Full-time farming: Getting crafty with the incubator and doing some springtime planting

I'm long overdue for a post so this will have lots of pics. We've been busy this spring planting a garden and hatching chicks, ducks and even a couple of rheas.

The goats and the llamas. We gave Carly (the baby goat) to the neighbor shortly after this pic was taken since she was nursing Opal to the point that Opal got super thin and I was really worried about her

Jason digging another post hole

Ezra and I joined him

Checking out the work

We decided to do a raised bed garden this year. We got some 2 x 6's and a lot of dirt at HD.

It's 4' x 8'

Scott and Ezra helped gather wood for the backyard firepit

The "house chickens"

Jason and I cleaning some eggs one Sunday

A bunch of chickens and a bunny :)

Lou hanging out down by the chickens

Llama silhouette at dusk

Organized feeding of the goats

Lucy llama watching over the tack room at feeding time

Broke out the homemade incubator to hatch some Americauna's I bought from ebay as well as 10 duck eggs Scott and Brenda took from the nest of one of the ancona ducks on the Fairfield lake

The eggs were packed in there!

Louie

Mae

Watering the garden, sort of...

Mae in the shark cat bed

Ezra feeding Dolly and Lucy

And then the chickens

Lucy llama looking super cute

Junior the rooster

Ezra chasing Lucy llama

Lou and the babies

Mark and Kelli came to visit and enjoyed the attention from all of the animals

Watching the bridgework happening

Steph came to visit for the llama rama and held Earl the bunny

The only pic I took during the llama rama

Jason used the neighbor's Bobcat to move some logs into the fire pit

Swinging on the front porch

Ezra's friend Charleigh came out to the farm to take springtime pics with the bunny

The bridgework continues...

Ezra watching Lou eat while he eats a cheesestick

A little outside time for the kittens

Shoveling gravel pantless

And watering the plants pantsless too haha

Finally broke down and got a super cool riding lawnmower

Not sure who was more excited - Jason or Ezra :)

We spread 20 bales of wheatstraw and some grass seed where the bridgework was done

He's a fine gardener

Don't forget the chickens!

One of our chickens hatched out 3 chicks

Super adorable

Lacey Lou just has to jump on the fence

Getting confident with that hose

The kittens are growing and moved out to the garage

Zelda got herself a chipmunk - earning her keep :)

Lou enjoys hanging with the chickens during feeding time

Jealous?

Tracy Munroe came out for the 3rd year in a row to shear the llamas - Brutus went first as usual

After pic - all nice and sheared

Here's the shearing setup

Lucy Llama even got sheared on her 1 month birthday

Naked llamas!

Outside time for the kittens and Lou

Not sure why they all cram into this coop when there's another huge one a few feet away...

Chicks hatched, ducks hatched a couple of days later

I wasn't ready to turn the incubator off, so I found these huge rhea eggs for sale on ebay and decided to try to hatch them out.

Lucky to have a wild blackberry bush growing up through the house chickens' run. I always thought it was poison ivy.

Fully stocked tack room after a trip to the feed store

Can't get enough of this cuteness!

4 black llamas aren't the easiest to see at night...

The garden is growing and got some hanging baskets up

We've even got peaches growing on the peach tree that we planted out here about 4 or 5 years ago

Expert chicken feeder

They love him! (and scratch...)

Lou looking pretty in front of the spring flowers

Everyone gathers at the gate at feeding time

The ducks and the chickens moved outside

They made a nice cozy nest

Louie - one handsome kitty

Mae is easy on the eyes, too

Getting solar panels installed!

After day 1

You can see them on the right

Sunflowers are coming up in the front of the house

We also have 3 amaryllis bulbs coming up

Precious kitties

Ezra checking out the fountain

Lou got a chipmunk - earning her keep, too

And then taking a well-deserved nap

Let the llamas out (unintentionally) to mow the grass

They wandered into the back yard too

Brutus in the front yard

We let Opal get some fresh greenery outside of the fence

Mae checked out the scene, too

Ezra feeding hay to the llamas

Ezra freaking out Lucy llama

Lou and Dolly

The garden continues to grow

Mae with a pretty hanging basket

Delivering some hay to the tack room

Earl got out of his cage and became a free-ranging farm bunny since we couldn't catch him again

Lucy and Mae - they don't know what to think about each other

Mae

View of the house with the hanging baskets

Mae spent an afternoon down with the llamas and ended up in Mama Lllama's feed bucket

Lou leading Mae back to the house

After 35 days, the rhea eggs started hatching!

We put up a purple martin birdhouse

The first rhea to hatch

Meet Pebbles!

The llamas really liked Pebbles, and Pebbles really liked the llamas

But we put Pebbles in with the chickens in the hopes that he/she would learn to eat and drink from them.

Pebbles and Bam Bam getting ready to go outside in the downstairs coop with the juvenile chickens for the day

Earl is still hanging out

Junior checks out Pebbles

That's either Brutus or Dolly (they look so much alike now that they're sheared) checking out Pebbles

There's Bam Bam

Ezra's friend Ben came over for some yard play

They enjoyed climbing the farm gate while Mama Llama ate

Mae chillaxing

Got the American flag hung

The peaches are growing

Junior keeps watch over the tack room

Junior and our downstairs Americauna

Pebbles and Bam Bam finally eating some food on Day 6.

This juvenile black rooster was being aggressive toward the other chickens and the rheas, so I threw him over the fence. He was desperate to get back over.