Slightly OT... But fun!

I hope everyone had a GREAT turkey day! We had a blast. Our good friend Courtney came over and then treated us to an off-Broadway show at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. We saw Spam-a-lot. It was GREAT! I love Monty Python!

One of the BEST parts of the show was this...

(I didn't take this video, it was the only one I could find! SORRY!)

Then of course I wanted to BUY one of the rabbits... but the prices were OUTRAGEOUS! I think I'll wait until they hit eBay!

I LOVE MONTY PYTHON! :)

EGGS!!!

Check out all of the eggs we have... YIKES! I got a book with 200 egg recipes the other day and we need to start cooking! Once all of the chickens start laying consistenly we will be posting a sign near the road offering eggs for sale and a local organic market will be buying them from me for resale.

The scary thing is, the Americaunas just started laying today... and most of our hens are Americaunas! That means only about 12 of the 30-40 hens are laying now. When they all start laying we'll be buried!!

This basket has about 6 dozen eggs in it!

Aren't they pretty?
We got our first blue and our first green egg today.

Look at the MASSIVE ones to the right!!! One of our girls lays a double yolker every day... and they are HUGE!

Quick Update!

Yesterday we got 6 eggs! Neat huh? They were all brown and I am pretty sure that they are all from our Black Sex Link hens... which is weird because they are from the second batch of chicks! This morning I did pick up one white egg which is either from the Brown Leghorns or one of the Silkies... Whoever it was it surprised them because it was on the floor :) One of the Sex Links is a double yolker! We've already gotten 3 HUGE eggs from her (not to mention the normal sized eggs she's produced)! Not bad for such a young girl!

Today I'm starting on my new rabbit hutch. Since we are keeping two girls from this litter and plan on buying a Californian buck we need more space. I lucked out though and saw some free doors on the side of the road. They are those great old solid oak doors and will make EXCELLENT walls! I'm going to try to make this hutch a "double decker" with "poop slides" under the upper floor. The bottom floor will probably be 2 large cages that we can use to raise the babies until they reach 10 weeks. I am big into recycling materials, so a lot of this hutch is going to be made out of "found" items. It's more fun building this way! It makes you think! :)

Sadness :(

Last time I posted I mentioned that one of the baby bunnies had died. Well three days ago I found another one, not dead, but partially paralyzed!! I had noticed that they were jumping up onto the door that separated the two sections to sit with their mother. I think they both fell off! I found the first dead baby right under the door, but at that time I didn't know they could get up there!

So the other day I removed the door, and today I wired the hole up, so now Cher and her remaining 4 babies are locked into the larger side of the cage. Today I also ended the little paralyzed ones suffering. I was hoping that the paralysis was caused by inflammation and would go away, but it didn't, and I couldn't bear to see him suffer.

So, we're down to four out of six. Sigh... all I can say is live and learn. Hopefully someone will read this before building a cage and not try to get fancy like I did.

Don't Do This!!

Bunnies at 3 Weeks Old

I weighed the whole litter today and can you believe they are 5lbs? Not each, don't get too excited... but that's almost a pound each! Not bad!

After I finished my torture session (handling, weighing, checking them out) I put them back in their hutch and walked over to the chickens... I glanced back and saw this...

Three of them are very brave and are hopping all around, pestering their mother, EATING FOOD and DRINKING WATER. I can't believe how fast they mature!

Dad, Mom and Baby

The chickens are enjoying new heights now that the netting is off... Now they can reach all those nice tasty leaves they couldn't get to before!

On a sad note, today (Sunday) I found one of the baby bunnies dead in the hutch. His little bum was all pasted up, it looked like he had some diareah (despite not getting any greens or other strange food)... Maybe he couldn't handle the diet change. I had noticed the other day, when I weighed them, that one of them looked a little smaller and his eyes were a little squinty. I bet it was that one. Poor little guy.

SNOW!

We had our first big snow last night and I found a really good reason NOT to use bird netting over the top of the run...

I went to check on the roosters in their little house (it was about 10:00AM) and they were still in there! I threw them some cracked corn and checked on them a few more times. They didn't come out all day!The hens were all locked up until I was able to get all of that heavy wet netting removed... Then I opened the pop-hole expecting them to charge out like they always do. There was a massive rush to the door (per usual) but then a big traffic jam. They would NOT go out! They did eat a little of the snow though... after an hour of looking at it.

Our hens are really starting to lay! This one settled in to 4 different nest boxes before she left a HUGE egg... I mean it was MASSIVE. I picked it up and it reminded me of a duck egg. Not bad for her first! (Oh, and if you're wondering about the wall art... its a recycled doll house! They LOVE IT!)

I cheated a little here... this is her egg compared with a silkie egg (which are small) But seriously, this egg had some WEIGHT!

One last funny note. I was wondering why Blueberry hadn't laid any more eggs... Well I found out this morning. Underneath one of the banks of nest boxes there is a "floorboard" I put in to keep them from laying under there. This morning I heard someone in there rustling around. At first I thought it was a big mouse, then I heard a cluck. I pried the board away and there was Blueberry... sitting on 3 eggs and ready to lay another one!! Good thing I caught her! I REALLY don't want chicks in December!

Our First Egg (From our chicks) and Bunnies at 2 Weeks!

Yesterday one of our black sex link pullets (who we call Blueberry) was clucking up a storm in the coop, digging around in one of the nest boxes and tucking the fake eggs underneath her. We KNEW she was getting ready to lay an egg, she just was taking her own sweet time... I checked on her all day until it was dark... nothing! But this morning, on the floor, was this nice little pale brown egg! HOORAY! This is the first egg from a hen we've raised from a chick.

The bunnies are 2 weeks old today. Their eyes are open and they are getting HUGE! They are so adorable. Because they've grown so much I had a much easier time counting them. There are 6. They should be coming out of the nest box soon. Cher has been an EXCELLENT mom!

My MIL and I went out to the hutch and she wanted to hold one. She was trying to see if it was a girl or a boy.. I said "Don't aim that end at your face!" and POW the little guy peed on her. She hurried up and put him back in the box. I said "You should have held on to that one... he's empty!"