Checking in on the rabbits after much needed rain.

Having finally had some rain, things have cooled down a little much to the relief of the rabbits, next week also looks like it will be very nice weather, so it's probably time to do the next breeding of the season. It also happens to coincide with the kits being at a good age to be separated from their mothers soon. As you can see, Dawn has taken over a lot of the care of her daughters kits, though they actually seem to be sharing quite well. I'm sure dawn will be happy with her own kits with this next round of breedings.

Cold Antler Farm visit, chickens, and planting.

As usual we had a bit of a busy weekend, and part of that involved meeting Lucas here, who showed off to us all day. We met him at Cold Antler Farm where Jenna Woginrich was kind enough to show us around and be hospitable to us. We loved seeing everything on her farm.

She actually has a similar sized lot to what we have, but much more of it is in use. She keeps very busy, and has a variety of creatures on the farm in addition to logo creation, book writing, and a variety of other activities from archery to draft horse use. Left are Jame and Ciersie that were very affectionate and hung around us most of the day. The Critter learned how to headbutt things from them which has been so far fairly entertaining.  Going out to visit, see, and experience was our Saturday and a day well spent relaxing together and seeing someone else doing something similar to us, just a bit further along. Of course, Saturday and Sunday we had other things to do.

Fruit trees, and brave chicks.

The chicks are doing well, and are very brave for such small things. They definitely seem to have quite the learning curve with life, but at least it's going well because they have a hen to teach them everything about being a chicken. I certainly would have trouble doing so! I need to get more rabbit pictures, but we're still enchanted with the chicks right now so, more chick pictures along with the fruit tree information I promised last time.

A whole variety of things going on, but mostly chicks.

There are a lot of things going on around the homestead right now, but this post is going to focus on the chicks because they're adorable. The other things that will be touched on in this post include more work on barn tear down, the seedling swap, and fruit trees. I'm going to start with the "Other" part of this post before getting to the adorable. Well, getting more to the adorable than the chicks Above.

Chickens: Good news and bad news.

Extra post for the day because a lot happened in the last 24 hours, and I figured I'd make a quick update. Last night the Lady of the House heard peeping from inside some of the eggs under our Australorp. I heard it this morning, and when I checked in a few of the eggs this morning they have outward facing cracking on them. You can see one of them bottom right of the picture Above. I'm not sure how many will hatch, and how many of them that hatch will survive, but we shall see. We already had one egg that didn't make it, and the photo of that and some less good news will be below the cut. The one that didn't make it will be at the bottom of the post so you know where it is, and can read the rest first.

A frost after the furnace, weeds, and a final push on the barn Sunday.

After a few days of near 90 temperatures, this morning we had frost on the ground, and the chicken water had some thin floating ice. I can't say I actually object to the lower temperature even though I didn't object to the higher temperature. The kits are much more active in the cooler temperatures, and while we have having a cool break before the heat of the summer drops in hard again we should get the next round of breedings done. Again though, before I can do that I have to get Dawn and her daughter into the larger hutch, which means finishing it. Which reminds me I HAVE to get the wasp nests out of that hutch before I go in and work on it. Things to do tonight. Too much going on! I am not even going to be able to get too much going on this weekend other than the seedling swap and finishing off the barn. I need more time at home, especially with some things that are coming up.

I also wanted to take a moment to thank another new contributor on Patreon, the generosity is greatly appreciated from all who are contributing at any level.

Hot weather, healthy kits, a broken egg, and asking for rain.

Having missed Spring entirely, or so it's seemed for the past few days, it was nice this morning for it to look like it might rain. We'll see whether it does or not, but I am hoping we see some good rain today. The kits have been sprawled out at the hottest part of the day getting the best of the breezes we have up the hill. Without that the weather would be much more unpleasant, and in the valley where I work, it is that much hotter and less pleasant. I've been taking my exercise during lunch so I've come to really appreciate getting home to the slightly cooler temperatures and winds.

As you can see Above Dawn is just as gentle to, and protective of her daughters kits as her own. The three in with her are doing well, and should be getting moved over to the bigger hutch shortly. A few weeks straight of sickness has slowed so much down.

Recovered in peace, preparing to move rabbits around, and healthy babies.

We're getting ourselves back on track after some serious gastroenteritis fun. We Still haven't gotten a lot done because of that, but now we're just now recovering, but at least we're starting to do so! It's a good thing we're getting back on our feet now because we have a lot to get done and some of it is urgent.

Mobile kits, warm weather, and moving on despite sickness.

 Splash's kits have opened their eyes, and it's a very nice thing to see after a rough week or so here on the homestead. So far all of the human inhabitants here have been sick at least part of that time. I am sick enough that I'm home from work, and this is going to be a text light post with mostly just baby photos. What's going around isn't life threatening with modern medicine, but without it, food poisoning followed by gastroenteritis is bad news. The good news is I think we're all coming out of it.