Tuesday, June 9, 2015

House progress, Llama shearing, & More chicks!

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the farm!  The builders are making great progress on the house, the llamas got sheared, and the goats have been enjoying an abundance of green eats.  Here's some pics:


The land was graded and the wood was put in place so the concrete foundation could be poured

Here's a view from the blue chicken coop

We had a big rain storm and the ramp from the run into the big green downstairs coop fell out - I discovered it when I went out to the farm to put the chickens up one evening around 8 pm.  I tried to do a temporary fix on it with some cloth from an old chair, but ultimately had to call in the expert (Jason) for a more solid fix.

Mama hen venturing around with the 3 chicks

The goats did some clearing around the boat and trailers

Opal looking fabulous

Lacey Lou posing on the boat trailer

It's on like Donkey Kong!  You know it's for real when they bring in the Port-A-Potty :)

Norman got some fresh lettuce and carrots delivered to him, courtesy of Jason

Big chicks, little chicks

Opal and Ruby enjoy some boat side greens

Got some rain and it got very muddy

The chickens and a guinea discovered an anthill and went to town on it

Tracy Munroe, llama shearer out of Dallas, came to the farm on Friday May 29th and sheared the llamas.  They were in dire need of haircuts! 

Brutus went first - he's the most well behaved of the bunch

Dolly went next - it was really tough getting her into the chute, but she was well behaved once we got her in the chute.

Dolly post-shearing

Dolly hung out with Mama Llama while she got sheared.  Mama Llama was a piece of work - she spit on both Tracy and me during her time in the chute.

Dolly and Mama showing off their nudie haircuts

Ezra hung out with everyone later that day

He likes the chickens

He got to drive the gator

Nothing makes this boy happier than playing in the dirt!

And nothing makes him more angry than having to leave the dirt

We had another little visitor as well - Max.  He and Ezra had a wild time playing with the goats and in the dirt

We hatched out 12 Americauna bitties from eggs I bought on Ebay

Here's the eggs they hatched from - so the hens will lay blue and pink eggs when they grow up.  Can't wait for that!

Here's the homemade incubator we hatched them in - 75% hatch rate which is incredible for shipped eggs!

Communal feeding

The Americaunas got to peck around in the yard for the first time

Concrete was poured!

View from our future garage

Of course, the goats had to come check it out

Here they are doing some inspecting

Ezra pets Opal while she and Ruby eat

Framing for more concrete went up

We got a portable electric net fence to put the goats in during the day so they don't have to be tied to leashes

Opal and Ruby eating dinner

Lacey Lou and Stevie B enjoying their dinner too

More foundation concrete was poured and the casing removed

Brutus looking fabulous

Mama Llama getting ready to spit on me

Mama hen leading one of her biddies to water

Gravel mountain!

Ezra enjoyed throwing it...

Ezra enjoys feeding the animals through the fence

The bucket doubles as a hat when it's empty

Jason checking out the foundation

The driveway and storage room got filled in with dirt and topped off with gravel

View of our crawl space from the garage

Moved the Americaunas out to the farm to the upstairs blue coop - they were of course a little scared at first and all huddled together in a corner

The farm original chicks and the Silver Spangled Spitzhauben pair were a little stirred up by the new additions

The goats made some progress inside the electric fence - it's about time to move it to greener pastures so to speak.  There are most definitely plenty more areas on the farm for them to clear.

A concrete truck was getting ready to pour more concrete when I was at the farm earlier today and I passed a 2nd concrete truck coming up the driveway as I was leaving.  I'm pretty sure they were pouring the garage and storage room area but I'm not positive.  Can't wait to see it!