Sarah in Illinois is back today with a bunch of updates on what’s happening at their home. Hint: some new additions are on the horizon.
This may be a disjointed post. I had been working on a project, and I thought I would be done before I had to send this week’s post, but it didn’t turn out how I had planned. (Argh. So frustrating when that happens, Sarah.) I will be sure to include why it didn’t work and I had to regroup in a future post.
This post will be a little bit of an update and share what I have in the works.
Kittens
As of when I am writing this, the black kitten has been reserved and the tiger-stripe is still waiting for a new home. The mother cat has been to the vet and spayed so I will not have to be in this situation again.
The cutting garden
There are about a half dozen different varieties of flowers that are growing. Right now the only one ready to cut is the zinnias.
Future posts
I hinted in one of my comments a while back that I am getting chickens! My neighbor has been raising several chicks and offered four of them to me. They will not be ready to lay until about September, but I can get them as soon as I have a secure place for them.
So my free time has been spent reading and reading about chickens and working on making a secure coop for them. I have never had or really even been around chickens so this is all a new learning experience.
Some of the books I have been reading include (not affiliate links):
- Backyard Chickens: the beginner’s guide to raising and caring for backyard chickens by Rashelle Johnson
- Barnyard in Your Backyard: A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle by Gail Damerow
- The Mini Farming Bible: The Complete Guide to Self-Sufficiency on ¼ acre by Brett L. Markham
- Dirty Chick: Adventures of an Unlikely Farmer by Antonia Murphy
I think I am ready to start this adventure. I have been told that I am overthinking everything and that chickens are a lot easier than I am making it out to be. I hope so! I will be sure to post about my adventure and in the meantime, any advice would be appreciated.
Cute kitten, pretty posies and exciting news–this worked out to be a post after all, Sarah. Congratulations on the chickens. I confess, I’ll probably take the same approach as you when it comes time to add birds to our farm. Your forethought just might make you a more successful chicken farmer.
Having grown up with backyard chickens, my best advice is to make sure to collect the eggs a couple of times a day. We got a bit lazy and our hens started eating their eggs. That was a hard habit to break!
Home on 129 Acres 
That kitten is adorable!! Great shot.
Lucky you, getting chickens! I would love to do that some day. I have a pinterest board of cute chicken coops, haha. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.
Eating their eggs, Julia?! That’s pretty gross. I hope that doesn’t happen if and when I get some chickens. I don’t think I could handle it! O_O
Unfortunately, you will likely have to deal with some grossness. It seems to come with the chickens. The trade off of the fresh eggs is pretty worth it thought IMO.
Regular grossness I can take. But cannibalistic chickens eating their own raw eggs seems rather off the scale… :S
I have read that they could possibly eat the eggs and also that it is hard habit to break. I plan to check in the mornings before work and again when I get home. I hope they behave while I am at work! 😉
I think that’s about the best that you can do.
Can’t you make a thing so when they lay the eggs they roll through to where you collect them? I thought that was a thing.
I think that’s the method used in commercial egg production.