Chicken coop pics

Latest update (been awhile!)

Got some good news.... The chicken coop is coming along well, and the hens have started laying eggs! I was surprised by two eggs on July 17th, and we've had up to 5 in one day so far. What good girls. They seem quite proud of themselves! We just need to get their coop done! I will share photos in this post.

Photos!

Again, rain is halting our chicken coop construction for today (I swear it's cursed!), but I have been out taking photos the past couple days, and will share some here. Three of our horses, Merlin, our grullo miniature horse, Jag, our red dun Quarter horse, and Blue, our grulla Quarter horse.

More progress...

And again, more rain to contend with, so didn't get as much done as we'd hoped....

Making progress!

On Father's Day, my son, my husband and I made a lot of progress on the chicken coop. It has walls and windows now! No roof yet....but tomorrow will bring more work on it. Here is the progress so far!

Tornadoes

Tornadoes on Sunday....tornadoes today. Keeping us on our toes. Lots of rain, and a tornado a quarter mile down the road from us this evening. Scary stuff! Stay safe!

Good news!!

I'm just going to bypass the boring details, but NOW we DON'T need a zoning permit for the chicken coop we have been planning to house our chickens in....so we will continue construction on it! I'm trying to be CAUTIOUSLY excited! We've already got it started, it is 8'x12', but it will contain a storage area not accessible to the chickens.

I also have the most beautiful Tamukeyama Japanese Maple Tree (laceleaf) I received for my birthday today, eagerly waiting to be planted somewhere. I've always wanted one of these, and am eager to find a very special place to plant it!

Till next time!

Vet visits....

Whew.... now all of the vet visits are done (until someone gets hurt, sick, etc etc etc KNOCK ON WOOD)...... until fall when Kissy's teeth are checked again....... Ick, I don't know if I mentioned, our oldest cat, actually has cancer (lymphoma) they think, so he could end up needing to go in whenever the need arises.....but this series of back and forth to the vet (or calling the vet out here) is finally done! Now time to line up the farrier again.......

Nothing new.......still working on plans for the chicken coop.....no ideas yet......keep going back and forth...... but that's towards the top of my "to-do" list is to make a plan for those chickens...and get them out of the barn and into a bigger space!

School's almost out for summer....so I'll have a little helper at my side!

Till next time....

New pregnant donkey pic!

Unfortunately still three months to go....

Rabies vaccine reaction

Magic, one of our minis, had a pretty scary reaction to his rabies vaccine a couple of weeks ago. I've never had a reaction from anyone here, so you can imagine this was pretty darn scary for me. Here's a video.... I'll admit I'm going to be quite nervous at vaccination time from now on....with everyone! No fever, just swelling near the injection site and this walking issue which lasted a couple days. Thankfully he was in good spirits through it all. More than I can say for myself! Nine in all were vaccinated (7 horses and 2 donkeys) and he was the only one to get this type of reaction.

Three months to go!

Donkeys are pregnant for a full year, and our Kochia still has three months to go till her due date. It has been a long wait! Especially when she looks like this! She's 36" tall, and bred to Kreir Kountry Sully, a 32" chocolate/brown jack, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a brown baby (like our other donkey, Gracey). There was an ultrasound done, we know there's only one baby in there, and I am sure of her breeding dates, as she was taken to the jack, and was only away from home a week and a half.

Whew!

There's all the introductions! For your viewing enjoyment.....Jag and Blue playing in the pasture the other day......

Chickens

On April 4th, 2008 we brought home 15 chicks from my son's kindergarten classroom. They had hatched eggs as part of their farm studies, and we were asked if we would be willing to provide homes for some. The photo on the left is what they looked like when we brought them home! Cute, fuzzy little yellow things! We have since found a home for the roosters....they spent their days fighting and arguing with each other, and we didn't have the space to let them get away from each other, so we found someone who already had chickens on his farm, and they moved there, to run loose and go wherever they pleased. Perfect opportunity for them! We are left with the 9 hens, who have just moved from our garage and into our barn. We plan to keep them to lay eggs for us, and just to watch...I've always wanted a few chickens, just never taken the plunge! This was the opportunity!

My husband was all for the idea, in fact, he wanted even more, and began constructing an 8 by 12 foot chicken barn. We got the side and end walls up, and the trusses up, then it sat. I will include a photo.... we didn't need a building permit, as it was under 120 square feet. I was thrilled with the idea of this! Quite large for the number of chickens we had, but our plan was to fully insulate it, and I thought I could also house my rabbits in there in the wintertime, and that size would leave plenty of room for the hutches as well! Looks like that thought has been poofed.... the county zoning guy showed up, and we need a permit. Only, the two places suitable for us to put it, we can't. Too close to the pond behind our house, or too close to the road. Our back yard...the whole thing is too close to the pond..... we just aren't set up to put it anywhere else....without taking fences down, which we don't want to do. So, what you see in the picture will most likely be taken apart...material used for something different...something MUCH smaller, that we will not need a zoning permit for. 32 square feet. The size of a sheet of plywood. If we go bigger, we need a permit. So, we will probably be reducing our hen number as well, to accomodate the size coop we're going to have to make. I'm really bummed....seriously.

Kitties

We have four cats, Snickers (barn cat) and three indoor cats, Ick, Little Guy and Taz.

Taz is the cat all of our company loves. He is a beautiful black and white longhair, and came off a friend's farm as a kitten. My husband got him for me 6 months after my beloved kitty, Max died. Taz keeps things interesting, he's playful, extremely full of life. He's very much a talker, just a very social cat. We got him as a kitten, he's about 4 years old now. Full of personality, he hides away to take naps, then very loudly announces to everyone that he's awake when he returns. He's a whiner. Of course, it's probably my fault, I raised him that way.

Ick is 10 years old this year, and we got him as a kitten, just weaned from his mom. Ick is short for Ichabod Crane, the headless horseman, as he was always getting his head stuck in things as a kitten, nearly losing it on several occasions! Ick has moved three different times with us, and has survived the first 6 years of my son's life! He's the "old man" of the house. He started losing weight about a year and a half ago, and after many, MANY tests, they think he may have lymphoma. He's on medication, and is doing well. His symptoms have subsided somewhat, and he is so far able to live a quality life yet. I hope it continues for a long time yet. He has always been one to get into trouble, and he still continues to do so.

Little Guy is about 8 years old, and he's far from little anymore, he's the "heaviest" kitty we have. He's also "MY" cat. He is our hider, unless he knows people well, no one sees him. You can even tell by the photo...of course I have lots of non-hiding photos too! Little Guy shares my pillow at night, follows me around the house after our son goes to bed (he doesn't even like HIM!) and owns a piece of my heart. Well, all of my animals do, but Little Guy likes to think he owns more. He was a stray, very tiny kitten out wandering around by himself, it took me three days to catch him. But once I did, I think he became the happiest cat on the face of the earth. That's my boy!

Last but not least is Snickers, the keeper of the barn. She's the sweetest cat anyone would ever care to meet, and just as cute too! She keeps the mice in check in the barn, and keeps me company while doing chores, or hanging out on the swing outside. She's just a great cat! I love everything about her! She came from a friend's farm, when my friend moved from the farm, Snickers came to live here. I am very happy to have her, and I think she's more than thrilled to have the entire barn to herself! She seems to like not having to share her space. Update: Snickers passed away on Monday, March 16th, 2009. As you can probably tell by my previous description of her here, I am going to miss her very much.

The Mini Donkeys

Kochia and Gracey both came from different sides of the state just days apart. Kochia is 16, Gracey is 7. They are both ADMS registered. I have always wanted a mini donkey, and in learning more about them, learned it's best to get more than one. That was a good enough excuse for me! Both of these girls were in need of a good home, and I was wanting to give them one, so I picked Kochia up on a Monday, and Gracey the following Thursday.

Kochia is pregnant, and due to have her foal in August of this year. In this photo, she's got 5 months to go. I'm really excited! She is 36" tall, and a gray-dun, the jack she is bred to is a brown jack, 32" tall. Kochia spent most of her life on a breeding farm, having babies, so she's no stranger to motherhood. She has had many. Our other donkey drives, and Kochia gets upset when I take her out, so I thought it might be nice if we had three donkeys, so one could stay with her when I take the other out. Then I got the idea why not breed for that third donkey! So chances are I'll be keeping the foal. Donkeys are pregnant for a month longer than a horse typically, it already seems like we've waited forever for this foal! It doesn't help Kochia is SO HUGE already. The photo included here is nothing compared to how she looks now.....but, her breeding dates are accurate, and she was ultrasounded, there is only one! I have her amazing (well, to me!) ultrasound picture on my website if you wish to take a peek!

Gracey has been a pet all her life. Except when she was a foal, she had never been around donkeys at all until she came here. She likes Kochia just fine, but she's not as attached as Kochia is to her. I can take Gracey away and she doesn't have a care in the world, I like that about her. Kochia really stresses herself out about things. My girls are very different! Gracey is about 34" tall, and she is a brown/chocolate jennet, same color as the jack Kochia is bred to. I'm hoping the foal is brown like Gracey is! In my opinion, Gracey is as cute as donkeys come, although this girl can REALLLLLLY be stubborn (donkeys? NAHHHH!) She does drive, and really seems to enjoy doing so very much. And she looks so cute doing it! Get this girl going in front of a cart and she's quite happy!