This morning

Abby checking out the chickens.


Anna

Our newest addition buff Orpington chicks! They are going to be so pretty!

Yes. She has her brothers clothes on and they are on backward. Oh well.

Ignore all the trash around the coop. We have had several very windy days and a lot of yard construction going on. We need to clean up!

Rabbit hutch in progress.

My handsome hubby.

Benjamin

Arlo

Arlo is our 5ish month old dachshund/pitbull mix puppy. He is FRankies son and he is so stinking cute. He isn't the brightest dog around, but he is sweet!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rabbits

Adrian has been working on the rabbit hutch all week. It is almost done. He needs to add the roof and then some wooden sides that open and close for air flow. It looks great I need to wander out there to take a picture

Last night he found a local guy that was selling Californian rabbits. Californians are great meat rabbits. They have a great bone to meat ratio. This morning we picked up two californian does. They are 7 weeks old right now. They wont be old enough to breed for about 4 more months. We are going back the beginning of march to pick up a buck (New Zealand/Californian mix) that is unrelated to the does.

The rabbits are currently residing on our front porch in a dog kennel. Adrian has to at least get the roof on before they can move into their permanent home.

We won't get any meat from these rabbits babies until at least September. Adrian is considering picking up a breeding pair that is already mature at the local chicken auction this Sunday. We will see how that goes.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Coop

Coop in progress!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Projects

We are going to be starting on lots of house projects over the next month or so.

Finish attic- I can not wait to do the boys attic bedroom. They are going to love it. Hopefully, it will make bedtime easier as well.

Build bunk beds for boys- Nathan wants bunk beds so badly. I really hope to get Adrian working on them this weekend. I am actually thinking about having him teach me how to build of it.

Playhouse bed for the girls- I am super excited about this one. We got the idea from Ana Whites Homemaking blog. . I can't wait to get it built so that we can decorate it!



Chicken coop- they are seriously getting stinky and they are almost big enough to kick out of the house.

Rabbit coop- for our meat rabbits. Yes, we are going to eat bunnies.

I would also like him to build us a bed frame and headboard for our bed. I got that idea from Ana's blog as well. Farmhouse bed
h

We also need to finish the kitchen cabinets and paint the entire house.

Garden season is rapidly approaching (even thought the ground hog saw his shadow this morning). Seeds need to be ordered.

I




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

RIP little chick

We lost our first chick today. I recently moved them out of their box in the dining room into a box in the laundry room because they were getting a little smelly. We have had to be extremely diligent making sure that the laundry door stays closed.

Rosie has a thing for chickens.


She likes to kill them.

She killed some of the neighbors chicks last summer. Well, today Ben left the door opened. There was a chicken massacre. Luckily, she only got one. I think she may have broken its back or neck, but not killed it. Poor Adrian had to finish it off.

Here is a picture of Arlo checking out the brooder the other day. As soon as I snapped this picture he jumped in with the chicks. He just wants to play with them.




I think Frankie is a little scared of them. He doesn't like new things.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Baby chicks!

Last Friday we went to Sumner-Byrd Farm to pick up our baby chicks. We got 6 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets. They were born on January 18th.

They are in a brooder in the dining room. They are doing great and the kids are very interested in what the chicks are doing. Our dogs have finally calmed down. They spent the first two days trying to figure out how to get into the box to eat the chicks.

We may go back to the farm and pick up a few more chicks, I'm not really sure. I would like to get some Easter eggers (they lay blue and green eggs) and some Welsumer or Maren chicks (they lay dark chocolate brown eggs)

Now, we just need to get their coop built.