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!

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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.




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Coop

Coop in progress!


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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
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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




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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.

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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.

Chickens!!!

I just ordered our chickens! In a few weeks we will be the proud owners of 9 chicks from a local farm. I ordered 4 Dominiques, 4 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 Barred Plymouth Rock chick. I have to call for confirmation in the morning, but I believe our pick up date is 1/27. Now it is time to get out brooder ready.




Dominique


Rhode Island Red


Barred Plymouth Rock

New Beginnings

My husband, Adrian, and I have been happily married for 7 years. In that time we have welcomed four awesome children; Nathan (5), Ben (3), Anna (2) and Abby (almost 1). We have 3 dogs Frankie, Rosie, and Arlo who think that they are people.

Over the years we have discussed how we want to raise our family and how we want to live. We have decided that with 4 kids we need to change our lifestyle. We need to cut back on spending, stop wasting so much, and try new things.

Our newest endeavor is trying out suburban homesteading. Adrian approached me about a week ago and asked how I felt about raising meat rabbits. In the beginning, I was adamantly against it. Killing innocent bunnies was insane. It took a few days, but I decided that we could give it a try. The way I see it, the more we can produce in our yard, the less we have to purchase. Our kids are eating us out of house and home. Not to mention that the meat will be so much healthier. The rabbits will be Adrians to take care of.

I decided that since we were going to be raising rabbits we should go ahead and raise some chicken for eggs as well! I am super excited about the chickens. I can't wait to get started. The chickens will be mine to take care of.

We will be planting a veggie garden and a flower garden in the spring. Hopefully, we won't kill it all! Rabbit droppings are great for gardens! A compost bin is also on the agenda.

To do list:

Decide on Chicken coop design
Decide on rabbit hutch design
Build coop and hutch
Prepare garden
Get some Californian and/or New Zeland bunnies
Decide on which kind of chicken we want.
Order chicks from hatchery or locate a local farm. I would rather do local. Supporting local farmers and no shipping costs!
Purchase seeds for veggie garden and flower garden
Start seeds
Compost bin



I can't wait to get started on this new adventure!



My babies





Rosie




Arlo (dachshund-pit mix).




Frankie and Arlo

Location:NC