Rainy Saturday

It rained all day today so Buddy got a little bit of cabin fever. He plopped his big butt in Lindsay's chair and stared at us.

Then he stared at the door.
Lindsay felt bad for him and gave him a rub with a vibrating massager.
He liked it.

He really liked it.

Then he went back to his chair for another rest.

He has such a hard life.

Oh, and that is not a small chair, just a big dog.

Milkshake and The Ladies

About six months ago a little girl from church asked Lindsay if she wanted her bunny. In our lifelong quest to save anything helpless and cute we gladly added another member to our mini farm. Cici, the little girl that had given the bunny up for adoption, had named the bunny Milkshake. We thought about changing the name but decided bunnies probably don't care what we call them and Butch didn't quite fit. Milkshake she remains.



























Milkshake remained in a cage for several months with close to daily excursions to the outside world. She always had a hard time going back into her cage and would be shaking the cage door the next morning to get out. She doesn't really like to be held which is why I think we were gifted the bunny. One day I decided to seal off all under-fence retreats and let her loose in the backyard. I would put her back in her cage just before I went to bed and let her out when I woke up. One night I forgot. I woke up in a panic and ran out with images of Milkshake guts flying through my head. Luckily, she survived. In fact she has been surviving cage free since then. She sleeps under the barn and she has made several attempt to burrow to her neighbor in the next yard. Luckily she has yet to meet the pit bull next door.




























Today while I worked on the "SuperCoop". I decided to let the Ladies out for a recess from the brooder. No sooner then I set them down in the grass did Milkshake come out to checkout her new "roomies". They are all very interested in
each other.


















They all have one thing in common....






















They all love chicken feed.



















Then Milkshake needed a rest.















Buddy is very excited about the whole thing.

The Girls

For the passed 3 weeks I have been waiting for the newest additions to our home. I got the eggs from a friend that is a local egg farmer. This is my first experience with eggs so there was a lot of guessing and a lot of help from my friend June at the 4-H office.

Tuesday Morning I went to check on the eggs and I accidentally bumped the incubator. All of the eggs started rocking but one of them didn't stop. I leaned in closer for a look and the egg chirped at me. I had no idea that the chicks can chirp from inside the egg. Unfortunately the chick decided to wait until I went to work to peck it's way out of the shell. It started with a very small hole then pecked its way around until the top of the egg popped off like a hat.

When the "Bruce" finally made it out she (we are hoping it's a she) took about 3 hours to learn how to walk which is pretty amazing because she can't go 10 minutes without falling asleep wherever she is.

Bruce would then go around and try to "rally the troops". She bumped into, sat on, nuzzled, pecked and ran away from all of the other eggs in the incubator. I knew this breed (Aracauna) has a low hatch rate but I was hoping for some friends for Bruce. In the mean time we had to look for a temporary friend.

So Lindsay found the ball of yarn and put it in the brooder with Bruce. They didn't quite get along at first but a long lasting relationship has now formed.

We had the sad realization this morning that Bruce was going to be an only child. None of the other eggs hatched so we went to Echo Valley Farm Supply and got her a couple roommates.

There was a little bit of a clique at the beginning.

The girls getting acquainted

Buddy is already a fan.

Enters Bruce

About three weeks ago I

My New Adventure

I understand the world needs another blog like a turnip needs a thesaurus but i have just entered the blogging world. I grew up in Southern Oregon in a regular neighborhood. I never really was around animals besides my dog Pokey and for a very short time a few caged birds. Until about 3 years ago I didn't really know what to do with my life. With the help of my animal loving wife and some time spent in the country I have decided to become a country vet. Much to the shock of my family I threw in the towel on my construction management degree and started taking those animal science and agriculture classes. I am trying to teach myself to become a farmer/rancher in the process. This is my way of documenting my growth. I have a long way to go but am very excited for the journey.

Keep and eye out for my chicken post coming. The eggs just started to move in the incubator