Falling Behind and Catching Up

A lot has been going on in our little world so here's an update:

We managed moved our little farm over onto a newly graded 1/2 acre of land as mentioned in the Carolina Red Clay post from July.   Thanks to the torrential rains this fall and early winter, the red clay is still winning.

After the craziness of moving a 10' x 20' building, two coops and a dog house, all the runs are set up and really working out well.  Our goal this winter is to upgrade the coops, add some ramps, a more permanent pond and renovate the building into a cute little barn.

Four little ducklings all ended up being drakes. At least they were consistent, right?  We are down to two, Edward Gray (formerly Anna Gray) and Sunki.  The two other huge Pekins went to a happy home down the way to keep a single drake company.

The new chicks from a local hatchery have been a learning experience.  We lost one chicken early on, and then two of the three pullets left ended up being roosters.  The roosters are both beautiful birds and mild mannered, but roosters none-the-less.  We paid a premium  because of the breed, a premium in hindsight which was too much to pay even for a pullet.  Needless to say we will be returning to our local farm store for future chicks.
 

As for the rabbits, they received their own portion of the run partitioned off with fresh grass and an open hutch.  They dug out.  So they were given another portion with a wire bottom.  They figured out how to open the door.  Now we have three free range rabbits who live under the barn and sometimes in their hutch.  They seem quite happy to come and go as they please and I no longer have neighbors enjoying the antics of me capturing rabbits with a fishing net.  We decided we either have the smartest rabbits in the county or the dumbest coyotes.

With the new year upon us, we hope and pray that our family continues to be healthy and happy and our little farm continues to grow.  Happy New Year!