Inevitable

I have a gift card and they had ducklings on clearance. Seems bad enough, but combine that with the fact that my 14-month-old smiles, quacks, and talks to the ducklings, and it was inevitable. We are now proud owners of 6 Pekin ducklings.

Meet the Ducks!

Bringing Home the Bacon

It's always fun to bring home a batch of feeder pigs. We don't have enough fencing up to pasture them very much, so we do feed them grain. However, we feed a lot of other things to the pigs to cut the cost of the grain, and to vary their diet. They love whey, garden scraps, and any extra eggs we have. In the end, we get delicious pork. Can't complain about that!

More on the Rabbits

In my excitement for all things bunny, I forgot to mention some important details about the rabbits. They are American Chinchilla rabbits. More information on this breed can be found here. We specifically chose a breed of rabbits listed with the American Livestock Breed Conservancy. We want to help improve the numbers on a breed that needs a boost. We also wanted a breed that was known for being a good producer in terms of rabbit meat. We're hoping to be able to help other families get started with the breed as well.

The girls just had to name our breeding stock, so Isla, Charlotte, and Ken are adjusting to their new surroundings. To be honest, I think they find me a bit strange, as I just sit and watch them with a goofy grin on my face. This has easily been one of the best birthday presents for me, that I can remember.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Mr. HH knows that I'm not into jewelry, and picks out the BEST gifts for me.

Not to be outdone, one of the does and the buck decided they wanted to make sure I had a nice belated birthday present in the nest box in 30 days.

Change of Plans

We were going to add quail to the mix today, but I was made an offer I couldn't refuse--rabbits. So I'm going to be skipping the quail and going for rabbits since they've been on my "want" list a bit longer.

In goat news, we are still waiting for Tease to kid.

Coming Soon...

We have some new critters coming to the homestead (barring any freak occurrence that keeps it from happening). Stay tuned. This is one of two critters I've been wanting for a while now. I'm so excited!

And to hold you over until then, here's Tease being extra miserable this pregnancy.

Goat Kid Update!

With the weather being as warm as it has been, we've been taking advantage by cleaning out the raised beds, starting seeds, and staying as busy as possible. However, I thought we'd give a brief update on the goat kids.

The Snubian (saanen x nubian) doelings are growing so well. I can't wait to see how the perform on the milk stand. I love these girls.

Our first Nubian kid was born this week. She's still in the gangly stage, but I know she'll end up being a beautiful goat, and hopefully a great milker.

I love her coloration. She has a single moon spot on her tail. Just a beautiful girl.