Friday, May 31, 2013

Memorial Day, and Hungry Puppies

 Memorial day for us usually means lots of hard work.  Especially now with Josiah working, any day that he has off, we have a half dozen projects for him to do with us!  Never-the-less, we did manage to have a cook out (first of the year for us) that evening with Mr. Reiche joining us.
I thought I would share a few photos from our memorial day.
 
Pickles from last years garden, homemade catsup, and sourdough buns!


 The dogs were oh so very attentive to the goings on...

 And they practiced every sweet cajoling look they knew! :)

 See the tongue in the above photo? :D

:) 


~Chs

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Growing Up and a Few Additions

Time flies, and here at the farm everything is growing up!  Those baby bunnies whose eyes "just" opened....
Yup, they have grown up, and are no longer sleepy little things that just lay around.

Fluffy, fuzzy, active, adorable, long eared, big footed...
ear scratching bunny dolls!

They are SO grown up, they are even eating grass now!!


See!!?  Mmmm...  Yummy green stuff!  
(can anyone quote with me.. "Eating greens is a special treat, it makes long ears and great big feet... but it sure is awful stuff to eat!  *I made that last part up myself*)  :)

But, the bunnies aren't the only things that have been growing up.
Meet the Elevensies!  Once upon a time they were tiny, fuzzy, and cute ducklings.  Now they are medium, soft, handsome and beautiful Ducks!  They still have a little bit of growing up to do, but they certainly are maturing quite well, and a bit too fast for their "Momma's" liking.

They swim in the pond by themselves.


And sleep out in their very own duck coop.

They are in their awkward teenage stage at the moment and only let themselves be petted or approached when there is food around. :)

{Miss Willow, above, is turning into a very beautiful duck, but I am absolutely stumped on what breed she is!)

While everyone is growing up and moving on, we replaced them with more "littles" indoors.  All 12 of my Pekin eggs hatched, unassisted, and were absolutely healthy!!

I was more then shocked, and since we didn't have room to keep the whole dozen, I am selling some to make space.  In fact at the moment, the Pekin ducklings are the only birds in the house, and they have even been banished to the porch!

 That is right, the laying chicks are now pullets and have graduated to living out in the Pullet Coop!

The white Cochin, which we are hoping/thinking is a girl, has feathered out enormously!  If you don't look right at her, you can sometimes think she is a rabbit. :)

The Turkeys (not pictured) have also gotten huge, and were just transferred out back to their very own hoop house; thanksgiving dinners in the making! :P

So, that is what has been going on around here, lots of growing up and moving around.  :)  Hope you are all having an enjoyable and productive spring too!

~Chs

Friday, May 24, 2013

The Gorgeous Spring Continues

Despite my absence from this blog, the year is flying by, and with it one of the most beautiful and dramatic seasons.  
Spring.
Below are some pictures from Spring at our house.
Daffodils in the Glade.

The Daffodil Muse
A poetical Daffodil
Bleeding Hearts, and Violets
Creeping Phlox
A late Spring bouquet
Violets
Shirley Tulips
A glimpse in the window
Rainy day Tulips
Rembrandt Tulip
Beauty is all around us, every day!

~Chs

Monday, May 13, 2013

By Leaps and Bounds Part 8: Broody Hens, and Incubator Chicks

 We have chicks E.V.E.R.Y  W.H.E.R.E!!!  Let's quickly take a tour of all the babies to get you updated and clarify it for us :)  So, first we had the laying chicks we ordered from McMurray.  Then the Lavender Orpingtons, we just had to have.
Next... Sissy, our first broody hen, hatched out 5 darling silver giant chicks...

and 2 misfit black chicks, whose mother must have snuck in her eggs when we weren't looking.


Sissy, is a very good momma, and loves to take her babies outside to dust bathe. :)


The next groups are just a little confusing, so let me explain.  Josiah had won a picture contest with a photo of an arrangement of eggs, and his prize had been a dozen hatching eggs of some special Blue/Blue Barred Rocks.  We had added them into the incubator along with some eggs from our hens which we were hatching out mainly for friends.


Well, at the same time Little Girl (Josiah's chicken, who just adores him) went broody, so we gave her some of our eggs to sit on for the time being.

Then when 8 out of 12 (a wonderful ratio for shipped eggs) of Josiah's prize eggs hatched, we gave them to Little Girl, and like the sweet heart she is, she accepted everyone of them, and went from sitting on 3 eggs, to the happy mother of 8 chicks.  She had never had a hatch go so fast!!! :)



  Back in the house, our other chicks had hatched, and were being loved on.

 Most of the eggs we set were Easter Egg chickens, and they came out so sweet with puffy cheeks, and little beards. 

 Baby Clairette all sleepy after hatching.

 These are Mousy's (our most adorable Lavender Easter Egger Hen) babies.

1 girl 1 boy!!  They are absolutely, downright, no question about it, adorable, dolls!!!

So, I think that is all the chicks for now! :)  We do have a couple of broody hens in the chicken coop..... 

~Chs