Hello! Update on my Homestead Animals

With vacations and traveling on hold because of the Coronavirus, my pet boarding business is at a record low for this time of year.  But, among the abnormality and craziness in the world, I've found the much needed break I've needed for the last few months.  

Thus, here's a little update about my animals on The Homestead.

During the last few months of boarding pets, I've picked up a new hobby (as if I needed it, but hey, it makes me happy).  Back in November, I welcomed a couple of rabbits to The Homestead.  Just before buying them, I read and watched up on raising rabbits for meat and built a rabbit tractor (a moveable cage which allows the rabbits to eat grass right out of the ground).  Soon after buying my first rabbits, I found and bought a couple of used hutches.  With a little updating here and there, those got put into use quickly.

Long story short, those two rabbits had babies, and I purchased an additional 7 mostly-grown rabbits. As of now, I have 11 total.  

And they are cute little things. 

Mama Rabbit

Mr. Rabbit

Lupe, my goat, was with a billy in January, but time will tell is she is pregnant or not.  I hope she is!  

Behati, my dog, is becoming more and more protective and smart.  She is both an indoor and outdoor dog.  Along with her, I have my house cat, Little Siam, and they get along for the most part, though they still have their moments.  

Little Siam was born on the ranch in 2011.  He always wanted to be a house cat (he would come in whenever he got the chance), but was an outside cat up until I moved to The Homestead.  He adjusted quickly when I brought him here, he never looked back and is living his best life.  He still goes outside now and then, hunts a little, but really, he prefers to stay inside, recline on any one of the couches, and eat real cat food.  

I'm finally back into the chicken buisness!  I've longed for this since before I moved to The Homestead (my family still has chickens, but I didn't have my own here).  I haven't gotten hens before now because I wanted a chicken house.  But with everything else going on, I haven't been able to build one yet.  I thought about lots of different ways I could have chickens without a house, but I don't have much of any protection for them, such as outbuildings, trees, et cetera.  So, I held off and tried (which was hard) to remain patient.

After lots of thought, idea upon idea, and talking myself into and out of getting chickens, I decided, why not?  If people in town can have chickens in their back yard, I should be able to have chickens on my homestead.  I really wanted eggs and buying eggs is just not the same.

I made up my mind to get one or two hens and happily purchased two Cinnamon Queens.  I named them Dassa and Sickle.  Where am I keeping them since I dont' have a chicken house yet?  I added a perch in Lupe's shelter and they (the chickens and goat) sleep in the same outdoor dog kennel/pen, and they're all doing great!  

My goat and chickens are sharing one pen, but I let Lupe out to free range and graze everyday, and the hens will also be turned out during the day, so it works.  Otherwise, that pen would be quite small for the three of them. 

There is a bunch more to do here at The Homestead and I have tons of ideas still on my endless lists, but it feels wonderful to have more critters of my own.  With green grass shooting up from the ground, fruit trees coming alive with blooms, and the temperatures warming, it's finally feeling like what I've always wanted.  A homestead. 

Sickle

Dassa