Turkeys,Chickens & Cross Stitch

I have been down sick the last couple of days with a nasty stomach bug. However the time has not been wasted, I pulled out my Sarah Hook cross stitch and got some work done on it. I am so close to a finish with it, I think a few more evenings and it will be complete :)

The turkeys and chickens have been moved to their spot in the new coop. They are just loving all of the room that they have . Next spring I will be building a 24'x24' turkey pen in the backyard as I want to get a few Royal Palm's next Spring.

We ended up with 1 tom and 2 hens with the turkeys. However I was not quite so lucky with the Maran's, I got 2 roosters and 1 hen. 1 of the roster will be going to live with the Americana's as those should all be hens.

Two New Does & Some Progress

This doe is 5 months old and is a American Chinchilla. Yesterday at the Athens Family Fun Day I met a breeder a couple of towns over who has a small heard of American Chinchilla's and I was lucky enough to purchase these two doe's.

This is 1/2 sister to the above doe, she is mixed with a California, I just love that she is broken. The man I purchased them from will have a purebred buck for me in about 2 or 3 months. I am hoping that these two does will be a great addition to my meat rabbit program.

I was so proud of my youngest boy yesterday. He marched in the Athens Parade with his Sea Cadet batallion. He looks so grown up in his uniform.

"Bump" is the boy on the very end. He wants to grow up to join the army like his uncle , Bump's older brother who is 15 has plans to sign up with the Air Force when he turns 17. Bump just recently returned from a trip to New Hampshire where he spent 4 days eating and sleeping with the Blue Angel's. He just loved that trip and came home with autographs and so many stories.

The chicken coop is coming right along, I was able to get the top put on the nest box area and frames in the door. I was also able to start on the roof. It still has a ways to go but it is getting there. When the sun goes down a bit I will continue to work on it :)

Rabbit and Chicken Coop Update

Fern's litter is doing great, they are now 8 days old. However we did lose 1 of the runts the other day, I am guessing to the nasty heat we have been having here.

Sadly we have also lost 2 of Cali's litter also to heat stress. I have been running 3 fans to try to keep everyone cool, next year I believe that I will take a break from breeding during the hottest part of the summer.

Work on the chicken pen is coming along at a snails pace, I really thought I would be finished with it by now.

Yesterday I finished attaching the chicken wire around the outside of the pen and started to frame in one of the doors. Today my goal is to finish one of the doors and to get the top onto the nest area.

I am finding that I am not very handy when it comes to electric tools lol :) I can't cut a straight line with the skill saw to save my life, but I will muddle through this project the best that I can.

I find however that my chickens seem to be liking the progress on the coop and they don't seem to mind if my cuts are far from perfect.As soon as I finish this side I will be putting my Marana's and turkey's in then starting on the second side :)

Chicken Coop

We are working hard on a new chicken coop for the Maran's, Americana's and turkey's. They are quickly outgrowing their current pen.This one is 5 1/2 feet wide by 18 feet long. It will be divided into 2 pens with nest boxes at each end. The 4x4 posts are the only wood I have bought for this project, my neighbor who is tearing down an old mobile home has gifted me with 2x4's and 2x2's that I will use for this project.

The kids had a blast painting it with some leftover paint that we had under the kitchen sink. It is a very pretty pale green.I still have a good bit of work left to do on, I hope to get the doors put in today and then be able to finish off the nesting box this evening.

The baby bunnies are doing great, they are now 5 days old, in a couple of days I will post some more pictures of them. Cleo's babies are getting so big and will be going off to new homes next week.

Here are 2 little fuzzy Red Eye Whites - they are both doe's.

I just love this little doe - she has such a sweet personality. The little male who looks like her has already found a wonderful home where he will be a pet to two 7 year old twin girls, they are coming to pick him up Tuesday.