Spring is almost here and this is when I hear many newbies mention how much fun it would be to try hatching baby chicks themselves. And that’s great! Hatching baby chicks is fun, educational, and rewarding. But, it’s not always just cute little bundles of fluff. Sometimes it’s difficult, and even downright disgusting. So I thought it would be a good idea to tell you exactly what to expect when you have baby chicks hatching.
This is what we were greeted with Thursday morning.
We really have a lot of birds. And I am not talking about the wild ones either (though we really have a lot of wild birds, too). I am talking about birds on our homestead. I think they are taking over. Continue reading
The start of our garden.
Today is another two-fer, this time for the letter G. That’s because I can’t decide if I want to write about goats or gardening – both of which I love.
Gardening was my first love. I have been gardening since I was old enough to stand up. My parents always had a huge garden and summer was highlighted by eating fresh, yummy veggies every day. In fact, I would often raid the garden when I was outside playing, looking for goodies to snack on. Continue reading
Today’s A-Z Challenge post is the letter C. Chickens seemed like the natural topic because they are easy to keep and, in some places, you can have a few in your backyard even if you live in town. Raising chickens is a step toward being more self sufficient.
Chickens are pretty easy to keep. They need a draft-free coop as well as clean food and water. Food can be commercial feed from the farm store or it can be kitchen scraps, grass, bugs, worms… chickens will eat pretty much anything. Continue reading
No, not for Easter. This is sort of a year round thing on the homestead. Currently, we have 14 layers and, even though my husband built them a beautiful nest box, they seem to like laying eggs in odd places.
We have found eggs in the bushes, in the other barn in an old… um… I don’t know what it is. Some sort of contraption that should probably be in the trash.
My husband even found some in a box of stuff for electrochemical bore cleaning. (Do NOT ask me what that is. I have no clue. I asked Jeff what it was. That’s what he told me. It belonged to his dad so I assume it is related to guns. That’s all I can tell you.) Not necessarily a great place to lay a pile of eggs.
It’s spring on the homestead! Well, according to the calendar it’s Spring anyhow. I am not sure I’m buying it though. There are still piles of snow in places, I still have to wear four layers in the house to stay warm, and we are still getting freezing temperatures.
Oh well, I guess that’s Spring in Wisconsin.
On the other hand, I can see the grass, even if it is still brown. And, one of the first signs of Spring on the homestead for me – we have chicks!
Continue reading