Happy New Years

Henni and all the critters on the farm want to wish everyone a safe and happy new year....and be sure to hug those critter out there

Tigeress

I know I already did a blog on the cats...but thought I would share picture of tigeress...our bob-tailed cat , who was born here....

 

Yes I know it is cruel to put cats in a cage, but I wanted to make sure these two was bred together...tigeress came out of these two I think....

 

 

Here is another tom cat we have had in the past, spunky...

He took off with the neighbors when they moved ...they took him instead of their own cat...

 

I miss him, he was such a good cat/mouser...

Like I said before we have had several cats here on the farm..

 

Enjoy!

Henni...

I thought you out there in blog land , might enjoy seeing Henni Christmas hat and scarf that I made....

 

Here she is honoring the King of King`s....

 

 

Here is a better picture of Henni honoring the King of King`s..... this will be displayed year around in  my garden.....in which you can read about on my other blog...my garden blog.....
This is in the Angel Garden...just started working on.....

                                                              I hope You
                                                           
                                                               ENJOY !

Chickens...Egg layers....

I know I have made a post on Chickens before now...my bantam cochins...but this post is on the egg layers here on the farm....
In which I have had a few here....

 

I have several different varieties here on the farm..

I have had one Red Laced Wyandotte...I have had Buff Orpingtons , Cuckoo Marans, White Rocks, white leghorns, plus a host of mixed breeds.....and other breeds That I have not mention...

The leghorns didn't stay here that long as we tend to like the brown eggs better, don't know why, but we do...we have even had those Easter Egger chickens , you know the ones that lay the colored eggs ...no need to dye those eggs....the girls loved those when they was small....

my egg layers are now down to a few , since I have gotten burned out on them for awhile....I raised them as mixed breeds here and as pure breeds

.....so I have raised them for the past few years...during the spring and summer months as extra money to pay for feed....and to buy other things as well, like things to make pens with....

I Think I am down to maybe 3 or 4 hens right now..1 that is a standard cochin and buff mixed and the others are just mixed plus my roosters.....1 buff rooster( George), and 2 mixed red roosters ( Eddie, and Buddy)...they are old over two years of age except for Buddy who was hatched out last year....
they will stay here until something gets them or they die of old age....I am not to keen on getting rid of those I have left...maybe this next year , I will build a bigger pen or chicken house as you may say for some more but right now ...I really don't want o build one and get more chickens....I know camo girl want more chickens...maybe with the price of eggs being so high and the taste of farm fresh eggs. I might get some more younger chickens this spring or summer...just have to wait and see what next year brings....

                                                                         Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Remember that Turkey carcass is not good for those critter to chew on....

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
From all of the critters here on the farm!

Cocoa....

well, now on to the next critter.....

Cocoa , the miniature horse....

 

We have had cocoa for a number of years.....

We first got him for my oldest daughter, of course for the youngest as well....but he was gong to mainly be the oldest....she was four years old and so was Cocoa....he was a stallion when we got him...
A friend of ours told us to get him gelded , he would make a better pet with him being gelded so we did....the friend came over and with someone else help gelded him....my oldest thought they was killing him....
We sold him once or rather my hubby sold him, I really didn't want to sell him, but we did....needless to say he is back home where he belongs...the family we sold him to lived right down the road, they gave him back to us when the youngest came down with Leukemia...that is all she talked about while in the hospital during initial treatment....so they gave him back . I told my hubby he is here until he dies.....
He likes to race...loves roasted marshmallows...or course all of the other horse foods....

In the Spring when the other neighbors ride their horse by here, their is one horse they ride that gets spooked by him because it doesn't realize Cocoa is a horse....

Every time I am out gardening, pulling weeds( constant chore)...he nickers and gets a bucket full of the green weeds....

He puts on a very heavy coat every winter , he looks like a little bear, then come spring it all sheds off...
The girls have rode him when they was smaller, when we first got him....he is green broke and don't tolerate heavy people on his back.....
I enjoy watching him kick and buck when he is enjoying the weather or decides he needs to fill his cheerios...........

                                                                  ENJOY!

Cricket, the dashund...

This is Cricket...my oldest daughter`s dog....She doesn't like Trixie, the Chihuahua...yes, they are both housedogs...She doesn't like Aladdin (the oldest cat)....she will chase him, and chase him and bark at him like she has him treed.....
When we first got her she was a puppy....the oldest got her for Christmas a few years ago...the deal was that she had to get up in the night and take her outside....so Cricket is her baby.....She was loaded with fleas as well when we got her...We had to give her about a dozen of baths in Dawn dish soap...I really don't think the other flea shampoo does the trick, needless to say we even picked off the fleas after each bath....

If given the chance she will chase the rabbits....and she loves to go to school with me when I pick up the girls from school....she just acts crazy when I asked her if she wants to go to school...then when she gets there she looks at every child....She gets a little shaky when their are a bunch of them...but one on one she does good....she likes when the oldest daughter gets off the bus from the high school as well...she starts waging her tail....

That is all I can think of at that moment on this sweet little Cricket.....

Enjoy!

Browser, the beagle

 

Here is Browser Cameo girl beagle....she got him this past year...sorry I don't have any little cute pictures of him when he was a pup...

He was penned up for awhile but he has become a Houdini of sorts and kept getting out...so hence he is tied out right now...the times he was running loose h e ...tried to play with two of the baby Muscovy duckling that were almost full grown....needless to say they didn't make it...

He is going to be cameo girl rabbit hunting dog...she hasn't started training him as of yet...their isn't a whole of rabbits around here, at least we don't usually see a whole lot of them....

 

Beagles are known for the hunting ability....they are in the hound group of dogs...

 

Cameo girl was going to name the beagle homework , but decided against naming him that instead we came with browser...he will be browsing the woods looking for that rabbit

Happy HALLOWEEN !

Henni wanted to dress this year.....She is a little indian

The cats...

I think every farm needs some cats....

                                  Here is Aladdin, and buttercup in the background
      Aladdin is Buttercup`s baby.......my oldest daughter  model lady had a solid black cat before
and when she seen Buttercup had a almost solid black kitten, well she just had to keep it...the other black cat we had was named Midnight....

 

Here is Aladdin playing in the shrub while I was out in the garden.

 

 

Here is Buttercup, with her babies, yes, she had them in a bucket...

She sorta likes buckets.

 

Here is Buttercup and her mama Tigeress( tigeress is a bob-tailed)

 

Like I said Buttercup loves being in a bucket, I happened to take this one during the summer months, she was taking a nap in the bucket...

 

Here is the three cats we had over winter...

Cookie, tigeress and buttercup...

We no longer have cookie, she took off and haven't seen her since...

Cookie is Tigeresss mama...

 

 

Here are just a few of the kittens we have had here on the farm,,,I always find a good home for all of them...We have had several generations of cats here on the farm...Several that have been Siamese, as I do so like the Siamese cats....or rather those ones that are colored up like them, don't really like the apple head ones...I think that is what you call them....and we have also had a few that have been bob-tailed...

Well I hope you so enjoy looking at the cats that are here on the farm...

Cochins....

 

I thought would post some of my chickens today, I have both the Bantam and the standard size....todays post will be on the bantams...My cochins, I just love the breed of the cochins...I only have the bantam size.

The Above picture is Dancer, my splash bantam cochin, Last year I decided to name all of the roosters that are here on the farm....Dancer got his name because when I first got him he would dance alittle with his neck...Some of the hens are named as well.

 

Here is the hen I got with him when I got Dancer at a swap meet.

She doesn't have a name....Unless I could call her splash.

 

This is Bluebell, When I got her at the swap meet she came with a bunch of little chicks....Some turned out to be frizzles...most of them were roosters and a couple of them have been rehomed.

 

 

This is my frizzle pen....the rooster is Bluebell`s baby, all grown up, his name is blue beard...He is the frizzled
The light tan chickens are bantams, not sure on the breed as they was given to cameo girls....and so is the little blue cochin in here as well. The white one came out of my Bert( Columbian Project)....and then the other one is from the bantams and Bluebeard`s baby, kind of of black, blue and a little tan on it...

 

 

This is Belle, one of Bluebell`s babies all grown up and setting on two eggs...yes she is setting now, I think it is kinda of late in the season to be setting, but she wanted to set , so I put some eggs under her..

This is Bert, the Columbian cochin rooster for my project in that color...I have a birchen colored hen and Belle in with him, hopefully will have a buff Columbian project going as well next year, maybe.

 

Here is the birchen colored hen that is in with Bert, no name.

 

 

This is my Barred bantam cochin Rooster named Broden...Right now I have him in with 2 white and a red bantam cochin hens. Got him originally to try a project of the buff barred, maybe one day I will get me some more buffs.

 

This is Hershey, a Chocolate colored cochin, I asked the person I got him at the swap what color could I put with him to keep this color going, they told me a white, but am not sure ...Right now I got him in with a black hen...He was just to pretty of a color to pass up, when I got him...

 

I also have a pair of partridge colored bantam cochins, but they are alittle camera shy...the rooster is named scout.

 

Cochins are a very gentle breed of chickens, they are not heavy on the egg laying, but make excellent mothers and setters....they are just little fluff balls.

Can you tell that I love the breed of cochins....

 

The muscovy....

I was going to do a blog on a breed of my chickens That I so love, but since it is raining here today, decided  to a post on the ducks here.....My Muscovy.....
I have had Muscovy ducks for quite awhile....When I was growing up we had Muscovy , I remember  one of them their foot froze off at that time when I was growing up we didn't have any water for them to get in....they were in with the chickens...and pretty much stayed penned up....

My Muscovy as a adult free-range....I never hardly penned them up, unless the hens have babies...I have a small kiddie sandbox, the ones shaped like a turtle, neither one of my two girls rarely played in,  besides they are too old now to play in a sandbox, so that is the duck pond...
Muscovy really don't need water to play in, but I like to have them water to take a bath and play in and besides get a drink...
Muscovy duck are a quiet duck, hardly do they ever quack....they do quack, but not very often . Their quack is not like any other duck...

As you can see in the picture I use both the top and the bottom....but mainly the bottom of the sandbox....This is Boss, my drake, he is a dark blue pied....I trade a hen for him a few years ago, He has produce me some whites with blue eyes....I named him Boss since to me he looks like some mob boss type ....yes all of my ducks are named....

 

The above is lavender, a blue pied....Something got her this year....she always produce  very pretty babies.

 

This is Mary with one of her babies...at the duck pond

 

This is one of the babies as well,,,,something got him

 

Mary, with her brood

 

 

This is Lillie, I rehome her to someone that was looking for a hen....don't really know what color she would be considered....

 

This is either Mary or Miah...they look alike

 

Lavender with her brood

I traded for these, I really wanted the white drake seen in the picture, we named him cotton, then let him out and he disappeared, Boss chased him off and I rehome the other drake in the picture and kept the chocolate pied hen...named her Miah

 

Here is Boss and mascara...

Mascara was from a chocolate pied hen and a chocolate drake....The drakes name was chocolate,...I don't remember what the hen was named....

The Muscovy I have now are pretty much all related except for miah...That is why I wanted the white drake for....but I guess I should have penned Boss up ...

 

Well I hope you enjoy the Muscovy pictures.....

Enjoy!

Squirrel...

Was doing the Facebook thing the other day....looked out the window while I had my camera...seen this squirrel in the yard outside the window.....thought I would post a picture....no very often is a squirrel in the yard....Bandit or Tux usually chases it further up the tree....we have quite a few hickory nuts in our yard.....sometimes we can see the squirrels playing with Bandit.....the squirrels run up the tree and just sound their little laugh....they are fun to watch ...

The chihuahua`s..

Yes, We do own some those little ankle biters here....I just love our Chihuahuas....Frist off, I will introduce you to Trixie, who is a very good little Chihuahua. She has litters of pups for me , once with our first male Chihuahua, Jake , who we not longer have ,and sad to say I don't have any pictures of him....Jake love Hot Dogs...more on him later...this is about Trixie....first , Trixie has howled when a tornado was near the house....she is not your typical Chihuahua, she loves to take long walks, go after critters when Bandit goes after them( can read about bandit on a previous post)...she loves to snuggle with you on the couch , but don't move, she sometimes lets you know she doesn't want you to move.....she is getting up in years , but we love her dearly...Trixie loves to be outside and sun .
             
                                        Next Is princess....

 

 

Princess is longer with us, don't really know what happened to her...we went to St Louis and came back home and she was gone out of the pen and no wheres to be found...she was a very sweet Chihuahua, her and Trixie grew up together...Jake was her father..we got her from Stud service fee with Jake...her mama is no longer living as well. Trixie and Princesses was just like sisters, they did have moments where they did fight , then they would cuddle up with each other....she would always dry Trixie off by licking her whenever she got wet after a bath...We do so miss her.....

 

Next is Frosty.

 

Frosty is no longer with us either, I rehomed him to someone else...he started out as a solid white pup and as he grew he got light cream colored spots...he was a very active little Chihuahua , who loved to run....He was a leggy type of Chihuahua...

 

Next is Tux...

Tux doesn't like his picture to be taken. He is Trixie and Frosty son...We named him tux, because when he was a puppy he looked just like he had a little blue tux on....he is blue in color and like Trixie, loves to go for walks and go after critters...he will help Bandit go after armadillos ...they are a sight to see...first bandit goes in the hole , then Tux....He loves to run and is always, very happy....only keeps one ear up...Tux is a outside dog unless it is freezing outside.

Jake was a very sweet Chihuahua , kinda of set in his ways...he was suppose to be 5 years old when we got him....he didn't like to snuggle  except with me....He just disappeared one day...he didn't hardly have any teeth, So I am thinking he just went off somewhere and lay down and went to Doggy Heaven....We have never found any remains of him.......

Well I think that sums up the Chihuahuas....Chihuahuas maybe little , but they are mighty and act like they are much bigger then they really are....They need to be inside during the frigid cold weather we get here sometimes.....and yes they do come in the house.....
Hope you enjoy looking at these critters, the Chihuahuas

The Rabbits

My mom used to raise rabbits when I was growing up...she never butchered any....always said that they were too pretty to butcher them...I guess that's why we went thru a 50 pound bag of Rabbit pellets every week....
Anyway, I raised rabbits when my hubby was first married and then got out of them...Well, Now have gotten back into them by accident...first off my cameo girl got a buck rabbit from a friend at that time was raising rabbits for meat and selling babies...

 

                                This is the first rabbit ....Duke , he belongs to cameo girl......
                              He has some meat rabbit in him along with lion head

 

then we got Juliet, my oldest daughter Rabbit

Juliet is a dwarf.., has had a couple of litters for us.

 

 

then we got Moe, a lion head .He was suppose to be a doe( female) but turned out to be a buck...

so /Cameo girl was looking for a doe so she could start raising Rabbits...so a friend gave her the one below.

She is named red Acorn, the previous owner had named her red...so we call her Red Acorn....she is part Flemish Giant and Satin rabbit....She has a couple of litters this year for us...

Then a friend asked if I wanted this one....I had rehome one of Juliet`s babies to her...so I took her...She has be named Black Beauty...she has given me a couple of litters as well, Big litters, her first litter was a litter of 10....the next litter in which she has now is 9....

These are the babies that are now on Beauty, as you can see Duke is the daddy of them....

We kept two back from the previous litter from Beauty.

 

 

Frosty and Cadbury....The daddy to these was Moe( lion head). Frosty was the only one in the litter to be solid white...the oldest took a liking to him...like I needed another buck...Cadbury I couldn`t pass up on keeping who doesn't like Chocolate bunnies....Beauty had two chocolate bunnies in her first litter....the other one I rehomed to the friend that gave us Red....and it is a buck as well...it doent have the lion head mane as Cadbury does.....

then came Betty Boop, We traded a Muscovy Drake for her....she is part lion head and mini lop...
Planning on breeding her to Cadbury next year as she is still young to breed.
Then the lad I got Beauty from told me she had a neighbor give her some more rabbits and they wasn't working well for her and her daughter...I really didn't want them but she threw in a cage with them and I so needed another cage....
So Needless to say here are the new additions....

Here is a spotted doe, who we have named Duchess, I am thinking she is part giant ,but not for sure...she is a big rabbit... though...if it wasn't moving into winter I would breed her with Duke...since this month she is old enough to breed...

 

Then we have a lop mixed with lion head, who has no name as of yet...she is only about 3 months old..she is so cute the way her mane is and those down ears...

 

then the buck Dutch Boy, a blue dutch...a buck in which I didn't need another buck, but maybe next year I could breed him to Juliet...and see what kind or what color should I say are produced...

 

Rabbits take just 30 days to have a litter after t he mating...the Doe( female) has to be 6 months old to breed and the Buck ( male ) needs only to be 5 month old at age of breeding....After the Doe has her babies, if you want , you can breed her back when the kits( babies) are I think 2 weeks old....I have never done this, I think that this is just to much on the does....I rehome the babies at about 4-6 weeks old....depending on the size and if they are eating good, like for example Red`s babies at 4 weeks old are the same size

Rabbits are good for the garden as their droppings or rather their poop is a good fertilizer, besides they are good to eat.....hopefully that doesn't offend somebody about eating them...but they are good....for that purpose as well...