Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Acreage Happenings

Not too much to report....

We had some beautiful weather over the weekend.  Husband has been cutting down some trees and brush  around our property lines, so that he can eventually build a fence.

Cockzilla is still living in our garage and in the last 2.5 weeks he has grown his feathers back in.  We figure he can be released back to the 'girls' next week.  He's living in the brooding box and Husband put wheels underneath so that on sunny days we can roll him outside to soak up the sun.  He is actually very calm and seems to like it when we go out and talk to him.

The snow is FINALLY melting!  We still have about a foot in the yard, but it feels like spring is upon us.  The flowerbed in front of the house (south facing and against the house) has the daffodils up and ready to bloom soon, and the tulips are on their way up.  I've been debating whether or not I should get out the hummingbird feeder as they should be arriving soon.


I keep turning the eggs in the incubator, but a bad smell is coming up when I remove the lid.  Obviously an egg has gone bad. We candled the eggs again last night but it is difficult to a number of the egg's progress as the shells are too thick for the light to shine through.  We'll find out Sunday or Monday if any successfully hatch.

After months of the ducks barely laying eggs  (only one every day or two) I have finally been presented with two eggs each day, for the past two days.  The ducks are Khaki Campbells and the breed are prolific layers, so I have actually been a little worried.  With the warmer weather they have definately put on a bit of weight and are looking very healthy.  Once they begin laying regularly again, and can get out in the pond so Donald can 'do his thing', we will try incubating some duck eggs.

3 comments:

Jody said...

I don't know what to say... from winter to spring with animals... I can tell you're working your acreage, and it keep me coming back to your blog. At our place around the same season your in now, we helped a friend by giving her our chicken coup light for her early hatch. Our layers stopped laying for about almost an entire month as a result. They're back on track now. I hope you have lots of new baby birds, and spring too!

Carpe Diem said...

Jody - yes its work, work, work around here. Sometimes I think we are workaholics. All our coworkers go on fancy holidays to the tropics and we plan the next things we can do or build around the place.

Ahhh, but sitting in the backyard with a beer on a hot summer day and looking at the garden, the flowerbeds and fruit trees with the hens and ducks running about... it doesn't get any better than that! The fruits of our labours!

Ute said...

I just cannot imagine still having snow in the garden. Our fruit trees are already loosing the petals, it looks like snow on the lawn again. We had lovely summer weather for Easter and it is green everywhere. The farmers market offers the first fresh local asparagus.