Little Creatures

[JanetMarie]

A thread about seemingly insignificant little creatures other than human. Discussion about understanding them better, what you can share about them, what we can learn from them, protecting them.

We all have our dislikes at times when the little creatures annoy us, or cause harm to our homes. Such little creatures being deer flies, house flies, gnats, Carpenter ants, termites, raccoons, etc. This thread is about the good things about little creatures, not the bad, so please keep the discussion positive.

 

[JanetMarie]

I feel that I need to add that this post is not about discussing our current situation, because the quarantining of the ant in relation to people is talked about at the end, but about the ant who was separated from his/her colony and the anxiety it felt, and the reunion.

 

[baymule]

we are finally winding down from the worst winter cold, snow and ice that Texas has had in 100 years. We have been Blessed by not losing power or having our water pipes freeze up and burst. It has been a LOT of extra work. Water tanks and buckets are frozen every morning, been hauling boiling water to melt ice, carrying a bucket in each hand, slogging through the snow. That and machete chopping the ice, has provided the animals with water. Been giving extra feed to all the animals, ewes have been lambing and we have two bottle lambs in the house. This has been very hard on us and everyone. Two ice storms and 3 snows totaling 10" of snow!

So to the subject of the little creatures. We did not forget God's little creatures. Right before the storm, we bought three 40 pound bags of birdseed. We have a birdfeeder and during the winter, we feed a lot of birds. In a week's time we have fed 80 pounds of birdseed and am now on the 3rd bag. Poor birds are starving, there is no food for them, it is all covered by snow. I observed birds out in the yard, gathering. I went to investigate and they were working over a weed patch that had seeds, they had actually scratched away the snow to feast on the weed seeds. So I put birdseed there too. My husband mixes birdseed with peanut butter for the extra fat and energy they need. Hoping we can get out on Sunday or Monday, we need more birdseed!

 

[CrealCritter]

we are finally winding down from the worst winter cold, snow and ice that Texas has had in 100 years. We have been Blessed by not losing power or having our water pipes freeze up and burst. It has been a LOT of extra work. Water tanks and buckets are frozen every morning, been hauling boiling water to melt ice, carrying a bucket in each hand, slogging through the snow. That and machete chopping the ice, has provided the animals with water. Been giving extra feed to all the animals, ewes have been lambing and we have two bottle lambs in the house. This has been very hard on us and everyone. Two ice storms and 3 snows totaling 10" of snow!

So to the subject of the little creatures. We did not forget God's little creatures. Right before the storm, we bought three 40 pound bags of birdseed. We have a birdfeeder and during the winter, we feed a lot of birds. In a week's time we have fed 80 pounds of birdseed and am now on the 3rd bag. Poor birds are starving, there is no food for them, it is all covered by snow. I observed birds out in the yard, gathering. I went to investigate and they were working over a weed patch that had seeds, they had actually scratched away the snow to feast on the weed seeds. So I put birdseed there too. My husband mixes birdseed with peanut butter for the extra fat and energy they need. Hoping we can get out on Sunday or Monday, we need more birdseed!

Bay you guys (You and Your Husband) are examples for us all.

 

[CLSranch]

We are not purposefully feeding the birds but I do wonder how much of our scratch they eat out of the chicken tractor. There are several in their before we open it up every day. We didn't freeze up but we did some how run out of water. The water tower ran out of water.????

 

[CLSranch]

Their is also loads around the "feeder steers" bucket all day cleaning up what he didn't.

 

[baymule]

We are feeding out a steer also and he always leaves crumbs for the birds.

 

[baymule]

We are feeding out a steer also and he always leaves crumbs for the birds.

 

[JanetMarie]

At our last house we had a lot of sparrows eating the chicken food, but not so much here. Turtle doves occasionally. We feed black oil sunflower in our feeder, and sparrows do not eat them.

I do love sparrows though, and love to hear their songs.

 

[baymule]

The big freeze is over, snow and ice has thawed and birds have gone back to their regular lives. Just the normal bunch at the feeder. We fed 100 pounds in a week.