Tropical Hybiscus

A couple of weeks ago, a friend put me in touch with someone who was moving and looking for a new home for her very large potted tropical hibiscus! Well, thank you so much! I have never owned a tropical before.

Hibiscus moscheutos

I do, however, have the hardy Hibiscus moscheutos here in my garden which I enjoy very much. The tropical will be a nice addition...even though I will need to over-winter it indoors. It is too large to bring into the house and also I am afraid the conditions will not be right for it...it was always over-wintered in a semi-heated garage in the past. I may be able to fit it into the foyer by the front door. It stays above freezing in there, but still very cool as there are no heat ducts. But...that's jumping ahead about five months! Right now I just need to repot it. The old pot is lightweight plastic and too narrow in diameter at the bottom to keep it from blowing over with a good gust of wind. What I would really like is a nice glazed ceramic pot---or faux ceramic with a with broad base. The ones that I have seen so far still have the narrower base and would not likely solve the problem. Gotta do something soon...

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I did my rounds of the bird boxes today. Box number one has brand new baby bluebirds! I caught them at just the right moment as all but one are hatched out. A single shiny blue egg remains. He has not even pipped yet. Maybe a bad egg. Will check on it again tomorrow.

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Bad news on the tree swallows in box number two. They hatched out a week or so ago--all six of them were fine. Growing and seemingly healthy. Well... checked on them today and they were all six DEAD in the nest! I have no idea what happened to them. They were not attacked, there is no evidence of insects, they all appear fat/well fed. They probably just died today or yesterday...don't know. I last saw them two or three days ago and they seemed just fine. I don't think they gaped at me when I opened the door, but I didn't think anything of it. They were all breathing then. I do know that there was at least one parent flying around as usual. We did have a torrential downpour yesterday afternoon. I was driving home and it was so bad that I could barely see the road. It seemed to come out of the Northwest. The opening in the box is facing Northeast, but maybe the rain came in and hammered the poor babes. The nest did seem a little damp. I guess I will never know what happened to them for sure.

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Box number three has had an English House Sparrow trying to nest in it. I have removed the nest at least three or four times now. I hope they give up and go away soon.

Bluebird Report

I had checked the boxes a couple of days ago...maybe Wednesday? I didn't have my camera with me, but wish I had as the bluebird babies in box number three were quite large and fully feathered out! I finally got around to bringing my camera out with me today, but alas!--they had fledged sometime between Wednesday and today (Friday). They were so beautiful. I guess I will have to make a point of taking the camera out each time.

So now that makes nine fledged so far this season. Four from the first and now five from this one. The eggs in box number 1 are now four count. The tree swallows have not yet hatched, but momma tree swallow will now stay put when I check on them. She hunkers down and stares at me until I dutifully close the door---leaving her in peace to do her motherly duty of keeping the eggs perfectly warm.

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On another note-- some not so happy news to report: Mama Kitty brought me a little gift and dropped it at my feet on the kitchen floor this morning. I picked it up and to my utter dismay, it was a tiny fledgling hummingbird! Oh, it was very dead and mangled. I had to have another talk with Mama Kitty about which species of birds she absolutely must not touch and those which she may hunt and eat (exotic invasives, such as English House sparrows and European starlings). I really don't think it sunk in. She stared at me for a short second, and then promptly turned her back and walked back outside. I don't think she cared for the stern tone in which I berated her...especially after bringing me a 'love offering'.

So far they have brought us a red winged blackbird, a fledgling tree swallow, an American goldfinch, robins, and now the fledgling hummingbird...

All this in addition to the legal House sparrows and rodentia.

Infestation Not Bothering 'my' Nestlings

We first noticed the flying buggers last Sunday. They were all over the chickens, annoying the H-E double hockey sticks out of the poor things. I did not know what they were, but noticed when I smashed some against the window pane in the chicken coop door that blood splattered. The evil things were blood sucking vampires! Poor chickies. I dusted all that I could catch with diatomaceous earth that I had on hand. Not much else I could do that night.

The next morning, they all seemed to be gone as if by magic...as quickly as they arrived. I have since found out that these pesky buggers are 'black flies' or 'buffalo gnats'. They do suck blood and can actually kill a BULL if the infestation is bad enough!

A day or two later when we started butchering our meat chickens, we noticed that the black flies were back. They didn't bother me too much, but seemed to like DH better. We could only get about a fourth of our chickens processed outside because of it.

I received an e-mail from our bluebird club about the pests. Apparently they can be a real problem for baby birds---even killing the babies still in the nest. The recommendation is to paint pure vanilla around the box opening using a Q-tip. For some reason this repels the black flies. I did this immediately...what a horrible way for a baby bird to go!

Yesterday when we had to get some more chickens processed, I got the idea to put some pure vanilla and some water in a spray bottle. We sprayed our arms, head and neck with this vanilla water while working and this seemed to help.

Bird Box Update

The tree swallows have six eggs in the nest now! I guess they were not yet setting when I last counted four. Six will probably be it.

The bluebirds in box number three are growing fast. I can still only identify five in the nest. When I opened the door, one of the babies offered me his fecal sac, which I gladly removed for him. See, I can fill in for mom and dad bluebird if the situation arises!

Box number one has the beginnings of a new nest. Looks like bluebird nesting material again!

Processing Day

Today we began to process our meat chickens. Go to my blog 'Our Food, Our Health' for the full story.

The First Fledglings!

Until today, there was really nothing new to report-- but now the four bluebirdies in nextbox number one have flown the coop! I am not aware of exactly the day, but they are gone for sure. I have cleaned out the old nest and am now hoping the parents will raise another brood.



The tree swallows finally have finished thier nest--they have it lined with plenty of soft feathers for four eggs/soon to be hatched baby tree swallows.



The six bluebird eggs in box number three have hatched. They look to be only a day or two old. I'm not sure. If I had been at this longer, I could probably have told you exactly how old they are. Anyway, they are tiny--not too much bigger than an egg. I can only see five, but if there is a sixth, he is not picking up his head...the fifth one seems a little tired and doesn't gape at me when I look in--so maybe there is a sixth one somewhere in the pile as well.

Nestbox Check

The bluebird babies in box #1 are fine...all four of them growing and feathering out.
Box #2 has a tree swallow nest about half finished! There are no feathers yet--not ready for them, but I know it is our tree swallows as they were swooping around and chattering at me.
I was able to see the eggs at box #3. The mother heard me coming and made her escape before I got to the box. There are still six eggs and I think that will be it.