We have now officially moved onto the farm and our projects are in full swing!
Our bird collection has increased significantly. My birds consist mostly of Rouen ducks, Runner ducks, and quail. The Rouen ducks will be for meat and eggs, where as the Runners are going to be primarily for eggs and bug control in the garden. I’ve always really enjoyed having ducks and am so happy to be back working with them! They never cease to amuse me.
The quail are for meat and eggs. Their eggs are quite pretty and they don’t take long to hatch once incubated. The males make a very pretty sound too!
Aiden has special quail, chicks, pheasants, and an assortment of mixed birds we bought as chicks at an auction. Aiden has always had a passion for the more esentric rare breeds and they are quite pretty to behold. I’m excited to learn more about them.
Then we have our rabbit business with the meat rabbits and pet bunnies. The meat rabbits are New Zealand mixes. Easy to keep and grow to be quite large. We keep a book with information about when they were bred and how many kits they had, and the info lives on a little care card clipped to their cage. We both are quite new to meat rabbits and so we have experienced hiccups with some unsuccessful litters, but now we have put rugs under the bottom of the nest box to avoid the under draft from killing the kits.
The pet bunny’s care is slightly different because ultimately the bunnies are our pets. They get more variety in their diet, handled frequently, and have more toys and outside time. Our current breeds for pets are Netherland dwarf, Lionhead, and an English angora bunny. They are still too young to breed so we just enjoy their company for now.
Then there are our odd pets. An emu, ferrets, and our three legged calf. They don’t have a whole lot of use but they are quite an attraction and often have a lot of people driving by the front field slowly to admire the emu. The calf is so very cute! We named her Trinity and she is such a trooper! The calf came from a dairy farm nearby. She was born with a deformed front leg. She has been making out just fine with three legs. The vet says as long as we exercise her regularly she should be fine even at full weight with just the three legs. Currently, she kicks, jumps, and runs with no problem! She is such a friendly calf and a joy to have.
The garden is a big project. To be honest, I haven’t done a whole lot of gardening in the past so I’ve had a lot to learn and it’s been intimidating starting a garden this size. However, despite some hiccups and learning curves, stuff is beginning to grow and I’m hoping to have a few harvestable crops by the end of June!
The farm is an ambitious project but we both love what we are doing and are in a position to give this a shot. It is a lot of fun and I’m really excited to see how things are going to turn out come summer!
