I got new chicks!
This isn't a big surprise and I plan on getting more in a few weeks to fully round out my flock to ten (or twelve) birds. The new chicks are a Blue Maran and a Silkie. I had two Silkies, but the second one didn't make it.
Sometimes that's life on a homestead. She was my favorite.
But this group of chicks is a lot more friendly than my first group. Of that group, only Little Miss allows me to pet her or pick her up. The other three just run.
Hey-Hey, our rooster is a very good protector of the girls. And thankfully we live in a town where no body minds the crowing.
A dog wandered into our yard the other day. While the majority of our yard is fenced in, our driveway is located on the side of our house and there is an open gate where that is. I pulled in from grocery shopping just in time to see a high flagged fluffy tail disappear behind our house. As soon as I parked the dog came back around and then trotted out past me and down the street. I ran to the backyard as I didn't see the chickens in their pen. Hey-Hey had them rounded up underneath the rabbit hutch and they were all hiding behind the potted plants being very very quiet.
As I said, he's a good protector.
The rabbits are a constant evaluation process. The Satin Angoras are going to be a true dual purpose breed for me as we ended up harvesting most of the kits from this spring. Both litters came down with a respiratory infection of some sort. None of them died from it, nor did any of the other rabbits get sick, so I'm not sure what to make of it. But due to that, all of the rabbits that got sick were processed. I'm not going to pass on genetics that are prone to illness. A good immune system is a must for a rabbit. Two kits were kept back, the only two that showed no signs or symptoms, unlike their litter mates. A broken black doe from one litter and a REW buck from the other. Both currently have nice growth on their wool, with a nice sheen to it. Only time will tell if they hold onto their wool as they age or not as Satin Angoras are still prone to become overrun with guard hair as they get new coats growing in. Both of them have decent bodies as well. Nothing spectacular, but nothing problematic either (One doe I'm having to cull has a phenomenal type and choosing to processing her was a difficult decision, but one that has to be made). This will also help me make determinations of where my current stock is at and what changes I'll need to make going forward.
I kept one of the meat mutt bunnies. She grew very quickly and is now almost as big as her mom and only 7 months. And she's sweet. So she'll stay on as another meat mama. I'm thinking of calling her either Pollen or Nectar, since her mom is Honey.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Friday, June 23, 2017
Spring (okay, technically Summer now)
Why do I always feel like writing this time of year? Maybe because it's so hot and the mosquitos are so pesky that I have to mostly stay in doors or risk being eaten alive? That's probably it.
Well, life has gone through some pretty amazing changes since last year. I still struggle with my depression but I seem to be in a better place mentally right now, so that's good. My DH got an amazing job working for Habitat for Humanity and is totally killing it. I was able to quite my job a few weeks ago which I feel has reduced my stress levels a lot. I still feel very busy, but not frantic - it no longer feels as if the whole world is resting on my shoulders and I have to do it all. Now I just have to do some little thing everyday, follow my bullet journal, and everything will be okay. Even if I don't get everything done I have listed, it's okay. I feel a lot calmer these days.
Don't get me wrong. My house is still chaos! I'm in the middle of redoing a dresser to make an entry table/shelf, building crate shelves in my kitchen for more storage, reorganizing the attic and my yarn and wool storage, and trying to figure out how to best rearrange the living room and front room. While trying to keep an A-average in school and keep the house at least clean.
Also, I have chickens now.
I'd say "Hurray for Texas" except that I got the chickens before the new law passed, although now that I know it is for six chickens per person, I may be getting more chickens to add to my small flock of four. But that probably won't happen for a little while. Four is plenty for the current coop.
Speaking of expanding animals: I took a good long hard look at my English Angoras last year, and as the boys grew I noticed something wrong with their hind legs. All of them have what are called "pinched hips" which means that their back feet splay out. And that's not good. Also, as they grew out, their coats seemed to change and become more difficult to handle, with a more cottony texture than is desirable or usable. So UniKitty will be moving on with the rest of the boys. Chang will be used as the meat-mutt sire and a new EA buck will be brought in to be a herd-sire. He comes from a line of easy-care coats and his breeder is hoping that he 1) possess it himself and 2) passes it on. He'll be bred to both Duo and my new EA doe from last fall, Eowyn. His name is Legolas. I also decided to get into Satin Angoras last fall, and oh my! Their coats as compared to EA's are a lot easier to care for. Still a lot of work, but not as much as the EA's. I have three litters growing right now - two SA litters and a meat-mutt litter. Honey turned out to be an excellent mother, and would have 8 babies if I hadn't made a mistake and thought she wasn't bred. She lost six having them on the wire. Her two remaining babies are doing so well though and will be 8 weeks next week. I plan to grow them out to 16 weeks before their processed. One of my SA kits will join them, as he has fur and not wool and that is an undesirable trait in a wool breed! Otherwise, I have a short list of four SA kits that I'd like to hold onto, but I'm trying to get that down to two or three. Two does from one litter and two bucks from the other. One doe is a definite keeper and at this point looks to be an improvement on her parents as she has the right dimensions currently, very awesome crimp to her wool, and is a good candidate for growing out. The other doe looks very similar to her mother, a bit longer in the shoulders than I'd like, but solid hips and decent wool. So I'm not sure about her... the two bucks from the other litter that I'm watching are just solid bodies at this point, with blocky heads, so their probably keepers. It's hard doing evaluations at this stage and it's a constant process. And they are all so adorable!
Well, life has gone through some pretty amazing changes since last year. I still struggle with my depression but I seem to be in a better place mentally right now, so that's good. My DH got an amazing job working for Habitat for Humanity and is totally killing it. I was able to quite my job a few weeks ago which I feel has reduced my stress levels a lot. I still feel very busy, but not frantic - it no longer feels as if the whole world is resting on my shoulders and I have to do it all. Now I just have to do some little thing everyday, follow my bullet journal, and everything will be okay. Even if I don't get everything done I have listed, it's okay. I feel a lot calmer these days.
Don't get me wrong. My house is still chaos! I'm in the middle of redoing a dresser to make an entry table/shelf, building crate shelves in my kitchen for more storage, reorganizing the attic and my yarn and wool storage, and trying to figure out how to best rearrange the living room and front room. While trying to keep an A-average in school and keep the house at least clean.
Also, I have chickens now.
I'd say "Hurray for Texas" except that I got the chickens before the new law passed, although now that I know it is for six chickens per person, I may be getting more chickens to add to my small flock of four. But that probably won't happen for a little while. Four is plenty for the current coop.
Speaking of expanding animals: I took a good long hard look at my English Angoras last year, and as the boys grew I noticed something wrong with their hind legs. All of them have what are called "pinched hips" which means that their back feet splay out. And that's not good. Also, as they grew out, their coats seemed to change and become more difficult to handle, with a more cottony texture than is desirable or usable. So UniKitty will be moving on with the rest of the boys. Chang will be used as the meat-mutt sire and a new EA buck will be brought in to be a herd-sire. He comes from a line of easy-care coats and his breeder is hoping that he 1) possess it himself and 2) passes it on. He'll be bred to both Duo and my new EA doe from last fall, Eowyn. His name is Legolas. I also decided to get into Satin Angoras last fall, and oh my! Their coats as compared to EA's are a lot easier to care for. Still a lot of work, but not as much as the EA's. I have three litters growing right now - two SA litters and a meat-mutt litter. Honey turned out to be an excellent mother, and would have 8 babies if I hadn't made a mistake and thought she wasn't bred. She lost six having them on the wire. Her two remaining babies are doing so well though and will be 8 weeks next week. I plan to grow them out to 16 weeks before their processed. One of my SA kits will join them, as he has fur and not wool and that is an undesirable trait in a wool breed! Otherwise, I have a short list of four SA kits that I'd like to hold onto, but I'm trying to get that down to two or three. Two does from one litter and two bucks from the other. One doe is a definite keeper and at this point looks to be an improvement on her parents as she has the right dimensions currently, very awesome crimp to her wool, and is a good candidate for growing out. The other doe looks very similar to her mother, a bit longer in the shoulders than I'd like, but solid hips and decent wool. So I'm not sure about her... the two bucks from the other litter that I'm watching are just solid bodies at this point, with blocky heads, so their probably keepers. It's hard doing evaluations at this stage and it's a constant process. And they are all so adorable!
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