Daddy`s fix everything....

So after the funfilled day of chasing the piggy, and creating the piles of junk to fortify the pen, Hubby comes home, laughs at my handiwork, but says he`s proud of me for keeping up with the pig. He zipped up the road and came home with hog panels and posts, said he would fix piggy a more siutable home, one he shouldn`t be able to get loose from. Im rejoicing.

I haven`t been feeling good the past two days, so the munchkins have been helping with chores. I think the little one got into it a little too much. :)

The baby chickens are growing fast, and we have started the incubator back up for another batch of chicks.

All in all a good week, although maybe a bit tiring to some.

What was I thinking.......

We were sitting at the table last night looking at the latest ads for animals and such, when one in particular caught my eye. I show it to hubby, he thinks about it for a minute, then yep, we decide its time for a baby piggie. I call the man, and he`s still got them, so I tell him what time I`ll be there. I run and tell the girls to get in the car we going to get a baby piggie. So here goes the little one hollering and singing all the way to the car about cute little baby piggy wiggy. The man lives in Newberry so its going to be a long hour of hearing the awwws.

We get there right on time, and go to the backyard to see them, and he`s also got baby goats, so the awws start from everybody, but I have to say no to the very adorable baby goat that willow is already chasing around. He just wont fit in the little car since we already are putting the pig in. We get to the pig area, and willow sees them and goes eww, that's what we getting? I tell her yes ma`m, she looks back at the baby goat, looks at me and says "mom your nuts " .   Maybe she was right, but I really thought the pig was a good deal.

I had brought a dog crate with me, because I figured a two month old pig couldn't`t be very big, and he should fit nicely inside. We tried to put him in it and immediately he busted out. So theres hubby and the man running after the pig .... After a few minutes , we finally get him settled into the car, and away we go. The pig is now voicing how mad he is, and the girls are complaining about the smell, and its going to be a long ride home.

We  get home, and get the piggy settled into a pen, feed him, and go in for the evening thinking we did a good job.

I had to take the oldest child to school this morning, and was headed out to the car, when we see the piggy.....in the flowers.....not in his cage. Somehow I lure him back into the pen, and reinforce where he got out, and still made it to school on time.

I get just a half a mile from the house on the way back home, when guess what runs out in front of the car.....piggy. I slam on the brakes, look back , back the car up, and start calling out 'here piggy'. I'm sure the neighbors got a good laugh at watching me drive by hollering here piggy, with a baby pig running behind the car. So we get home, and lure him back into the pen.  I go in with intentions to clean and have some coffee, when I look out the window and piggy is in the garden.

To make it shorter, I finally after 5 total escapes and reinforcing the pen with whatever I could find, have gotten the pig to stay in the pen for a bit. I ran through poison oak, twisted my ankle, got attacked by said piggy, got covered in ticks and unmentionable mess from the pen, but I did it, all by myself. I handled it . :)   I just hope hubby isn`t mad at how I had to reinforce it.........

HOMEMADE CHICKEN TRACTOR

We needed a new home for our little speckled Sussex chickens, so we decided to build them one. Hubby got some 2x4`s , chicken wire, and 2 sheets of tin. He wanted it to measure 4ft by 8ft when he was finished. So after spending a bit of time on it for a couple of evenings we now have a nice, although a bit heavy chicken pen. Here's how we did it :

first we built a 4x8 frame ( take two 2x4`s and cut to size)

then make another one just like that, then trim 2x4`s to height of wire (in our case that was 38 inches) then attach them at corners.......

Ok now, put the other piece we put together first on top and secure, then we put two boards to brace the roof and bottom on (just measure across inside of frame for length) and hubby went ahead and put a board across for a roost.....

next we put a door on one side with a latch  and two hinges so it will open down like an oven door

then wrap the chicken wire around and secure to the other 3 sides we used some staples we had in the shed for this part, make sure you pull the wire tight as you go, then hubby screwed the tin to the top of the pen......

and that's it, now we have a whole new chicken pen that cost about $80 to build, just make sure you have an assistant to help with the building if you want to try.....

new babies

Yesterday morning we welcomed our first little baby chicken. I kept looking in the incubator to see if anything was happening, and was starting to worry that it didn`t work. After a little while though we had one to hatch. Willow came running at me full speed (I was doing the laundry) tripped over the dog, and landed at my feet, got up and screamed " we got a ugly chicken " . So after an eyebrow raise and a huh? I follow her to the incubator, and yup we had a very wet pitiful looking chicken sitting there. So I told her he`s not ugly, he just has to dry off and get his balance.....so she dutifully watches over him for about 20 minutes, and I hear an "awwwww, he`s adorable" . I go back to see what shes gushing about and another one had hatched. By the end of the day we had 14 to hatch.
 It was getting pretty crowed in the incubator, so we moved the dry ones to the brooder the hubby had got ready for us. Now we are waiting for the rest to hatch. I think if we give them another day or so they should. Theres  alot of eggs with holes or cracks, so we know theres still more to come.
I`m thinking we should do this again soon, maybe with bantam eggs.

homemade dish liquid

We tried our hand at making some dish detergent. This does not make bubbles.....and I found out that bubbles are added to store detergents, and are not even what cleans your dishes. Now at first, this stuff is amazing, it literally cleaned the dishes without scrubbing. After a few days though it separated and just didn`t seem to work as good. Here`s the recipe we used, but note that we will be working to make it better over the next while. 

- 1 tbsp. grated ivory soap
- 1 tbsp. washing soda
- 1 tbsp. white vinegar
- 1and 1/2 cups hot water

stir all together until melted, then stir on and off throughout the day. After it gels some, add a few drops of an essential oil, mix well. We used orange oil. Then pour into an old dish soap bottle.



After doing some research, I found that  mixing vinegar and soap was the problem, the vinegar clumps the soap, and takes away the cleaning power of the soap. So next time I will try it without the vinegar.

Fun in the sun

Its official the youngest child and Cletus the rooster are at war. We had to keep them separated this past weekend after he chased the poor child into the house, and she came back out with the fly swatter and  threatened to fry him.......

The ducks are growing and growing, and have become instant buddies to the children.

We are starting to be able to tell what breeds of bantams we have now, we had bought chicks of various breeds.

The incubating eggs are now on lock down and should be hatching in the next few days if all works out well. Stay tuned for news on them...

Hubby saved the tomato plants from the weird late frost, and they look amazing.

We found baby birds and had fun playing with them until hubby told us the mom was gonna get us...



And now some pictures........

                                                     duckies !

                                                 everybody loves green apples.....

                                                   
                                                       the garden so far........

                                                        baby birds we found in an old birdhouse

mulberry jam coming soon......

the onion and garlic patch

We love a good auction

We spent this past Saturday at the auction sale. Had a great time, and found some good deals. This is always a great way to save money and meet new people. The sale has two parts. First is the junk sale, where people can try to sell or buy anything at all. There were old tools, lawnmowers, animal cages, dishes, furniture, etc. for sale. The second part is the small animal sale. This includes chickens, rabbits, other poultry, and eggs.

We took 2 dozen eggs with us, just to see what they would bring, ended at  $2 each.  The hubby found a whole bunch of animal cages of various sizes for cheap. I got a rabbit hutch with 2 free rabbits in it for $17. Then we went inside to watch the chicken sale......
I got excited, and bought more bantams, and hubby got him a pair of carrier pigeons. What we`re going to do with these very strange looking bantams I don't know. They have really long legs, and boy are they noisy. I just couldn't resit though. I plan on having a pair of a few different breeds of bantams, so that will be my justification. 
Sunday I found California baby girl bunnies for sale, so we went after a pair of those . That way we now have the ability to breed our California buck.....I'm thinking these will be great to sell around Easter time next year.

Here's some photos of our new additions.......


(here are some of the bantams that I bought, they`re called old english game. see how big they are compared to the coffee cups ? They are very small , and see how long their legs are ?)

( here are the other two bantams I bought, they are the same breed as above, just a different color )

When we got the bantams settled in , we went to check on them and these (above) had laid an egg. See how it compares to a regular chicken egg ( rhode island red )

This is the little rabbit hutch I found, it needs a little work, but it was too cheap to pass up.....

finally, here are my 2 new baby California girls