Meet Bella...

Our Newest Addition To The Farm

Shes a Boer. A friend thought of me when one of his momma goats gave birth to 2 babies on Monday, the momma doesnt have enough milk for both babies & kept pushing Bella away. So shes with us now on Our Little Farm. We got her yesterday around 7:00am. Any info you would like to share with me on goats would be helpful since I've never had a goat before. Some of you know I've really wanted milkin goats for awhile now & one day I will have me some. Guess Bella is just gettin me started into the goat world.

Kaylin loves her & is very helpful. It makes me happy that I can give my kids these kind of experiences in life

Wish us luck on our new adventure....

Bella is a sweetie, I'm up with her right now, well shes already went back to sleep after drinkin 1 oz. from her bottle (I've got her drinkin whole cows milk). I noticed this mornin shes gettin stronger in her legs when shes stands & walks... so Kaylin & I must be doin something right in takin care of her :)

Lost my favorite duckling too...

I noticed something wrong on Sunday but didnt think anything cause after I held her for a min. she was fine. Then yesterday evening I noticed she was layin on her back on the ground and wasnt tryin to turn over to get up, so I grabbed her & brought her inside. I had her in the bathtub with food/water but shes wanst eatin or drinkin, then later she died. I'm havin an not so good month. Hatching eggs not hatching (2 times in a row now), chicken lice & who knows I bet there was some mites too, favorite hen gets killed along with 4 silkie eggs I really needed to hatch & favorite duckling dies. Hope today is better..

I do have some cute good news but I'll save it for tomorrows post...

Lost a hen today... Chipmunk

She was a good hen, one of my favorites. Shes been sittin on 4 silkie eggs, that were due to hatch around July 9. I found her dead in hanging out of the next box, 3 eggs gone, the 4th eggs smashed all up. Something ate the eggs & killed her, maybe a snake? Makes me mad.

Chipmunks hatch August 2010

One of my favorite pictures of her & baby.

Chicken Shack All Clean

Finally got to finish cleanin all the coops on Thursday, cleanin the Chicken Shack took me all day, we've had this coop alittle over 2 years & I have never sprayed it down when I've cleaned it & boy does that make a difference. I'm gonna clean out, sweep, spray down twice a year now. Spring & Fall Coop Cleaning. My in laws brought me their wood ash for the chickens to dust bath in.

Cleanin Coops...

Today I Started gettin the Hillbilly Hen House ready to be turned into the Silkie Shack... Cleaned out the old straw/bedding, sweep it out, scrubbed the floors, walls, nestboxes with soapy water, let that air dry, then spayed everything down with vinegar (natural disinfectant).

Its nice & shinny now

The Inspectors, They gave me a A+

Took this pic on my rain break...
It only sprinkled for a few minutes. Then I got started on the Bantam Tractor... both coops took me 2 hours & 20 mins.


Coming to see whats goin on

* Tomorrow I gotta shine the Chicken Shack.

Processin the freezer camp boys

Sunday was nice out so we decided to start processing our extra roos... we have 10 of em. We got 5 done, doin the next 5 this Thursday. I weighed each one before I put them in freezer camp, we ended up with 4 being 3 lbs. & 1 being 3.5 lbs. I guess thats pretty good for just standard ol roosters I've raised since hatchin out last year.

Me & Dill caught em

I promise lil bantam we wont eat you... we're gonna be best friends :)

A new pair of Silkies

Have come to live out their days on Our Little Farm. I got them from acouple off BYC, they met me over the weekend. They had already named em... Sunshine & Fonzie but her husband had started callin Fonzie, Steven Tyler... I think that is a cool name & fit this lil rooster just right, lol. So now I have 4 Silkies, (& 6 eggs I'm hatchin), I've got them all in Porkchops old pen & plan on movin em into the Hillbilly Hen House/Run, after we process the Freezer Camp Boys that live there now, then I'm gonna give it a good cleanin, we are gonna plant some grass seed & after it grows they will have a very nice place to live in.

Steven Tyler & Sunshine...
Hatch day Feb.21, almost 18 weeks old now. I think they are pretty.

Now if Steven Tyler was a chicken this must be what he would look like, lol

Stay tuned this weeks for... June chicks, Processin roosters, Duck eggs, Randam duckling pics, Hatchin eggs and more

Ducklings. Right Place, Right Time.

Luckily I was at the right place & time to snap this cute picture of my 3/8 Muscovy ducklings... arent they so cute.

2011 Muscovy Hatch

ps. while out collecting eggs I found out I've got 4 momma hens hatchin out eggs! Blog coming soon.

Ramdon Barnyard Pictures...

Just some of the animals on Our Little Farm out doin their thing...

This lil duckling is one of my favorites... because it lets me pick it up & love on it, I try to hold it alittle everyday. I'm kinda thinking its a girl.

I think this pekin is a girl too...
I'm still not seeing the drake curl, so thats a good sign.

Ginger & her May chicks still hang out in the main yard, I tried to put em in the barnyard yesterday but that didnt last long, lol. The chicks fit right through the chain link fence & Momma can fly over.

So Cute... All 5 of "my" duckings are doing great. They are 1 month old now. I love watchin em.

Lou Lou & her 3 ducklings still hang out together but I have noticed the ducklings goin off on their own more. Does anyone know when Momma hens start back layin eggs? I'm guessin its gettin close to that time.

& we all love Princess Porkchop

Ginger & her babies stopping by for a nice cool drink

1 of my favorite lil girls I hatched out this year, she lets me hold her too. Here she is a 1 Month Old

Broody Jail

"So Whatcha In For?"

I've had sooo many broodies again this year... right now I have 10, so I decided to break 4 of em. I have 3 bantams sittin on a nest of 5 bantam eggs, Mabel sittin on a nest of 4 eggs & a broody in my big coop that I plan on givin her some silkie eggs I've been collecting this week.

Heres a hen I broke last year: Nutmeg

What Am I

So I'm playin alittle game on my Our Little Farm facebook page

Can you guess what this is?
Found it in with my pansy's when I went out to water em.

*Check back later for the answer*

Ok,so I guess that was way too easy, lol

*Tree Hugger: How can you tell its female?

One way to stay cool...

Guess she was hot, lol

When I went out to give the animals cool fresh water this afternoon Princess Porkchop decided to take a nice cool mud bath & shower, lol. So glad I had my camera in my back pocket! She was really lovin the shower, gettin her a nice cool drink straight from the hose.

June 7 Bantam Chickies

While I was away from the farm all day yesterday & overnight (my daughter & I ended up havin a girls day that turned into stayin the night at my cousins, we had a nice time) anyways... I called home to check on my chickens & my son told me chicks were hatchin from under 2 hens. I forgot it was time for them to hatch! Around May 19 I had but bantam eggs under two broodies, 8 hatched. They are the cutest lil chickies, I really hope they do good & I get to see them grow. I actually just put all 8 in my brooder pen with 1 of the hens to take care of em.

Pictures of all Mommas to these bantam chicks are H-E-R-E

Hey...
If ya stop in for a visit leave me a comment, its nice. Just sayin.

Ally Cats Kittens... 5 weeks

"Gizmo"

Ally Cats Kittens are 5 weeks old now... they are so loveable & friendly. They have started using the litter box & eatin solid foods. All the kittens have homes they will be goin to.

Update on Piper & Jynx: I got them fixed last Tuesday :)

Plantin 2011 Garden...

I'm so far behind on post... tryin to catch up! Summertime is a busy time! We started plantin our 2011 garden on Mothers Day. Everything is growin great! I took pics. on June 1 & already need to take new ones... everythings so much bigger now, lol. I seen 1 lil jalapeno growing on a plant & lots of blooms on other plants.

We planted acouple different tomatoes, green peppers, yellow peppers, orange peppers, sweet banana pepper, jalapenos peppers, cayenne peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, basil & rosemary, green beans, radishes, beets, sugar snap peas, squash, zucchini, giant sunflower, giant pumpkins (Thanks Paul), small gourds and a blueberry bush we planted in the back yard.

Our Little Barnyard Pond...

Dontcha think the poor girl needs a pond to cool off in?!?!

We do! So we recycled our old pool liner into a barnyard pond for the animals over the weekend. Its been a huge hit with Porkchop, the ducks & us... I have been hanging out alot down there just enjoyin the animals & nature, always something goin on.

Ants were all over the pool liner when we pulled it out... the animals loved em!

We had lots of helpers

The 1st one in the pond :)

We made it alittle bigger the other evening & we had helpers, lol

They are so sweet

I never knew I'd feel so much joy & happiness from living on Our Little Farm. I feel truly blessed & thank god everyday for makin it possible. I was sittin by the pond this morning thinkin about all this while watchin the animals do their morning activities, hummingbirds zippin through the woods around me, beautiful butterflies softly sailing by... I love it & so glad I can share it with the world. More pond pics. coming soon.

I'm joining Farmchick in her bloghop this week.