Hobby Farm in the Making

I am fully aware of my surroundings and that I DON”T live on a 600 acre dairy farm any longer BUT is that going to stop me from turning my 1 ACRE home into some what of a hobby farm?....

HECK NO! 

I have my garden which, as I have told, I’m ssssoooo excited about, my sprouts are growing like weeds and I know I’m going to be a successful vegetable farmer. 

On top of that I have been brainstorming about what else I could get over the past month or so. Most of my ideas have got shot down by Lincoln like the mini goat, pot bellied pig, and the guineas. I also suggested maybe we could get some chickens, then we could get eggs and they could get bugs out of the garden. That was shot down too…or so I thought.

Last week we were getting ready for the day and Lincoln asked me if I still wanted some chickens?! 

One of his friends was getting rid of the ones he had to make room for new ones. I said sure. I didn’t put much weight into it just because I knew Lincoln wasn’t keen on having a million farm animals running around the yard and I think he sort of thought I wouldn’t take responsibility for them and would leave it to him. LOL

But he worked out the coop plans over the weekend with one of our friends, gathered supplies from my parent’s house, and had a great coop built by Tuesday afternoon. 

I was thinking some little ramshackle chicken coop but NO SIR this thing is legit. 

Tuesday night Lincoln went off to buy and bring the chickens home. We got 2 roosters and 9 hens. 

One rooster came with a name, Gustar, and the other one we named Pete. 

Gustar

The hens aren’t named yet but I think my favorite one so far is a fat little brown one.

The first night Hercules didn’t know what to think so he sat and barked at his boundary towards the chickens ALL NIGHT LONG! I figured if I could get him used to them then he would leave them alone so the next night when I got home we were going to try it out. 

I pull into the drive way and Lincoln says didn’t you get my text…obviously it was an important one but I hadn’t got it. He said that when he went out to check the chickens had laid 5 eggs! 

We were so excited. 

We walked down to check them out and I brought a hen out in my arms to show to Herc and let him get a sniff. When I squatted down he was sniffing around and the hen started going crazy…this made Herc get really excited. After a few rounds of this he just stepped back still curious but not that interested.

I thought..hhmmm he doesn’t care much for them so I walked a few steps back to the coop and let the hen down on the ground and WOW it was on! 

Before I knew it the hen was running zig zag patterns and Herc was on the hunt. He got shocked and sent back to the house before he could sink his teeth in but the chicken was excited and still on the loose. It went behind the coop by the fence, Lincoln and I tried corralling it but it slipped out of my hands and through the neighbor’s fence.  UHHHGGG

So me, in my rubber boots and wind pants, hop the fence to chase catch the chicken.

It was a cluster to say the least. 

I was running back and forth trying not to bust my butt. 

FINALLY I grab the hen and give it to Lincoln to put away and then I hear a yell….I’M SURE GLAD YOU CAUGHT THAT THING YOU’RE FUN TO WATCH! I turn around and the neighbors were on their way out their driveway and had to stop and enjoy the show…. J I’m so glad I could provide entertainment for everyone.

Lincoln said when we were getting the coop and things together…."Now I’m getting you all this but the chickens and taking care of them is going to be on you." 

SURE

that has already changed and we are only in the first few days. He has talked to all his friends, researched on the internet, and gotten all these ideas how to make our chickens and the coop all it can be. LOL

He even put a fallen limb and an old tire in there for them to roost on and lay eggs in.

Needles to say we are loving our new additions and are very pleased that they are such great producers. 

Who knows what we’ll get into next!