!
Everything is starting to green up nicely!
Still see that snow on the mountain.
The goats look so bucolic enjoying a little sunshine.
Bees are loving the sunshine, too. I really need to get in there and clean things up, move the hives over by the garden, do spring bee stuff. It’s on my list for the next 70-degree day!
Chicken Update
The chickens have been a little bit of a worry lately. I realized we have lost four hens over the past few weeks for unexplained reasons. As Steve reminds me, we do have an older flock. Some of my chickens are getting close to being 10 years old, and I also rescued a dozen mostly older hens from a local gal who was moving last fall. So losing hens (especially when you have over 50!) is not a shocking occurrence.
But - there is this “Bird Flu” going around, in all 50 states, wiping out both commercial and backyard flocks, creating havoc in the egg supply chain. This disease is transported from wild birds - the “wildest” birds we see visiting our chicken area are an occasional wild turkey. Birds who get this flu tend to die in 24-48 hours, very quickly. So losing chickens who do not appear to be injured or infirm, has become a huge concern for me. Poor Steve, I woke him up at 1am last night to fret about it!
There are no specific indications that our flock is infected. You can take a bird to a vet and have its blood tested, and they can tell if they had/have the bird flu or not. But if the results are positive, your entire flock is put to death and your farm is quarantined for some period of time. Not exactly an incentive to seek the truth. But if you don’t, then birds could die anyway. What can you do!
So we are monitoring the situation, looking for signs of hens who are particularly quiet/still (“depressed”) or who have discolored combs or breathing problems (haven’t seen any of that.) Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that this terrible disease is not going to endanger our sweet chickens!
I love how the hens come SPRINTING to greet me. I’d love to say they do it out of pure love, but I somehow think it has something to do with chicken treats.
