New Chicks, 1 day old

Blue bantam cochin cross chicks. born yesterday, 2/26/2011. 8 out of 10 eggs hatched using the incubator we made out of an old ice chest.

This video shows the brooder we made out of a rubbermaid container and a dimmer switch.

Rabbits Free Ranging in Garden

Rabbits get to free range for a while.

Garden Update

Weather has been really warm last week. Today it is suppossed to be 79, but i think the wind will keep it a little cooler. Worked on trellis and raised beds a little. Will transplant peas, beans and a few others this afternoon if it does not rain.

Update:
ended up transplanting:

• cucumber


• pumpkin


• sugar baby watermelon


• cantaloupe


• peas


• string  beans


• jalapeno pepper


• sweet banana pepper

Picture shows Salad Bed with trellis

Rabbit hutch continued..

added sides and found container to store food

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Egg hatch

8 out of 10 eggs have hatched. 1 last night and the rest today. Chaz and I moved them to the brooder.

Rabbit Hutch work

More work on the rabbit hutch in the garden. Cages turned out taller than I expected. Will add sides tomorrow.

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Hatch update

Checked throughout the night and still only one chick had hatched, no movement from the other eggs but did see a little more pipping.

Came in at around 8:30 am for coffee refill and now there are 3 chicks.

Correction: 9:10 am, now there are 4!

1st chick

1st chick hatch

Started Rabbit Hutch

Started on rabbit hutches.

Incubator lockdown

Incubator lockdown for the 1st hatch out of our DIY ice chest incubator. We were working outside on the new rabbit hutch till about 6:30 pm and we had at least 5 eggs popped at that time. Our first chick officially hatch at 7:15 pm.

Rabbits

Bought rabbits from the East's in longville, they used to live in Hackberry.

New Zealand dad and mom is Checkered Giant. They were born on 11/22/2010 and are now 3 months old.

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2nd crop of seedlings

2nd crop of seeds, almost ready to go into garden

February harvest weights

Cabbage = 9.8 lbs
Lemons = 5.5 lbs

Built Brooder

Finished brooder. Chicks should start hatching next weekend.

Used a dimmer switch and with a 60 watt soft white bulb, I can turn the dimmer half way and reach 95 degrees.

Planted Corn

Planted corn

Lemons

Picked all the flowers I could find earlier this year so the ponderosa lemon tree could grow. A few flowers slipped by.

Planted herbs

Planted from left 2 right:

Dill, Oregano, Basil

Started Trellis

Started The trellis for the garden entrance this afternoon.

More Raised Garden Boxes

Added more raised beds to the garden

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Dried Parsley

Dehydrated parsley overnight. Turned out great.

Made hanging plant id's

using aluminum cans and pen and marker.

Potatoes Planted

Planted 2 types of potatoes, Irish new potatoes, and idaho baking potatoes.

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Candled Eggs

Candled eggs in the incubator for the first time and 8 out of the 10 are developing. The other 2 eggs are to dark to tell. One of the eggs that is developing is from the Polish Hen we lost today. It was the only egg she laid while she was here.

Stove in the Shed is working!

Finally got the right breaker for the stove in my shed, seems to be working fine. Plan to bake some "Flock Blocks" this weekend for the chickens.

Lost the Polish Hen today to a predator

Came home to a pile of feathers in the garden. Something had dug under a rusted spot in the fence and killed the polish hen. Rooster apparently went after the predator as there was a pile of his chest feathers a few feet over, but he seems fine.

Wild Kingdom!

Plants are getting pretty leggy, getting them used to being outside each evening and hoping to put them in a raised bed with a window top this weekend. They are about 4.5 weeks old.

Garden Window

Using the window from uncle Jimmy's remodel as a cold frame or green house. Weather will start warming this weekend, but still in the 20's next few nights. Getting seedling acclimated to the weather each afternoon and will try putting them in the window bed this weekend.

Garden Fence

Added some more fence this weekend

Flock block

Home made flock block

Started Incubating Eggs

Put 10 eggs in the incubator at 6 pm. Have been saving eggs for 6 days. All are from Cochins except for one from the Polish, her first egg with use.

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2 eggs today

2 eggs from the cochins, also saw noticed the rooster breed one of the white silkies, so that either means i have a silkie hen or a gay rooster. hahah

Ice cold

Bitter cold and ice storm. Freezing temp all day for past 2 days

DIY Egg Candler

Started collecting eggs yesterday to incubate in a few days and started thinking about a candler to check there progress. Got Chaz to help me make a quick and easy candler using a toilet paper roll tape and a small flashlight.

We cut the toilet paper roll in half and taped it back together the size of our bantam eggs

Also, got a nice surprise when I checked for eggs this evening. Our first egg from our Polish hen named B. A., a nice sized white egg

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Started Saving Eggs to Incubate

Started saving eggs to incubate. 1 from yesterday and 2 from today. If I incubate them on the 6th, they should hatch on the 27th.

1 egg

1 today

1 egg

Helper broke it on accident