March Activities

Well, March was a pretty good month.  Summer made a hasty exit, and autumn has been preparing us for cooler weather to come.

Kite flying is a must-do activity for young ones.  The light breezes we have had, have been perfect for kites.

These kites are easy, fun and guarenteed to work even with little to no wind!
(Supermarket bags and string)

Run like the wind!

And a real kite too.  They loved it.

This boy LOVES his learning boxes.  He even asks to do them on the weekends.

My giant sunflowers were ready to harvest.  The boys had a great time getting all the seeds off the flower heads.  I have lots of seeds for next year and because you can only plant so many sunflowers the chickens and ducks enjoyed some seed treats.

Team work.

Cooking lunch.  Pretty girl.

For one of our Friday movie and pizza nights we were treated to wild goat meat and mozzarella pizza.  J951 recently went bow hunting and brought home a wild goat!  We have had roasted goat leg and this delicious pizza.  Not only was he the hunter, but also the cook!

My baby chickens are getting big now.  Titus Jnr on the left is the first to greet me at the gate.  Lily and Cuddles are very curious and love to eat from my hand.  Cuddles has no personal space and often tries to peck my teeth out!  So I have learnt not to smile at her too long!

I was given 3 new hens.  They are so, so cute.  They are Lavender Asian Langshan Bantams, tiny little ladies and so pretty.  I have named them Amethyst, Periwinkle, and Violet.  

March 17th is St. Patricks Day.  We are not particularly Irish, although I am sure we would both trace some family to Ireland if we tried.  However, we took the day to learn a little about St. Patrick and about Ireland.  As with all learning, food is a must if at all possible.  There is no better way to remember things than with food!

Our delicious Full Irish Breakfast.  I even found Irish sausages at the butcher!

The children filling up for the day ahead on breakfast.

Dinner

We even had serviettes with shamrock napkin rings and a candle table centrepiece.

Often I find these 2 snuggled up together when I check on them before heading to bed.

Arrow found a survival book in the learning box one morning.  He decided, after flicking through the pages, that he would build a shelter.  Here it is...

Big enough for two.

"Campfire" with some furry friends.

 I was given some organic apples.  Sounds fancy doesn't it.  Really they are just regular old fashioned apples from someones back yard who didn't spray them or anything!
So I am busy stewing the big ones, and finely chopping the smallest and not so good ones for Apple Cider Vinegar making.

And meanwhile the children are eating a lot of apples when they get hungry...which seems to be often!

~Lorna

Skills For The Modern Homestead - #5 & #7 - Broody Hens and Hatching Chicks

The first skill we tackled was chosen for us by the fact we already own chickens and 2 of them became broody mid December.  

A website I use for my information is Fresh Eggs Daily.  I suggest using that for information rather than my blog post; I am very amateur at this yet!  This is just a record of what we did.

To recognise a broody was actually rather easy!  They just didn't get off the nest...at all...!  To care for them was fairly easy too.  I gently picked them up off the nest every morning and took them to the food and water, filled their nest with small amounts of dried herbs (mint, lemon balm and calendula) to deter pests and make it smell nice.  

Our first clutch of baby chicks were hatched in a friends incubator.  We have 4 little cuties and they have been such fun to watch them grow and explore the world.  I feel a bit sorry for them not having a feathered mummy to protect them but they seem pretty tough and so curious about everything!  I am their mummy for now.

Glass pebbles in the water bowl to prevent smaller chicks from drowning.

Chick Crumble for young chicks

Out for a walk with me

Tucked away safely for the night

 Our second clutch of chicks were hatched by our hen Mary Poppins.  She laid one of these eggs and I left her with some others laid that same day from our other hens.  She proved to be a very stubborn lady and is a wonderful protective mother.

She started her nest in the roosting house where the eggs are laid daily.

The recommendation is to not move a broody hen once she is sitting on eggs,

so I left her where she was until her chicks hatched.

Then I moved her to a quieter spot where her sisters would not bother her.

She has 4 adorable babies, the softest things I have ever felt!

 Our third clutch of chicks belong to Susannah.  She is a gentle, quiet lady.  She has 4 little chicks.

Susannah also decided the egg laying corner was a perfect spot to be broody.
This time I blocked her in with a cardboard box and a net curtain
to stop the others laying their eggs with her.
I moved her to a more private location once her eggs had hatched.

The incubator babies are now 8 weeks old and we can tell that there are 2 hens and 2 roosters.  They are so lovely and come running when they see me!  <love>  It was on the homesteading skills plan to kill, pluck, and cook the roosters...but they are much to adorable to do that to them!  So I have found them a home each close by so I can visit them periodically.

Mary Poppins has integrated her chicks into the flock.  I wondered if there would be some fighting involved, but no... 

Susannah has also moved her chicks into the night area with the rest of the flock without any fuss.  

It is so fascinating to watch how they manage their babies.

Incubator Babies - 9 weeks

Mary Poppins with her 2 surviving babies - 5 weeks

Susannah with her 4 babies - 4 weeks

~Lorna