Filed under: June 2016 | Tags: nesting birds, nests in barns, Ohio, Ohio barn swallows
June 23, 2016
We have a nice flock of barn swallows, but I have never seen nests such as these. Yesterday, I was at my Amish buddy’s house. There in the top of his horse barn were these nests. The parents were constantly flying in and out feeding the babies. They must have caught hundreds of flies while I stood there.
In my barn, the birds build their nest on top of a light fixture or attach it to a floor joist of the haymow. They leave a little room all around the edge to fly in an out. Seeing these nests built with the entry hole, amazed me. Try as I might, I wasn’t fast enough to capture a picture of the parents entering or exiting the nests. The little acrobatic fliers were to fast for this old man, but they were a lot tougher on the flies than on me…and that wasn’t hard to swallow!
Filed under: May 2016 | Tags: draft horses, eye candy, nesting birds, shedding, Small Farming
May 4, 2016
This pile of hair is from tonight’s brushing session. Knight has finally started to shed his winter coat. The other horses are well on their way to their summer “do”. They are shedding a little, but this guy is dropping gobs, much to the delight of nest building birds.
I am glad to see him finally getting rid of his winter coat. He gets pretty hot on work days. This will sure help that problem. The daily brushing gets easier for me too. The short hair is much easier to keep get and keep clean. I like seeing the horse’s hair coat shine. They are beautiful animals. The shine just adds to the “eye candy”.
Tomorrow we will be working again, but tonight is time for rest!
RicelandMeadows 