Free range chickens

We love having our chickens free-range.  We enjoy watching them flock about the yard and they do a good job of keeping bugs and weeds under control.  We have had these free-ranging for several months now and the only complaint I have is that they like to lay their eggs all about the yard!  The dogs have realized that they are yummy - so it is a race to beat them to the newest hiding spot and gather them.  I have started paying the kids 10 cents an egg.  It is frustrating to me because I want the chickens to serve their purpose but I don't like having to pen them up all the time.  We are experimenting now with capturing them all (27 of them now) and putting them in the houses at night and then letting them out after a few hours of daylight and hopefully they will get in the habit of laying their eggs before then.  We are going to try 11am and see what happens from there.  I don't really want to feed them all winter if they aren't going to produce at least enough for our family, so they better get the message or they will be in the freezer!  :-)

New to us fish tank!

We were able to get a very good deal on a 30-gallon tank setup from craigslist.  Will had been asking for one, and when Liz died, it became a little more urgent.  We had read books from the library and found a really neat one that showed creative / unusual ways to decorate your tank.  One of the ideas was a winter wonderland - which we decided to try to create first.  (Stay tuned in the spring for a playground!)  We found items at the dollar store and made a background with the blue snowflakes, tissue paper and glitter.  The white snowflakes are suspended on fishing line and dance around in the water so that it looks like it is snowing.  We plan on getting some more things to fill up all that space, but this was a fun start!  We will add a few starter fish on Tuesday and then if they do well we will add more to the tank.  We plan on barbs, gouramis, sharks, etc... nothing too aggressive but still some fun stuff.

"Liz" passes away

We were very sad this morning to find that "Liz" the lizard had passed away.  She was well loved and lived with us for 2 1/2 years.  Will was sad and buried her near the canna lilies.

Baby bunny update

This is the baby bunny who survived from the litter born in May this year.  His littermates all ended up dying one way or another.  :-(  I was away and they were falling out of the cage.  Anyway, this little guy looks just like his daddy.

Two More Additions

This is Milk Maid Ranch GA Daisy, a registered 2nd generation Mini-Alpine doe.
     Sire: Milk Maid Ranch MS Gaston XA00185 (MDGA)
          Sire's Dam:  Milk Maid Ranch P Aruba  XA00145 (MDGA)
          Sire's Sire:  Milk Maid Ranch G Mr Sinatra XA00154 (MDGA)
     Dam:  Milk Maid Ranch G Dixie XA00155 (MDGA)
          Dam's Dam:  Mt River Ranch Gretta E1369509 (MDGA)
          Dam's Sire:  Milk Maid Ranch Galloway  XA00119  (MDGA)

This is Ivy Gables OB The General, a registered 1st generation Mini-Alpine buck.
    Sire:  CornerStone Farm STS Obadiah D-36488 (AGS)
          Sire's Sire:  Caesar's Villa CBS Stetson D-6684 (AGS)
          Sire's Dam:  4 Fun My Fair Lady D-25790 (AGS)
     Dam:  Iron-Rod STG Sustina A1376071 (ADGA)
          Dam's Sire:  Iron-Rod Radical Strategy A1332318 (ADGA)
          Dam's Dam:  Iron-Rod Abner Susan A13196071 (ADGA)


We have high hopes for some great kids from this pair.  We anticipate them being born Feb 2011.  If you are interested, contact us!

Introducing Annalise

This is a Nubian doeling that we have in hopes of breeding and milking. She is my goat!

More pictures of the animals

 Beau

 Beau and Rose

 Beau

 Luke

 Surprise baby bunnies!

 Chicks continue to grow - I love the variety we got this time.

Goats on their runs and the small a-frame shelter for shade.

Farm additions

May was a busy month here on our little farm.  We added 27 new chicks and were able to move them outdoors and then we built an addition and additional run and got them all settled in with the 12 older chickens.

We also got a new bunny "Susan" who actually is Ruby and Max's offspring but the family we had given it to were moving, so we took it back.  "Susan" ends up being a boy!

We are very excited to add a couple of goats to our farm!  Beau and Luke are mixed breed wethers who will be used mainly for brush control.  They are brothers and very sweet.  They are young, so we are bottle feeding them for a bit to ensure they are handled lots.

Link

A fun website with lists of tricks to teach your dog!

Doggie Buddy