At first this was mostly going to be an update on our chickens and the various, beautiful birds that we have been blessed with on our farm. But then the warm weather set in and updates just keep on coming! And so, this one is for the birds and some other stuff!
Our new chickens babies are living outside full time now. They grew so quickly. All of the sudden we were in a mad dash to get their living quarters finalized and ready for their move in. They now happily roam freely in the pasture with our goats. I tried to expose the chickens and goats to each other pretty early on, so they could happily co-exist in the same pastures. So far, that has worked wonderfully. The biggest issue is that Boots the goat, is still small enough that he can squeeze himself into the chicken house doorway. That has required some special blockading on my part, but we are making it work.
In addition to being outside chickens now, we are starting to get a good idea of what we have in our new flock, and it seems we have primarily roosters. Yes. Out of eleven chickens, it appears that AT LEAST five of them are roosters, with one or two still being rather suspect. Now, it is possible to keep a number of roosters in a flock with enough space and enough hens. I feel pretty good about space, but we do not have nearly enough hens to keep the status quo. In order to balance out the numbers we would need to get about sixty or seventy more hens. Yeah. I don’t think that will be happening this year. So that leaves me with two options. The first would be to get rid of some of my roosters. For anyone who knows me, you already know I can’t do it. While regular, sane people do exactly that, I have never claimed to be sane. I raised them all from babies and I am ridiculously attached. There it is. So, I am left with one option that I sincerely hope will work. That is, to separate the roosters from the hens, and keep them in their own bachelor flock. Supposedly, this is possible. People have done it successfully. I hope to be one of them. Being that they were all raised together, the chances of success are higher. I hope that by giving them free roam on their own section of the farm, we will be able to have a happy flock of roosters! I’ll let you know how it goes!
As for the very base of the farm itself, the world out there on those rolling acres has transformed with all the warm weather and rain. It turns out that we have some spectacular hay fields! Additionally, by a great blessing we have come into a set of free hay equipment(let me tell you, that stuff is not cheap), and are planning to begin cutting out own hay. I don’t know that our first go-round will be our best hay season, but hopefully we will learn a great deal this year through trial and error, and hopefully we can begin too produce some top quality hay here on the farm. That would be a huge savings for us, and it would be extra great if we could sell some. I don’t have any illusions about getting rich off our farm. I know this is a hobby, but I certainly wouldn’t complain if we brought in a little cash here and there.
We do have a few new faces here at Gentle Breeze. First, Beatrix and Parsley. They are two lovely little rabbits who came to me as a surprise birthday gift. Certainly not expected, but immediately loved. They enjoy afternoon outings to their playpen in the grass where they munch clover and shoots of fresh grass. I have never kept rabbits as an adult so I am still learning the best practices for ideal care, but so far the vet says they appear to be the picture of health. Fortunately, rabbit poo is an excellent plant fertilizer without even being composted, so they are even pulling their weight around here!
Next up, we have Mavis. She is our very first milk goat. I will tell you, she is rather chunky. Only time will tell if this is because she is expecting some little goats, or if that is just her naturally round little body type. Based on when she arrived with us, by October we should know one way or the other. Until then, she will be out frolicking with her two goat companions.
Well folks, thanks for checking in! It is time for me to get back to work.
Have a lovely Wednesday.