Life with Chickens and a Horse

When you have little chickens the brooding house only lasts for so long. We spent Saturday reworking the old quail cages. We no longer have quail or dove, the wildlife had gotten to all of them over the course of the last couple of years.

Zekaryah worked on getting Lucky, Izzy's Horse, a shelter. We need to purchase some metal siding for the top.

There was a tree behind the horse shelter so of course Zekaryah "had to" climb the tree and cut the two big limbs, which required him to hang upside down

I am thankful I have learned to worry a little less at my tree boys desire to be in the trees so much.

By nightfall the little chicks had a new place. Hatchet did not like that they were once again moved.

Monday we got home mid day and MeKenzei was home and started helping us clear the next step in the chicken process. Soon we will have a new set of eggs hatching and these little guys will need a normal area, so we have a fenced yard we have to refortify, it hasn't been used in quite some time, it was for ducks before. 

Paul worked hard to get the foundation set for a roof and laying boxes

Hatchet (and Pilsner too) worked hard to enjoy the nice cool ground. He also kept some roosters that wanted to fight in line. Boy can he break up a fight, he tosses the rooster into its own corner and checks on the other. Its kind of funny. One day I might catch video of it.

What I did catch was this little chick (hen) swinging- literally on the wire to the warming light. We put in some sticks so they could roost but this swing idea might be something to do in their bigger coop area. She sure loves it.

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A Busy Month of June

This is my favorite chicken, his beak has been turned sideways since day one, but he is doing fine. He loves to follow you around the coop like a best friend.

My daughter's bunnies got a new cage, their old one didn't work so well with this rainy month we have had.

New baby quail- all white that hatched for Father's Day weekend. They are super cute. It is hard to believe they turn from this very pretty yellow to all white feathers.

New construction, while my husband was away on his trip my two sons and I moved all the chickens to the new coop area, it really needed a roof. My husband spent the weekend coming up with a great plan.

The garden has done so well with all this rain, this area holds watermelon, cantaloupe and honey dew, as well as some extra tomatoes.

The first of our sweet melons.

A honey dew or cantaloupe.

The squash have really outgrown their perimeter. Their production has slowed down too, so this weekend we will plant another section. It has been wonderful to share some of our produce with others that I work with or friends.

Two gorgeous eggplants. I love their bright shiny color. I hope some more grow as we gave these two away.

I love that we are having such a great success this year. It has prompted us to think about a fall garden. We tried it once and it didn't do so well. I am hoping this year will be an exception.

The chickens in the coop with the quail and the rabbits are free range, these little guys will come eat from your hand.

A new gate has been a blessing. Now I can go out feed in the first coop area and walk directly into the garden area to feed the chickens and pick our crop for the day. I am very thankful for this gate!

After a days work, the roof is half finished. It covers half of their coop providing some shelter and shade from the very hot sun.

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Weekend Projects-Cages

Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE my husband! He is just AMAZING!!! While Kenzei and I volunteered this weekend at SOS (the clothing location) he stayed home and put roofs on a couple of our cages, we only had three up, he put up more, which he will still need to roof. He also cut these cool doors on the front. The sides of the cages lift and that is how I was getting in and out to collect eggs and feed them, it was super heavy. I was always worried it would slide back and break my back. No more worrying, he came up with a solution I love!

I am so thankful for the Lord's provision for these cages, the business next door to my husband's work, scraps these. Often my husband and his co workers take them and scrap them for cash which pays for gas or food. Some of them my husband is allowed to keep and we have been turning them into cages. I think in return once we start getting some chicken eggs that is how he will pay the guys back for missing out on the cash they could have made if they all scraped them.

Even standing in the very edge of the little animal area we have I had a hard time getting a great picture to show you the vastness of his project. It does show that some of the roofing needs to be finished. I was so impressed with how much he got done. I am also so thankful since the chicks we hatched over Easter weekend will need to be relocated outside soon.

We had to move the rabbits to a cage on the ground for now, so that we could put 10 older chicks in a cage last week. We haven't gotten them into their new cage. He brought one home that is more rectangular and he is going to put it on a stand and put a divider in the middle. Since these two are siblings we do not want any of their babies, not a good idea at all. Pilsner does not know what to think of these little guys. He usually chases the wild ones in our yard so he just is not understanding why they are in a cage, much less why he can't play with them. It was a great weekend!

Chickens, Chickens and More Chickens

Thankful these guys have a home outside now, see how one is STANDING on the water container..planning an escape maybe?

Today I found a bigger container to put some of the baby chicks from this weekend in. I disturbed them but they looked so cute all huddled together.

I can't imagine how safe this must feel, how warm.. I bet this is what the Lord's arms feel like if when we need them