The chickens arrived and are all ready in the "ugly" stage where they are starting to feather up.
The coop has kept them quite warm and I only needed to use one of the three heat lamps I put up.
I finished the cow shed this weekend and got the fence made as well. Belle went right through the uninsulated gate and Lady decided in the middle of the night she'd rather be in her pen in the garage.
So today I had to do a little reconstruction. I put up a third wire around the pasture and orange plastic snowfence at the gate. Hopefully they will stay put.
I bought a tractor a couple of weeks ago. Got a deal on it because it needed some work. Pretty much have it ready to go. All I need to do now is find some equipment for it.
The other animals are doing fine. Caught a wild rabbit yesterday and will see how it adapts to the cages.
The chickens are busy cleaning up 30 square feet of yard a day.
The garden is really looking good. Have some thinning to do in the turnips, rutebegas, and head lettuce. But the weeds are pretty much under control and stuff is growing well.
My oats look OK. Hopefully next year I'll have a drill for the tractor and I'll get a more even stand. And as the rotation works around I'll have less weeds because I won't be planting them on sod.
sammyd on 06.26.06 @ 11:22 PM CST [link]
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A bunny
Here is one of the two new bunnies the other is all white and just as cute.
sammyd on 06.10.06 @ 05:19 AM CST [link]
Time for an update.
The cows are doing very well on the tethering system. Lady is getting bigger every day and Belle is finally looking like she is putting on some weight.
I am building a 10x12 shed out back on an old cement pad and will have 1/6 acre set up with the shed as permanent pasture that I can connect to the other 2/6 that will rotate. The trusses for the shed should be here next week.
The chickens are in a tractor and the coop is reconfigured for the new chicks which are also arriving next week. I have to build cages in the area left in the coop for the bunnies. I will be putting them in the coop when the weather gets cold and hopefully their water will stay unfrozen.
Once the cows are out on pasture I can rip out the brooder coop they have been staying in and start on a couple of big box stalls.
We had our first batch of bunnies (only 2) and everyone is enjoying how cute they are.
The garden is looking good. Had a couple of strawberries all ready! Corn is looking good and the potatoes are growing to beat the band. But so are the weeds. Luckily the tiller works well and the hoe is sharp.
I have noticed that the seeder we have seems to leave a lot of open spaces in a row. I think I will be looking for a different brand for next year.
Later this week I am going to try to get the plans for the bunny cages and the chicken tractor up in the resource area.
sammyd on 06.10.06 @ 05:17 AM CST [link]
Chicken tractor
Here's the chicken tractor I built after we discovered that chickens and gardens do not mix well.
It's made with 2x6 boards and electrical conduit. Went together quickly and seems to be holding up rather well. I'll have to put the plans up somewhere around here.
sammyd on 06.10.06 @ 05:02 AM CST [link]
try01010021
Here's the landscaping around the house. We got tired of constantly hoeing so Tammy is laying out mulch.
She is using old feed bags instead of buying landscape fabric. One of the grape plants on the trellis actually has clusters on it this year!
sammyd on 06.10.06 @ 04:56 AM CST [link]