McGoat

The truth is, I will never be a professional blogger. I don't think you are allowed to go months and months without blogging and still have a job when you come out the other side.
And that's ok...because, the truth is, I don't want to be a professional blogger.

I'm glad we got that cleared up. Plus, since this is my blog, and even though I might feel guilty about not blogging on my blog, there's no one to fire me!

So, you may ask, why have I suddenly decided that now is the time to write another post? What is so special about February 24th, 2014?

This impossibly cute blurry face:

And this one too:

Because when you live on a farm, simply looking at pictures of baby animals isn't enough anymore.

When you ask yourself, "What would my significant other/parents/landlord/roommates say if I brought home a baby [ fill in the blank with a cute bundle of fluff ]?",  the answer will no longer be "NO"...it will be "Not again..".

In addition to these two cuties, we also purchased a bred (pregnant) alpine doe who is due next week. Her name is Pam! This will be my first experience with goat-birth, but if all goes well it should be great! We are expecting her to have one or two kids and hopefully enough milk to share a little with us.
Goat cheese anyone?

Just Another "Oh-my-gosh-that's-adorable!" Farm Post

As you all know (because, of course, you read all of my posts!), we welcomed some new rabbit kits to our farm/homestead/zoo about two weeks ago.

And I know you have all been dying for an update. So here it is:
We have had two litters of bunnies that come in colors ranging from white (albino), to calico, to black. They were all born almost completely hairless and with their eyes closed.

They love, love, LOVE to sleep!

And their eyes are just opening, so that they can see the world for the very first time.

But they're still kind of shy! (Cue "Awwww")

So far they have been so much fun. I definitely don't mind adding a little fluffy-bunny snuggle time to my day!

Chick Update

The chicken nuggets are growing quickly!

They now have all of the feathers on their wing tips and are starting to get their shoulder and tail feathers. And they are only two weeks old!

I am trying to enjoy them in all of their glorious cuteness while I can. As chicks grow into chickens, they go through an awkward teenage-chicken phase. It's pretty hilarious.

They are already beginning to develop little chicken personalities. Though you can never tell for sure until they are almost adults, we can start guessing which ones are hens and which are roosters.

The hens tend to be more of the quiet timid sort and the roosters tend to have a macho ego that is certainly bigger than they are!

Face Off!

"Oh man, I wish I hadn't kicked a bunch of wood chips into my water!"

This is Firefly.

We think that Firefly will be a rooster someday, he likes to peck at the other chicks and let them know who is boss. But like I said, it can be difficult to tell at this stage.

Over the past week, it has been Firefly's mission to use those wings of his to FLY!

Usually things went a little like this:

RUN around the brooder (aka runway)!

JUMP and flap wings! ...then hit the heat lamp and fall, flailing back to the ground.

Sad, but certainly entertaining.


However, today....right in front of my eyes...he made it!!!
Firefly flapped his little wings and made it out of the brooder box.

Victory!

He was finally able to fly up and land on the broomstick that keeps the heat lamp suspended above the flock.

Firefly sat there for a while, taking it all in, looking at the big world that is our living room.

Then he saw the dog-beast.

And returned promptly to the brooder to be with his chicken family.

New Additions

* Disclaimer: The following may cause an uncontrollable urge to squeal with joy. If this type of behavior bothers you, please do not proceed.



The day has finally come! My new flock of chicken nuggets has arrived.

It took a lot of will-power to make it through eight hours at work, but somehow I did. I may have annoyed my co-workers with ramblings about my new fluffy, chirping pets...but, they'll get over it.

Introducing...(drum roll please!)...the Chicken Nuggets!

The Bunch
Huddling together to stay warm in their shipping box. (The one with the purple mark (top right) is the Silver Laced Wyandotte)

Americana

Americana

Americana

Americana

Buff Orpingtons

We ordered:
-2 Buff Orpington Pullets (females)
-1 Silver Laced Wyandotte Cockerel (male)
-9 Americana Straight Run (both male and female)
Plus, they gave us 1 extra Americana! This gives us a nice bakers dozen of 13 baby nuggets!

The Orpingtons will lay lovely brown eggs, while the Americanas will lay blue eggs!

Having chicks is a ton of fun. This will be my second year raising them, so I've learned a little, but I also have a lot of room to grow! My favorite part is watching them interact with one another. One minute they will be fighting over a piece of the pine shavings that line their box, and the next they'll all be sleeping in a big fluffy pile of cuteness! And you wonder why people love their chickens so much?

If you are thinking about raising your own chicks, I would check out Backyard Chickens (BYC). They have an amazing learning center, blog and a great discussion forum. This is where I get a lot of information.