Animals and Chores

Life has felt pretty crazy in the past few months. Jeremy and I jumped into cows and meat chickens, but then our goats turned into a whole lot of extra work and money. Now everyone seems to be healthy and slowing down. We don't have meat chickens anymore (they're all in the freezer). We don't have any bottle babies anymore. So chore time takes about 10 minutes now and the boys can do it by themselves.

Raising Meat

This winter, Jeremy decided to raise some meat chickens. It's funny being married to him, because I've been talking about homesteading and planning it and generally just thinking about it for years, and nothing feels like it ever happens.

Moving Animals

I kind of figured moving the goats over was going to be interesting. They did fine, but it was a little difficult getting the goats into the truck. And then, of course, they also didn't want to get out of the truck either. Goats.

The Farm Animals

It's been a while since I just shared the antics and personalities of our farm animals. Let's begin with the goats.

Failings

Well, we've had some unexpected developments around our homestead.

The goats dried up.

Dune Fencing

Our first year with free range chickens and a fall garden wound up being a year without any fall produce. So the following spring, we found a cheap and quick way to keep the chickens out for the year.

Instructions to my Mom

Hey Mom, we're going out of town to visit Jeremy's family, and, well, would you please take care of the animals for us? They won't be any trouble, I'm sure. Here's how to do it:

Firstly, you'll want to wear a jimmy jacket with the hood up. No worries! It'll just keep you a little safer...

The Nesting Buckets that Jeremy Built

We've had a few days here and there when the rain has stopped and the mud has dried up. (But don't worry, the mud doesn't get so dry that it turns back into dirt before it starts raining again.) One night during a dry spell, I mentioned (for the 50th time) that we needed to get some kind of nesting boxes set up in the new coop to Jeremy.

Chickens Vs. Guineas

So we have a few issues with the guinea flock, this time around.

They are mean.

They are a gang.

And there is too many of them.

Chickens in the Coop

Moving the pullets into the new coop was the fun part. They were getting quite cramped in their little box. We had added another kennel to give them more room during the day, but they needed a lot more space.

The News Around Here...

Ah-ha! (That was said triumphantly, not like I just found something. Just wanted to be clear.) I'm back! And I survived school starting. Woohoo! We had a great first full week, loved it all and now we're spending the weekend resting and doing whatever it is we want to do.

A Hen and Her Chicks

If you're a regular reader, you might already know this, but I need to explain something before I begin. Our chicken George is a hen. She was the largest chick, so we all thought she might be a rooster, but she's not. She was also the only one of her kind, which we now know is an Easter Egger, so the name just stuck. I always get funny looks when I say George had some babies. But she did!

Changing Flocks

So chickens. Our flock now has 4 Rhode Island Reds, one Easter Egger, and what I assume is a Buff Orpington, although I'm really not sure. And Sunny the rooster is some sort of bantam. It's a mixed flock and has done exceptionally well for us. They provide us with 6 eggs a day, Sunny is the best rooster I've ever seen, and they generally take care of themselves.

Chicks & Needs

I think I have a problem.

Around the Farm ~ Spring

I took a week off after Easter. I wish I could say I did something huge, but I didn't. I just rested. Read a book. And slept quite a bit. So, I figured I'd start back with a little up-date with the happenings around the farm yard! (And by the way, doesn't our front yard look like the perfect place for a milk cow? We'll have goat milk, I know, but...BUTTER. Not anytime soon, one day, I'd really like to make some of my own butter.)

Inexpensive Garden Fence

One of the things I needed to do for my garden's potential success was to put a fence around it before the chickens ate all of my new plants up. (They've done it before, dadgum chickens.) We had several t-posts laying around, so I decided to get my fence started. I didn't want to ask Jeremy to do one more thing for me since he's already done a lot here lately. I figured Gideon and I could figure this out.

Sunny & Hens

Since we reduced our flock of chickens, our hens and now two roosters are turning into a nice little flock. Sunny is in charge of the hens though. And he is a good rooster. He takes care of his ladies.

Culling Roosters

This post contains some graphic pictures of roosters, just a heads up!

We did it. We culled our roosters. It was sad. We did keep Sunny, and we also kept my Rock rooster, because he's so pretty. I hope he'll behave himself.

Picking a Rooster

In our quest to cull our flock of roosters, we've been doing an experiment to get an idea about which rooster the hens prefer. Because each one of us wants a different rooster. And we can't decide which one to keep.

Collecting Eggs & Making Breakfast

First thing this particular morning, I put on some breakfast of soft-boiled eggs and grits. While they were cooking, I left Jeremy and the kids to go feed the animals. I put on my cute, new barn boots, (thanks to my in-laws!) and headed out across the front yard.