What bird is this?

I found this nest in my orchard a few nights ago. It was too high up for me to see in, but by holding my camera up and taking photos I could see that there were eggs in there. Imagine my surprise when I went to check on the nest to find the below eyes staring back at me.

She is watching me... What breed of bird is this one do you know? Does she look like a native?

The mother bird hasn't abandoned the nest after all.

One of my apple trees, with fruit!

My poor little brown chook with a limp. She doesn't seem to be getting worse, nor better, but she seems happy enough. I am still giving her anti-inflammatories

Another of my apple trees with beautiful fruit

My boysenberry is almost ready for eating, what are my chances that I will get it?

The dill has gone to flower/seed and has many ladybugs on it. Hard to photograph as it was blowing in the breeze.

Tomatoes are growing

...and another looking very healthy!

My silver-laced wyandotte babies are growing up

I was watching Ollie the duck to see if he was going to harass my little brown chook, but instead he seemed to want to be friends.

A wak through the garden...

...inspired by Frank!

This is what happens when your grapevine is full of caterpillars, but on a positive note the caterpillars have gone. Perhaps the little birds found a snack?

My baby lemon tree shaded under a chair

Apricots

Raspberry bed

Nearly ripe

This is what happens when you have ducks and chooks roaming in the veggie bed. These are chewed corn stalks!

This is dill, it has the most beautiful smell when rubbed, but not sure what to do with it.

 Mulberry cutting coming along nicely

Mama duck is sitting again on a few eggs, no idea if she will stay the distance or get off early again.

A few cuttings of rosemary, wormwood, lavendar.

Pea straw galore...

 Dad kindly bought me this huge roll of pea straw for my fruit trees...  It's only just coming to the end of spring and everything is so dry and dead. The pea straw will help to keep the moisture in the ground.

 

I can guarantee once the chooks and ducks are let out, the pea straw will no longer look like this!

 

Early Christmas present for the chooks and ducks

No idea why the photos came in sideways, but my 2 little baby chickens hiding under Mum as I try to take a photo

Two baby silver laced wyandottes. I am hoping that at least one is a little girl.

I had 6 fertile eggs, 1 egg disappeared, 1 died during hatching, 1 died overnight from a strange growth and 1 sadly drowned. The remaining 2 are fighting fit. I have only let them out a couple of times and the last time I was chasing one of them around and around the chicken coop trying to get it to go in, whilst not allowing the mum and the other baby chook out.

I also have one limping little chook, my little brown chook started limping last Sunday morning and after no improvement by Thursday, I took her to the vet, where I was given medication to give her orally for 5 days. Sadly no improvement yet, with 2 days of medication to go.

Garden Update!

I absolutely love spring! My favourite season...

 Apricot tree, with apricots growing this year

 Raspberry canes, kindly donated by a friend and setup with watering system

 Another row of raspberry canes, fingers crossed for a few berries

 My little fruit orchard with new veggie gardens in between the fruit trees, installed with dripline. Hopefully the veggies will survive this year, as I'm terrible at watering by hand.

 Last year's baby chickens all grown up

 Bossy, randy ducks :P Ollie and Cleo

 Newly planted tomatoes, eggplant and capsicum

 Potato patch doing beautifully

 Beautiful apple blossoms

 Kindly donated boysenberry cane, doing well.

 Baby macadamia tree

 Another view of the fruit orchard, veggie beds.

 Hilda has gone broody and is sitting on 6 fertile Silver-Laced Wyandotte eggs, due to hatch in 21 days on Wednesday October 31st.

 I had to quickly fox proof this aviary, so that I could separate Hilda from the other chooks, otherwise the unbroody chooks keep laying in with her and the fresh eggs and fertile eggs all get mixed up. Also once the baby chickens hatch the other chooks can attack the babies I have heard. 

Lots more to do..., hoping to grow a few veggies from seeds, but need to get on it quickly!

New Cat Enclosure

A few weeks ago I purchased cat netting and a zip kit from here (with quick delivery and great price) and installed in the little area outside my bathroom and toilet window using just cable ties and a staple gun.

It was remarkably easy to install, the hardest part was sewing the zip into the netting, trying to push the thick needle through the zipper material and then looping through the netting, but once I got the hang of it I was fine.

My fabulous brother created this entry/exit point for the cats using the existing toilet window screen, which I picked up today and it looks fantastic. The cats now need to learn how to use the door. They are very unsure, but it won't be long and they will be racing in and out.

The purpose of creating this cat enclosure was to be able to keep the litter trays and all the associated smells outside, but the bonus is that the cats love being outside in the fresh air watching the birds fly by.