Maybe it is the cooler weather that has spurred us into finishing up our to-do list, or maybe it is just that Jeff has been home more often again, but either way, we are making a dent in the list!
First off, get the chicken run up...FINALLY! We have an amazing neighbor who said he would lend us his tractor and post hole digger, so I ordered in the necessary fencing materials, and had them delivered out to the house. Turned out that the timing was perfect. The next day (Sat) was a pretty nice day for this time of year, and not only did Jeff have the day off, but my dad and brother were able to come up and help out as well! What a blessing! We measured out the space, marked the ground where we wanted the posts, and fired up the tractor.
William just loves riding in the tractor, and isn't that other guy a total hotty!
First two holes went in so nicely, we were on a roll....until the third hole. It didn't matter how much we pushed, pulled, and drilled, we could not get a hole deeper then one foot deep. When you are trying to get a three foot hole, that is a problem.
We talked about it for a min, and decided to continue on and drill down as far as we could on each hole, and then fill them with water to soak as we went along the line. About the time we got around the first time, extra help arrived (my dad and brother). It is a good thing they came. Even after soaking, those holes were no easy thing to drill. For the last few it took all 3 guys ( I got to run the tractor!) leaning on a post they had tired to the auger to get the holes in, but we did it!
Little Leverage....Little More.....All three!
While the holes were being drilled, we started putting in the posts. Of course we had to have a little fun while working!
Just making sure the holes are the right depth mom!
We ended up getting about half the post put into the ground before we called it a day. We were all tired and sore!
Over the next couple days we worked on the fence. The rest of the poles got put in one day, then the H-braces cut out another. Got the braces up, and finally, the fence itself!
Actually, we still have some work to do on it. We are having special gates made so they are the right size to fit. Once they come in, we will finish tightening up the fence, install the gates and THEN we will finally be done. For now though, my chicken ladies are safe from those pesky coyotes!
Sorry for the poor photos, but here are the chickens, out enjoying their new space.
Along with the new fence, we also have several other things going on. We got a new batch of chicks on Tuesday, 70 of them actually! As cute as always.
Some will replace the chickens we have lost to coyotes, but many of them we will raise this winter so that come spring when people are looking for layers, they are ready to go.
We also thought that we would be having puppies in the near future, but an x-ray today shows that to not be the case. We were all a little sad at the news, but will probably try and breed her again when the time comes.
And if that isn't enough babies for you, we will be getting baby pigs TOMORROW! Six of them :) We will probably keep 2 for later breeding, but the other 4 will be for supplying our family with delicious meat. I just LOVE sausage ;) I will get pictures as soon as they arrive tomorrow afternoon. Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to the other pig we were going to add to our farm family, she is still on the way. She just didn't breed as expected, so we are waiting for her. Hopefully she will join us in the next month or so.
And the last bit of exciting news? Looks like we may be having baby bunnies in the next week or so. not totally sire, but mamma bunny is getting awfully round in the middle, so Matthew has high hopes of baby bunnies in the near future. We will keep you posted.
I think that about wraps it up for farm news. Our family is all doing well. Kids keep getting bigger, as does my belly! This week makes 20 weeks pregnant, so we are half way there. Maybe we better start thinking of names. Nah, we still have another 20 weeks before we have to do that! Actually, I think in the state of Wyoming, you have about a year before you actually have to name your child, so I have a long time to figure it out ;)
Thanks for checking in with us. Hopefully I will be writing again soon, to tell of more news.
Greetings from some of the animal crew
Blessings!
#allmanfamilyfarm
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