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.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I took the pooch to town for his annual vet check. On my way home, I couldn't figure out what was on the road in front of our house.

Wild Turkeys!! I have no clue how many there are in that flock ... I think I see 37 heads

 

[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!

 

[JanetMarie]

Here's a new member of the family. He just showed up, yelling meow with reason: cold, hungry, thirsty, nowhere to go, just dumped! (I think he was dumped because a different friendly, however biting cat showed up two days before, but left, and another neighbor kept him, who doesn't mind so much being bit).

We named him Reuben. He purrs and needs a lot, making bread for reuben sandwiches.

 

[JanetMarie]

Last year the wrens built a nest in the barn. When it was time for the little ones to leave they were trying to get out through the windows, which are glass, but closed. My husband and I helped guide them out through the barn doors, which are kept open during the day. The young ones were landing on my arms and hands as we guided them out. The wren parents were there too.

 

[Mini Horses]

We have groups of turkey like that here. Not unusual to see 20-30 at a time. Fortunately we have had no snow beyond a one shot light hit...gone in 24 hours. But I still have plenty of birds feeding...scratch, horse and goat droppings. Knowing how many are out there, makes me wonder why Mr Fox prefers my hens!

Have had a couple bright cardinals flitting around this past week. Beautiful red! Lovely to see.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's an upload from google: Although peppers are self-pollinating and generally do not cross, sweet peppers and hot peppers belong to the same species and can cross with one another. If pollen from a hot pepper fertilizes the flower of a sweet pepper, all of the hot pepper genes from the father plant go into the embryo and the seed.

 

[JanetMarie]

We added two suet feeders to the bird feeding area. Birds that visit the suet cakes are: Northern Flickers, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Downy woodpeckers, and probably some others.

Now, new invaders are blackbirds! They're keeping everyone else away from all of the feeders. When I'm outside the other birds come around some. The Goldfinches haven't been coming at all. There was a Downy woodpecker mom with her young one who would come to the suet cakes, but are not as much. They are pictured below.

It may be a good thing though, because I was concerned that the young Downy may only learn to eat at the suet feeders. Hopefully now the mom and young one are going up and down tree trunks hunting, so the young one can learn while it can. I'll let the blackbirds be there for now, but I won't feed them for the long term.

The suet cakes contain corn, which may be the draw for the blackbirds. I think it's the peanut pieces that the other birds like in the cakes, and not the corn. I would like to purchase suet cakes without corn, but I don't think there are any. Corn is really just a cheap filler. So, I'm going to make some suet cakes without corn, and see if that helps with not being a draw for the blackbirds.

 

[JanetMarie]

I re-made the suet cakes. Here are the three ingredients I used. No salt in peanuts. I'm able to get organic peanuts here. No added oils either. Raisins with no other ingredient added.

Rendering down the suet. Cut into small pieces. It takes a few hours on the lowest heat possible.

The rendered suet, strained.

Peanuts were ground in a food processor to very small pieces.

I found that twice the amount of peanut pieces to rendered suet seems to work well. Easy to remember. Then add whole raisins. I remelted the previously made cakes and added more peanut pieces. I let the mixture cool a little before putting into the mold.

I have a silicone soap mold that was never used, so I thought that would work well. I put the extra mixture in a small glass baking dish lined with parchment paper.

Unmolded and ready to store away! Yummy! To store I wrapped in parchment paper, (I suppose wax paper would be okay also) then into plastic gallon bags, and store in frig. Suet is supposedly shelf safe, but I just store in frig. anyway.

In the feeder! The birds like these a lot. They have a good peanutty aroma.

The solid crispies from rendering the suet are dog treats! And he loves them.

No corn, milo, wheat in any feeders now, and no blackbirds or cowbirds! Much more peaceful.

What I will try next time is to increase the amount of peanuts, because I would rather have more ingredients in the suet to make it go further. Maybe 2.5:1 ratio.

 

[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.