Appleyard ducklings have hatched!!

Our 4 mama ducks gave us 35 eggs over 10 days and we saved 28 to incubate. By day 28 of incubation, we had 20 little ducklings hatch and ready to join our backyard farm (or be sold...most will be sold). 

They are adorable and full of life!! They are only 2 days old and already enjoying the fresh air. We put up a little spot for them with a tray of water...which they are loving!!

"Quack Quack" for Appleyard Ducks!!!

I could not be more excited!!! I have been wanting ducks for years!! These fine feathered friends joined our backyard homestead this week and are already bringing beautiful duck eggs into my kitchen :) I have been searching for good pure bred backyard duck and have settled on the Appleyards. They are a fabulous multipurpose breed (eggs and meat) and absolutely beautiful. We purchased these 4 hens and 1 drake from a local farmer who was selling off her flock. Yes, we have a drake....so hopefully we will be hatching some little ducklings in our incubator soon!!!!!

Meet the little crew!!!

Baby Chick Hatching in Genesis Hova Bator Incubator

Baby Chicks are here!!!

They arrived safely in a ventilated box picked up at the farmers market.

We transferred them over to their cage where they can huddle up under the heat light and keep each other warm

They quickly found the feed and water and dove right in!

Baby Chick Feeder DIY Super Easy Works Great!

We have more baby chicks here on our little farm and they sure do eat alot! Its quite frustrating to constantly be filling their food and then realize its all out again! I love these little feeders that hook to a mason jar but I do not like that you can only fill them with 1 quart of feed at a time. They take up minimal floor space on the cage but are quite a hassle if you have a lot of birds. I kept trying to think of a way to make them easier to fill (from the outside of the cage) as well as easier to keep full! I took our metal feed tray with me to Lowes and found all the lovely parts to make it work like it does in my mind!!

Supplies: 1 feeder tray (I used the metal tray so I could bend out the inside rings so the PVC would slide right in $3.50),  1 4"x2" PVC Coupling (In the plumbing section of your hardware store - $5), 1 4" PCV Pipe (I got the 5' piece and cut it in half so I can make 2 of these feeders - $8), 1 tube of All Purpose Caulking ($2.99)

Total Cost: Under $20! I also have half of the PVC pipe left to make another feeder as well as plenty of caulking for other projects! Or you could make 2 of these (by purchasing an additional feeder tray($3.50 and an additional PVC Coupling $5) for $29.

 Start by crimping, hammering, or pinching your ring so its completely flat (this looks like its got extra crimps, but they are pushed to the opposite side so as to flatten the inside)

Now its time for the caulking. Apply it generously so you get a good firm seal

 Wipe clean any goopy extra that has smashed out. 

 Now cut your PVC pipe if you want. I wanted to cut mine so I could make 2 and I wanted them short so my kids can easily fill them. If they were 5 feet tall, they would hold alot more feed, but the kids wouldnt be able to do all the upkeep. So decide what your needs are and modify as needed!

 Get your drill bit ready and make your wholes to connect your feeder with zip ties. 

Ready for Install!!

Hook up your feeder wherever is most convenient for you to monitor and fill it...also consider what will be easiest and most efficient for the chicks to gather around and eat from it! Dont put it in a corner or the backside of the feeder will be cut off.

 Zip tie the top and bottom in place so the birds dont move it around.

They LOVE it!! They are super curious and it doesnt even have any feed poured in it yet!

Pour away!! Its perfect height for my kids to reach it and peek in to see how full it is. I used an old pot as the cap to keep out bugs. You can purchase a PVC cap, but im sure you have a tupperware or old pot you can use...save the money for feed!

 

 All gathered around and eatin away! I have our feeder right in the middle of the chicks cage. I also have the whole cage up off the ground an inch or so to help keep them nice and clean. I use cheap plastic table clothes (2 for $1) to cover the floor, makes for SUPER easy clean up! I clean it as needed. I can also lift this cage quite easily and set them outside on the ground to get some good outdoors time. This makes for super easy cleanup, just by moving them! They will only be in this cage for a few weeks. In which we will increase their outdoors time till they are ready to scratch, run, play, and defend themselves outside.

Let me know if you use this idea!! I would love to hear how it works for you and what modifications you do to make it work best for your situation.

Thanks!

Hive Entrance of a Swarm colony transfer Top Bar Hive

This is a very strong colony of bees that was brought in from one of our swarm traps. They were transferred into the Top Bar Hive a few minutes before this video was taken. They are adjusting very nicely to their new home and quickly learn the "ins and outs" to their new location.

My Precious Little City Goats!

These two girls are so delightful! Poppy is very strong willed and "opinionated" while Peaches is just a precious and loving little lady who doesn't really get too worked up about anything. 

Poppy is always on patrol through the yard to have her say in the way things are done - 

 - Peaches is hanging out on the back porch. This is one of their favorite places to hang out!

Yep, here she is again examining things. Im mean really, doesnt she just look like she is about to tell someone off!! 

 - While Peaches hangs out in the goat barn safe and sounds. 

We sure have been busy!!

Spring is here and we are trying to get our backyard ready! We have a nice large backyard and can grow thousands of pounds of produce, but for some reason we can not grow grass!! We just cant do it...it just dies! SO, we are trying it once again!! We bought 12 tons of nice compost and had it delivered (which of course a large pile of dirt is strictly for climbing and sliding!)

Then Bryan decided that we needed to rid the back yard of a few trees!

Now to pick up the tree! Which of course is the most fun part for Henry and Addie!! (dont worry everyone...they are fastened in quite tightly!)

Oh and while we are at it we might as well get a shed delivered! This shed was at my grandpas house and they didnt need it anymore and it was basically going to get thrown away...so we had it moved here to be our new milking barn and a place to store all our animal feed and hay :)

 How awesome is this little machine!!

 Ummm ya its a tight fit!!! The shed is 10'4" and the opening on our side gate (WITH the gate and hinges taken off) is 10'5"...but this guy sure wasnt scared to try! 

 Yep, that tight!

PULL BRYAN PULL!!! 

Ok, now lets trim some more trees!

Dont look kids...daddy and Mr Paul arent being very safe.  

Now lets rearrange the yard while we are at it...chicken coop is moved to the back to make room for our new shed :)

Now to leveling out the yard again and spreading the compost evenly.  

Oh boy...what a weekend! We have ALOT more work to do but this is a good start ;) Ill definitely keep you posted on our progress! But now we are under a ton of rainfall so it is quite the mud pit back there!! But we are EXCITED!!!!