Agnes, our wonderful young chicken, caught her leg between two boards in the hen house.  She was trapped and unable to free herself. I eventually freed her leg and noticed it was swollen and scraped in several places. As I sat her down on the floor, I noticed she could not place her weight on the injured leg.  What to do!?  Feeling that she needed immediate attention and unable to reach any veterinarians on a Saturday able to handle a chicken, I consulted Google which always has a solution to any problem or question.  With limited knowledge, my husband and I devised a splint and bandage for her leg.  When we were able to take Agnes to our vet her leg was x-rayed and found to be broken.  With a new and improved splint and armed with pain and anti-infection medications, we headed for home.  We placed her in a rabbit cage and put her in the hen house with her sisters.  Agnes sensed we were trying to help her and thankfully was a very willing patient when it came time to give her the medication.  After several follow-up visits to the vet, Agnes was given a clean bill of health and we gradually placed her back amongst the other chickens where we were surprised to find out she was the alpha chicken and took no nonsense from the other hens.  Go Agnes!  You’ve got it, girl!!!!

It’s still March, but the weather has turned warm as spring knocks on the proverbial door. The sky is a leaden winter grey and blustery with the March wind evident. Looking out toward the hill behind the farmhouse beyond the pasture, now devoid of snow, I happen to notice the raven pair who have taken up residence on the mountain hillside over the past many years taking advantage of the air currents as they boil and buffet high over the crest of the hill. They fly in unison as they dive close together and then swoop high aloft side by side. Presently another raven appears and joins the aerial ballet. Then three more ravens appear and join the play. Before long, I count thirteen ravens diving and swooping as a group, sometimes in twos and threes and at other times, meeting together to swoop, dive and roll with the air currents. They continue this behavior for several hours, sometimes disappearing beyond the ridge and then again soaring high above to catch another breeze.

Today is the day the barn swallows fledged! Morning arrived sunny and warm. While hanging bedsheets on the clothesline, I overhead the familiar squeeks and warbles of barn swallows. (I affectionately call them “barnies”.) They are one of my favorite birds and I anxiously anticipate their arrival in May. This year, they chose various mud nests in the horses’ run-in shed from years past ; once selected, they updated and improved them. After laying eggs, brooding and feeding youngsters, today was the day for the young ones to try their wings. Can you just imagine being snuggled tightly in a nest with your siblings, squirming and jostling for a good comfortable position, competing for the insect tidbits brought by parents. As the space becomes too difficult to manage, the young birds will look elsewhere to reside. Today with encouragement from their parents, they hesitated, but finally spread their wings and dropped into the air. I can imagine what it must have felt like to go from such cramped quarters to the freedom of the air and the wide world outside. There were eight of them swooping and diving, benching and turning, up high and then down low over the ground to just rise again over the pasture fence. As I hung my sheets, they would fly low over my head, squeaking exuberantly to each other; the sheer delight was evident. It appeared to me that the parents were showing them how to swoop, dive and rise in the air. Sometimes they would land on the farmhouse roof, and then just as quickly, take off again, enjoying the aerial acrobatics that are their nature to own. What a great start to one’s day, both for me and them.