Chicks-a-growin

The chicks are 4 weeks old and boy have they grown!  One more week and we'll be able to take down their cardboard wall, so they can roam free in the coop.  They're not big enough to go outside yet though.

This little gal is a Barred Rock.  Very pretty when they grow up - almost zebra striped.

Another Barred Rock, but we think this one is a cockerel (rooster)...

Six rototillers!

If you've ever wanted loose, airy soil to plant your flowers in, you don't need to get a rototiller.  You just need to get chickens.  There is one small drawback.  After you've planted your flowers, your chickens will continue to rototill and very shortly you will have no flowers left!

Last spring/summer, I had some beautiful begonia's and peony's in this bed.  By late summer, the rototillers discovered they liked eating my flowers.  About 1 day later, they were all gone.  I wasn't too heart broken - at least I had enjoyed them all summer long.  And, I still had 6 Purple Coral Bells in this bed.  Since they're perennials, I would have even bigger plants come next spring. 

Take a closer look at the picture.  Do you see any Purple Coral Bells?  No. Thanks to the rototillers scratching and pecking away at them all winter long.  I have multiple plant beds around the house and they have all had the same fate.  Well, one exception.  I do have a hanging planter that the chickens haven't figure out how to fly up into yet.  Just give them time though!

Say Cheese!

1 gallon of whole milk.  Check.
1/2 cup lemon juice.  Check.
Muslin.  Check.

What will this make you ask?  CHEESE!  Yup, today was our first cheese making experience.  What else do you need in order to make cheese?  You guessed it, a book!  For Christmas I gave Dan 'Home Cheese Making' so we looked through the basic cheese recipes and decided on Panir.  The book says Panir is an Indian cheese, one of the simplest types of unripened cheese, is mild and readily absorbs the flavors of the herbs and spices.  Sounds good to me!

Step 1 - bring milk to a boil
Step 2 - drizzle in lemon juice
Step 3 - remove from heat and stir until curds form and let set for 10 min
Step 4 - laddle curds into a colander lined with muslin.
Step 5 - let drain for 2-3 hours
Step 5 - eat or store cheese.

It wasn't exactly what I was envisioning.  I was thinking of a nice soft cheese to be eaten with crackers.  It's more of a feta consistency though and has very little taste.  I'm not exactly sure what I thought it would taste like considering the only ingredients are milk and lemon juice.  Dan has been eating it on his salads and enjoys it a great deal.  I don't really care for it.  The good thing about making foods at home is that you can try, try again!

Take two!

Unfortunately, between nightly chores, errands and dinner, we never got around to mating Jasper and Bunny #1 again. 

So on Sunday morning, we figured better late than never.  We put Bunny #1 in with Jasper again and this time she seemed to know what she was doing.  She propped her tail up so he could do his business.  He mounted several times, but didn't fall over sideways today.  Hopefully he did his business.  Assuming he did and assuming she's fertile (does are fertile 365 days per year) we should have some baby bunnies in 31 days. 

From what our book tells us, we should be able to feel around her belly in 10 days to see if we feel hard marble-like balls.  If so, she's pregnant!  Twenty-one days later she should have a litter of 8-10 kits.

Egg count

28 eggs this week.

Mating season

We're hoping a month from now the weather will be pretty nice.  At least not freezing.  And as long as it's not freezing, that means baby bunnies can survive.  That of course, means we need to mate our does and buck to make little babies.

As with most of our homesteading adventures, we turn to a book.  Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits contains everything one needs to know about rabbits, including how to breed them.  Turns out, it's quite simple!

Saturday morning, Dan took doe Bunny #1 and put her in with our Buck (Jasper).  Jasper immediately knew what to do.  He started chasing her round and round.  Dan watched their dance for a bit and came back inside.  It wasn't until later that he told me he put them together.  Holy cow!  He mated the rabbits without telling me!?!  Sheesh.  I stormed around the house getting my coat, scarf, hat, gloves, etc and went out to see what's going on.  Jasper started chasing again, mounted for a few seconds and then fell over.  I guess with this being his first time, he wasn't sure what to do. I went back inside and read the book again.  Sure enough it says "don't blink or you'll miss it" and "when the buck is 'done' he will fall over on his side".  Holy cow again!  They did mate while I was out there, I just didn't realize it.  I read this to Dan and he said 'he did that while I was out there too!'.  Apparently Jasper DOES know what he's doing.  Now I call him Stud Muffin.

We kept reading the book and it says that 8-10 hours after the first mating session that we should put them back together to mate again to increase her chances of fertility.  So, we'll put them together around 6pm tonight.

Here is Jasper (aka Stud Muffin)...

And here are our does.  Bunny #1 is the one on the far right...

Snuggling pigs

Thought this was way too cute to not snap a pic and post. Bacon and Sausage aren't very fond of cold days. They tend to stay in their hut and snuggle up.