Peeps

Ok this is officially my favorite chick so far!
LOOK AT THOSE CHEEKS!!!
Such a cutie :)

I named her "Peeps" and even though she is only 1 week old,
I am already noticing how she is growing and changing in appearance!
I spend a lot of time holding her, so hopefully she will be really tame!

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(italics are because we still aren't sure the sex of the chicks- but I am hoping!)

We've Got Chicks!

The chicks are HERE!!!!!

Look at how adorable their little fluffy bodies are!

Originally Matt said we could get 12... but I talked him into 18

(since there were 3 breeds, we could each get 1 chick of each breed: 6 x 3= 18)

Matt reluctantly agrees to 18. 

Welllll... we came home today with 25 chicks!!!

HAHA!!! It honestly wasn't planned, but we got a little carried away.

(I learned that this is called "chicken math")

We got 8 Easter Eggers (Americauna), 6 Bantam Cochins & 11 Silkies in 4 different colors.

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Here are some pictures of the kids:

 Julianna and 2 of the chicks she picked out

 Simon's Chicks

 Anabelle and her white Silkie chick

I am excited and very nervous. 

I am scared to get attached to any of the chicks in case some of them don't make it. 

I hope that I am doing everything right with the brooder and heat lamp!!!

YAY FOR CHICKS!!!

Brooder Time

Well the babies are coming home tomorrow, 

and they need a safe (cat proof) place to live...

So I sweet talked Matt into building me a chick brooder for the dining room. 

"Chicken Scratch" style

Thanks Matt :)

Spring Chickens

an unexpected glimpse of spring 

It's mid March, and to this Florida gal, that means SPRING! Unfortunately in North Dakota, March is still very much winter. We occasionally get glimpses of the warm weather to come, but usually just as quickly winter comes crashing back in. I am itching to get into the garden and spend time outside with the chickens and goats... I can't wait til the leaves are back on the trees and I can wear flip flops around the farm. Lucky for me, chickens think spring is coming too! All over Craig's List I am seeing ads for chicks and I have anxiously been waiting for this since Jan!!!! I found a breeder in Harwood that has an assortment of chicks due to hatch tomorrow. We are going out there on Sunday to pick up our little bundles of fluff and I can't wait!!!!

Escapologist

he's not as innocent as he looks

No one ever told us that goats are notorious escape artists. And even if they had, no one told me that Black Jack aka "HOUDINI" could escape any possible situation! In the last few days since we brought the boys home, he has escaped his pen repeatedly. First he squeezed through a hole in the fence. So Matt added extra wood between the planks to make squeezing through impossible. Next he head butted the gate and busted the latch right off the support beams to open the door and walk out. After Matt replaced the latch with a more heavy duty one, Houdini decided to jump right over the fence to get out. Seriously?!? So once again Matt brought out the power tools and added wood to the fence to make the whole thing higher. The next day we go out to the barn and low and behold, Jack is outside the pen eating alfalfa. Meanwhile, Sundance is still inside the pen bleating his head off at the injustice. This time we are baffled. How did he get out?! We put him back in the pen and waited. For awhile the boys eyed us suspiciously. It became obvious that as long as we were watching them nothing would happen except innocence. (It is amazing how innocent a guilty goat can look.) Just when we thought the mystery would never be solved, Jack jumped up on his ledge, got a running start and ran full speed towards the highest part of the fence and jumped---- and cleared it!

At that point it became very apparent to Matt and I that "where there is a will, there is a way." You win Houdini.

Goats, Toddlers & House Rules

Anabelle gets to know the goats... 

and very quickly Sundance becomes her favorite!

They are so gentle and lovable, 

they follow her around everywhere she goes. 

This is my first time having goats and they remind me of dogs...

When we go inside they stand at the door and cry and cry,

and I can't help but wonder as I am looking out of my
kitchen window at the 2 pleading goats:
"what have I gotten myself into?!"
(Matt's only goat rule: "NO GOATS IN THE HOUSE!")

And Now For Goats!

Hello Boys!!

We are so excited! 

We are the proud new owners of 2 Purebred Nigerian Dwarf wethers:

Sundance (DOB 4/4/09) and Black Jack (DOB 4/5/09)

We purchased them from Liberty Star Acres in Bemidji, MN