FRANCIS'S BLOG 06/05/2026
The ducks play in the leaves. (The C:D egg count is 87:57—the chickens were back in business today.)
I can’t figure out cats 🐴
Kitties drink everybody’s water but their own:
Egg Count 85:56 (no hen eggs again).
What a nice day! (EggCnt 85:54) 🔆
It was 65℉ and breezy this morning. We had breakfast hay in the front pasture to celebrate. 🐎
Eggs are eggs, I guess. 🐴
No wonder Minnie and Dot never know whose egg is whose. By the way, today's egg count is 84:53! The chickens haven’t produced like “Daily Daisy,” but 7 dozen is still a lot of eggs! 🐔
Did you know that the DHS has an EPA? 😺
DHS Chief Luigi inspects the new duck water for clarity, flavor, and PBC*
*Poisoning By Chicken (79:50)
News from Mary! 💛
About the most exciting thing to happen to me recently is that I had a chicken in my paddock 🐴:
But Mary went to Ohio last week to the All American Quarter Horse Congress, and she and the Blackhawk team came back Congress Champions! Way to go! 🐎(74:47)
Tux is back! 😸
We had not seen Tux in over 7 months! We were convinced he had gone to kitty heaven; but there he was, yesterday evening. He is welcome back, as long as he realizes that our free range fowl are for lookin’ and not for lickin’! (73:46)
Sly brings home the birds 😸
Sly is very good at catching birds:
He’s just not that great at keeping them. You’ll notice Kanna has her eye on the sparrow (Sly’s blocking the view) while he is distracted by the camera:
When Sly turned back around, his lunch and Kanna were gone. (Speaking of birds, the egg count is 71:45! 🐔)
Free range roosters 🐓
The boys lounge on the patio:
The chicken:duck egg count is 69:44 (no thanks to these guys). 🐴
Dirty and clean
Since it’s been wet, and we like to roll on the ground, most of us look like Charlie:
But look how clean and handsome is Henry! Someone must have given him a good brushing between breakfast and dinner.
The chicken:duck egg count is 67:43.
Egg orphan 🐔
Yesterday morning one of the other hens managed to sneek in next to Minnie and drop off an egg. It was still hot, so we know Minnie didn’t have time to “take it under her wing,” as she always does with stray eggs.
In other news, farmer Rich (who does us the great favor of hauling away poopies) stopped by this morning to tell us our manure spreader died—of exhaustion (65:41). 🐴
Destructive underground activity. 🙀
The moles have been making mountains in my front pasture! 🐴 They are enormous—over two feet across!
The cats prepare for spelunking:
They’ll get those moles! (Today’s C:D egg count is 63:40.)
It’s getting to be that time of year 🎃
Kanna is practicing to be a flying squirrel for Halloween. 🐈 (61:39)
Lock Bridge 🐴
Here I am on the “Lock Bridge,” over the Mur River in Graz, Austria:
The bridge gets its name from the locks people hook to the chain link:
Here’s a video. Notice how fast the river is running!
Egg Count: 60:38
Who would have thought it? 🐴
We’ve discovered that—be it horse, cat, duck or chicken—nobody liked bread. 🙀
Nest-body 🐔
Minnie has been spending all her time on the nest recently. At first we thought she was sick, but she is just determined to sit on her eggs—as opposed to the “lay it and leave it” attitude of the duck and the other hens. Every feeding time she has to be forcibly (but gently) taken down from the nest to eat and stretch her legs. But before we know it, she’s hopped right back up. Today’s chicken:duck egg tally by the way is 57:35—due in no small part to Minnie!
What’s good for the hen is good for the rooster. 🐓
The boys discover the therapeutic benefits of the dust bath:
Egg Count today is 55:34.
I don’t think the Viennese horse was too happy with me. 🐴
Here I am, just after hopping up for a carriage ride around the spectacular Schönbrunn Palace:
Here’s a video of horses who have to work for a living:
(Egg Cnt 53:33)
Cold weather is here 🙀
At least for the past couple of days—it was 39 Saturday morning and 38 Sunday morning! So Luigi and Schrödinger are scoping out winter “nesting” places in the barn:
The Department of Horsefarm Security never sleeps (as we keep telling you) 😸
DHS Chief Luigi says,
"The first weapon in defense of the farm is the dirty look.” (Egg Cnt 48:31)
Ducks “detail” the car.
They are also good at removing paint from the barn. 🐴 (Today’s Chicken:Duck egg count: 48:30)
Everybody loves Cat Food! 😺
We take a break from chicken today and try salmon! I suppose if we had fish, they would eat it too. 🐴