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

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