Unfortunately, I don't have any chicken photos on this machine. I still haven't made the Great Migration from my old iMac; I'll see if I can do such by next week.
We brought the first batch of chicks home from Callahan's General Store in April of 2004. I chose Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds after doing a minimal amount of research from the McMurray Hatchery site. Both breeds fit our needs criteria (provide meat and eggs), so I brought home a boxful of chicks and a bag of feed and we housed them in a spare camping bin with a heat lamp.
When we though they were big enough, and the weather was plenty warm, we brought them out to the coop (built and designed--poorly--by the former owner). I did my best to continue with the holding and hand-feeding, but they eventually got big enough that their pecking hurt too much to be worth the effort. Being able to pick these up now makes for nice farm theatre.
The following October, our neighbors decided to move back into Austin, and they gave us their Arucanas; they left the Australorpes for the FIL to tend. So, our flock numbered an even dozen. Fast forward a bit to August of 2005. I was very pregnant with my son, and I was having a really hard time getting out to feed the chickens and gather the eggs. While I was in the hospital, one of the Arucanas also became a mommy to several chicks, only two of which survived: Toni and Tone (Tony being my son).
I have several stories about the chickens that I'll post in the following weeks, but for now, it is getting late and I must bid y'all goodnight.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Still in the planning stages
We inherited a raised rabbit cage from my husband’s grandfather, but isn’t really in good enough shape to keep them secure, and it definitely isn’t big enough for the number we’ll wind up having. Right now, we’re using it as an isolation chamber for our stray cat.
I’ve acquired a few books over the past year or so:
Rabbits Yearbook
Rabbits Today
How to Build Animal Housing
Raising Rabbits the Modern Way
Backyard Rabbit Book
Ideally, I’d like the smaller cages to be for the does and babies until they’re ready for a “general population” cage. I’m hoping to do something like a coop trailer (something to roll along the ground where the rabbits can graze and have a more “natural” experience. Since the does can be territorial, I may have to design a sectioned cage and/or have more than one.
See more progress on: raise rabbits
Donkey Day
Starting the new writing schedule today (what is left of it, anyhow). I've designated Saturday for posting donkey-related material. Apologies to those who remember my last post... at least this one will be about a different donkey. Well, two different donkeys.
Soon after we brought the rest of the Karakuls home (we managed to get a few on camera, above), we started losing them (our black male, and another) to canines amok (coyotes or dogs, don't know for sure). Our in-laws took pity on us and gifted a mother and daughter donkey to the farmstead as an early Christmas present. They also provided a stock trailer (which we had to buy new tires for, but that's a mess I'll tell y'all about later). DH made the drive, and he really knocked himself out getting them settled in the old buffalo pen (the former owner had 4 at one time, and actually decided to graze them elsewhere after DH made a crack about steaks and boots... go figure!). That night, the wild things got our prettiest ewe. DH set snares, but did not catch anything for long (one snare got chewed/frayed). Instead of keeping Sombrea (the momma--the owner thought she might be pregnant again--that's another thing I'll discuss later) and "Lacey" penned for a few days, we let them out soon after we found the corpse.
This is Serenity, formerly Lacey. I'm sure you can see why I changed her name:
And here's Sombrea:
Doesn't she look cheesed off at me? She usually is, but I can always win her over with carrots.
I can certainly say that we were not prepared for these animals...no decent shelter (they took over the dog pen during the ice storm in January so they could at least have four sheltered sides--going by six to a box), feed not budgeted for, main caretaker (moi) not trained to equines, and so on. Sombrea developed an abcess in her foot (according to vet, due to founder), and DH had such a time of not being able to deal with it... well, let's just say that we could have lost one or both that night (yet another future story). She appears to have healed well enough to put her full weight on the foot, so it is now up to DH to post ads in the Greensheet. If we get ambitious, we might post fliers at the local feed stores.
Well, my time is just about up...tomorrow is Book Review Day. If I can find my copy of Looking After a Donkey, in time to read it, I'll post a review. If I don't, then I'll write a review I owe for BlogHer.
Soon after we brought the rest of the Karakuls home (we managed to get a few on camera, above), we started losing them (our black male, and another) to canines amok (coyotes or dogs, don't know for sure). Our in-laws took pity on us and gifted a mother and daughter donkey to the farmstead as an early Christmas present. They also provided a stock trailer (which we had to buy new tires for, but that's a mess I'll tell y'all about later). DH made the drive, and he really knocked himself out getting them settled in the old buffalo pen (the former owner had 4 at one time, and actually decided to graze them elsewhere after DH made a crack about steaks and boots... go figure!). That night, the wild things got our prettiest ewe. DH set snares, but did not catch anything for long (one snare got chewed/frayed). Instead of keeping Sombrea (the momma--the owner thought she might be pregnant again--that's another thing I'll discuss later) and "Lacey" penned for a few days, we let them out soon after we found the corpse.
This is Serenity, formerly Lacey. I'm sure you can see why I changed her name:
And here's Sombrea:
Doesn't she look cheesed off at me? She usually is, but I can always win her over with carrots.
I can certainly say that we were not prepared for these animals...no decent shelter (they took over the dog pen during the ice storm in January so they could at least have four sheltered sides--going by six to a box), feed not budgeted for, main caretaker (moi) not trained to equines, and so on. Sombrea developed an abcess in her foot (according to vet, due to founder), and DH had such a time of not being able to deal with it... well, let's just say that we could have lost one or both that night (yet another future story). She appears to have healed well enough to put her full weight on the foot, so it is now up to DH to post ads in the Greensheet. If we get ambitious, we might post fliers at the local feed stores.
Well, my time is just about up...tomorrow is Book Review Day. If I can find my copy of Looking After a Donkey, in time to read it, I'll post a review. If I don't, then I'll write a review I owe for BlogHer.
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