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

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

By Leaps and Bounds Part 7: Multipication - Rabbit Style

 

As briefly mentioned in the post below, Sunday  morning (April 28th) was just a bit hectic.  Brunhilda, the first rabbit we bred, was due to have babies that weekend, but she hadn't been acting like a rabbit about to kindle should,  OR at least the way we thought a rabbit about to kindle should act. :)  Well long story short, Brunhilda had one baby on the bars of the cage, before she figured out she was having babies and then settled in her nesting box, like a proper rabbit!  Thankfully, we found the first baby bunny quickly and brought it in and warmed it up before returning it to its mother, and.... siblings!

 Brunhilda ended up with 7 healthy kits! (not counting some stillborn etc.)  After all 7 is the number of perfection!

 At first the babies weren't all that adorable, being pink and black little hairless mousy looking things.

 Even after they started getting their fur, I thought they resembled a Hippo more than a Rabbit! :)

{Hippo with bunny ears??}

 But....  after 1 short week, the darling little things started looking like baby bunnies and everyone that saw them fell in love!

The little rabbit above nearly went home with his new friend.

By the following Wednesday the little Rabbits were just opening their eyes, and we decided it was time for their first outing.  We piled them all in a basket and headed down to our neighbors to visit Miss Sarah on her Birthday!

The visit was a success on all sides!   The little Rabbits are in the sweet cuddly beanie-baby stage, before they begin to be bouncy, trouncy, and unmanageable.

The trip went so well, that the Rabbits went out visiting the next day as well.  As you can see in the picture, they have the cute posing thing down pat! :P

{Lap-full of bunnies}

With their eyes now open, they will be sure to start exploring.  Before long they will be big enough to go outside and then sold to their new homes.   But for now we are enjoying the novelty of the little furry bundles, and love showing them off to anyone that is interested!

~Chs

Last Week in Review

Alright, here is the second installment of catching up with our busy life.  Here you will find a very brief overview of events which I hope to post about in more details in the near future.  We will see....

It all started Sunday morning, when right before church we discovered that our Rabbit Brunhilda  whom we had bred, had decided that Sunday was the perfect day to kindle.  And of course she couldn't just have them calmly in the nice nesting box we provide for her... but more on that later.

Monday:  Since we really don't have enough laying chicks already, :) we picked up 4 adorable Lavender Orpingtons, that we had been longing to own.

The coming Saturday being Derby Day, Faith and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at Banbury preparing for their large fundraiser event.  (I hope to get a full post on that soon to)

On Thursday directly after volunteering at the Pregnancy Resource Center, Faith and I ran off to Port Huron to help Aunt Carmen move all her furniture back into place, after having some beautiful Amish crafted wood flooring put in.

Right before and while we were gone, Sissy our big broody buff's eggs began to hatch!  So sweet!!

We were able to get home from Aunt Carmen's early Friday afternoon, and Faith did some gardening.  It WAS getting warmer, and feeling like planting season, but now.....

Finally, Saturday, the last day of the week:  I was at Banbury all day helping out with the Derby Day benefit  and was joined by Faith later on.  The rest of the family were working hard at home, because there is ALWAYS some project going on around here.

~Chs

Catching Up (By Leaps and Bounds Part: 6)

"Silence is golden"

And if this be true, then this blog has certainly been golden recently!

I do apologize for the lack of posts, and will try to quickly catch you up on what has kept us so busy and silent.   We just can't seem to stop collecting animals! :) ( first ducklings, then rabbits, then chicks, and more...) 2 weeks ago Wednesday morning  found us once again at the post office, picking up a box of live baby animals.

 13 darling ducklings came to live with us.  With the sweetest beaks, and little feet, they immediately were loved, and received many visitors to witness their cuteness.   I had to sell 2 of them, and now have 11 not-so-little-any-more ducklings, who I have affectionately dubbed, the elevensies!

Along with the ducklings came 9 Turkey poults we ordered, who surprised us with their curiosity,  friendliness, and...... stupidity. :)  You seriously had to teach them how to eat... goofy little birds.  They are quite the fliers, and we have had to put higher walls to keep them contained.  

So, that was one week at Lily Spring Farms.  Last week was even more exciting, but that will be another post all together.  (or several) Stay tuned!!

~Chs

Birthday Bash

The evening of April 18th found us all gathered in our basement with Josh and Theresa, celebrating Josh's 23rd Birthday.  Following are some photos from the event.

{The Cake}

Joshua asked for a cake in the shape of a shoulder mount white tail buck.  Usually the cake is either Mom or my project, but this year it was a joint effort, and all of the decorating (including detailed shading and effects) was done by Josiah!!

{Handsome man with his buck.}

{The Smolder}

{A Happy Guest}

{Mozart Chocolate: for musical chocolate lovers}

{A brand new, big and powerful Drill}

Sadie Rose helped out by doing away with the wrapping paper.

We are very thankful for how God has blessed Josh in the past few years, and pray that Josh would continue to grow as a man of God, husband, and leader.

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

~Chs