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!!

Our First Swarm has arrived!

"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!!!

1 week old baby chicks

These little baby chicks are so cute and fluffy!! They are 1 week old Cornish Cross meat birds. They grow quite fast and eat alot!!

Look at the legs on this fella!!

 They are very curious and love to see what I am doing...cause of course they assume I am  bringing them food! 

Dance time!!

Bee Swarm Caught using a bait hive Video of the Transfer

Transferring a colony of bees from a swarm trap into a Kenyan Top Bar Hive. Inside the bait hive, we put a small super frame with old black brood comb and the bees absolutely loved it! As you can see in the opening picture, the black comb was a huge hit with the swarm! We also used lemon grass oil to bait them.

"The Girls" our Backyard Chickens

Backyard chickens are by far the easiest step to backyard farming. They are relatively maintenance free and quite inexpensive too! Our girls get all of our food scraps and dig around for almost anything else they need. We do supplement with an organic layer feed we get from our local feed store. We have never had a shortage of eggs and everyone is quite healthy and happy! We raised all these ladies from little baby chicks and it has been very exciting watching them grow up to become productive members of the backyard!

And this here is "Funny Goosie". Addie LOVES her so much and will carry her around the yard showing her everything! She is an Americana and lays quite large greenish blue eggs. 

Now of course a delightful poached egg on top of toast is the perfect way to start the morning!!

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!!!!