We have spent the summer with the most magnificent array of birds all around our property. We had three sets of Eastern Phoebes, two sets of Goldfinches, about a million sets of Chipping Sparrows, a set of Cardinals (and there was some major excitement when I first saw their babies) and the usual Chickadees, Jays, Nuthatches, hummingbirds and more. I know some of these birds have flown south, but all of our birds have disappeared since the hurricane blew through.
I took the feeders down the night before the hurricane. They were down that whole day, but I put them back up by about noon the day after. That was on Sunday. We still have no birds. I take that back. The hummingbirds are here, though they are different hummingbirds, not the two sets who spent their summer raising babies with us. It’s just people passing through.
But where are my Chickadees and Nuthatches? I haven’t even seen the Jays–or the squirrels. I’m so worried. Has anyone ever experienced this? Have others living in Maine had their birds return after the hurricane? I’m a bit worried.
This morning, I decided to go ahead and pull the last egg that had been under Petty. It wasn’t pipped even a little, so I figured it did not develop. Just because I am curious, I cracked the egg a little to check, and there had been no development for some time.
I was somehow missing an egg though. Petty had eight fertile eggs after I had candled them after the first week. I knew the first baby had died somehow, and, of course, we had the undeveloped egg. That should mean we had six babies, but I could only see five. I kept trying to peek without upsetting everyone but still could see just five babies. Then, I set out a new bowl of baby chick food, and Petty started calling out her babies. Then, I saw it! The sixth baby chick is a little black chicken, and I love her!
I am telling you I have never seen a cuter, eclectic mix of babies. I check on them like 20 times a day, and I am so grateful that Petty is so chill and lets me have pretty good access to the babies. Petty just seems to get me.
The best part is that this means out of ten eggs, we had seven babies make it all the way to the end. I’m sad we lost that first little chick, but I adore the six we have. This is very good news for our flock, as I was worried about our fertility rates when I let Ruby have a clutch this spring.
One of the toughest parts is that I made sure I was more hands off during the hatching, not peeking, just letting nature do its thing, which means I am not certain which babies came from which eggs. I know some but not all. After my experience this spring helping that baby hatch and then having it die a few days later, I swore I would not get involved. My heart couldn’t handle anything like that again. Now, I am not sure who is who.
I know that the little silver-gray chick came from Silver’s egg because I just happened to see that one right after it was born. I was able to grab the shell, and it was still wet. I also saw that Ruby’s egg hatched a dark chick but not the little black chick. This means Ruby’s baby is that gorgeous brown and black chick. I have never seen one so pretty. And I can already tell it’s super smart. It watches me with curiosity more the the others. And I know that one of the little striped chicks is Juliet’s egg, but I am not sure which one because they are almost identical. The other one is Cora’s egg. I will never know who that little yellow chick belongs to, but I am over the moon to get a little yellow chick after that tragedy last time. Anyway, I am just going to enjoy every day with these babies. Oh, and so far, Petty is an amazing mama. I hope she keeps it up.
The bad news from our little farm today is that the birds have eaten all of the elderberries. Like all of them.
We always share with the birds, and the birds share back. This year, however, our property has been a full on wild bird sanctuary. For real, we were driving home one afternoon with the windows down, and you could literally hear it when we got close to our property. There were that many birds chirping.
I love these birds, but I am sad they ate the elderberries. I spent the afternoon trying to see if collect enough to maybe make a half batch of syrup or jelly, but it was to no avail. I brought in a sad bowl, and Ron saw it. I told him the situation and said that I guess we just had so many more birds this year that there wasn’t enough.
He said, “Don’t even mess with those you have there. Just take them out to the birds.”
“What about the elderberry jelly?” I asked. “You love it.”
“I’d rather have the birds than jelly.”
I’m going to see if maybe a farmer’s market close might have some elderberries, but I am not hopeful. I don’t see them every often.
It’s all good though. We have lots and lots of birds.
