CYGChickies
Ridin' The Range
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2011
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Well I read a few of these Journals and wanted to start one of my own. We started our farm in the middle of June 2011, and now almost four months later I'm amazed at how much it has changed.
The farm all started with a desire to keep a few chickens. I researched in catalogs and books and online. I wanted exotic chickens but my mother kept prodding me to get Layers and my friend/farm co-owner just wanted rabbits. I decided on 15 Australorps, 15 Guinea Fowl and 5 Silkies--to raise the Guinea keets. I placed my order that would arrive about a month later and basically got into planning stage.
By the time mid-June rolled around we couldn't wait any longer. My friend wanted rabbits and I told her meat rabbits were the way to go. We found a Rabbitry and bought three 2-month-old New Zealand Reds, a big tall hitch for outside and a smaller inside cage. The next morning we found one of the kits dead. The day after we went to the weekly market/swap where I found three Narragansett turkey poults--the breed I'd decided on for the future. I knew they had to be off the ground and since the rabbit hutch was empty, my month-old babies went there. We found another of our kits sick and rushed the remaining two to the vet. A fecal smear revealed the worst case of Coccidiosis the vet had ever seen--in fifty years he said. We had to go everywhere to find a sulfa med for them and began treatment. Another kit died, leaving us with one who soon recovered with no more signs of the parasite.
After the scare with our baby rabbits was over, we went looking for babies to build up our very depleted stock. Since the illness was gone and three different vets confirmed it was no longer contagious, we brought home two 6-week-old Lionheads--not meat rabbits but yes I caved. They were named the Twins and were supposed to be two females. They were hilariously tiny compared to the New Zealand and we fell instantly in love.
Noticing our hutch space was dwindling we purchased two more large outdoor hutches. One with three holes and one gigantic pen that my friend and I could both fit into easily and could have fit another person. Into this larger pen the turkey poults went, and they seemed pretty pleased. After this we added three more Lionheads, BigWig, Clover and Angel. Shortly after this the chicks arrived and we kept them in a big horse trough with a heat lamp and bedding and all the amenities of home.
A month and more went by with nothing of huge interest coming to pass except for the addition of our friendly New Zealand white doe Strawberry. That is until we found a wonderful Breeder nearby who sold us our first pedigree rabbits. Samwise, Frodo and Maggie May were Lionheads and Cleopatra was a Dwarf Hotot. The Dwarf Hotots were my idea--not meat rabbits either I know. These rabbits stayed inside in indoor hutches until another outdoor was purchased and the Lionheads went out. Sadly, little Maggie May died of something similar to Bloat in dogs but called enteritis. We were heartbroken when such a beautiful and sweet little rabbit died, and we still are. Clover was revoked--since she and Maggie were the same color and Maggie was breed/show quality, and so we were down to three bucks and three does we thought.
We travelled six hours to the State Fair to find three awesome Dwarf Hotots and the chickens and guineas moved out into their pen. The twins turned out to be males and so we are down to five bucks and ONE doe, Angel. We took two Australorps, two Silkies, two guineas and two of the turkeys to the county fair along with Samwise, BigWig, Hazel, Strawberry, Isis and Cleopatra and ended up with five blue ribbons and four red ribbons!
Right now we're just starting our breeding program with Angel our Lionhead. She is bred to BigWig and we are hoping for beautiful babies! Our current huge project is a new pen for the Turkeys and one for the Silkies next to the exhisting coop. We have ripped tin off of the barn, set up posts and moved sand in. All that is left is the wire for the coop and run and we'll be finished.
Coming up next for us is building the rabbit hutches into the unused stalls of the barn as well as moving the current hutches inside. All the while we're looking for Lionhead does that aren't kits--tough to find! Wish us luck!
Whoo a long post hopefully I won't have to cover so much next time!
CYG
The farm all started with a desire to keep a few chickens. I researched in catalogs and books and online. I wanted exotic chickens but my mother kept prodding me to get Layers and my friend/farm co-owner just wanted rabbits. I decided on 15 Australorps, 15 Guinea Fowl and 5 Silkies--to raise the Guinea keets. I placed my order that would arrive about a month later and basically got into planning stage.
By the time mid-June rolled around we couldn't wait any longer. My friend wanted rabbits and I told her meat rabbits were the way to go. We found a Rabbitry and bought three 2-month-old New Zealand Reds, a big tall hitch for outside and a smaller inside cage. The next morning we found one of the kits dead. The day after we went to the weekly market/swap where I found three Narragansett turkey poults--the breed I'd decided on for the future. I knew they had to be off the ground and since the rabbit hutch was empty, my month-old babies went there. We found another of our kits sick and rushed the remaining two to the vet. A fecal smear revealed the worst case of Coccidiosis the vet had ever seen--in fifty years he said. We had to go everywhere to find a sulfa med for them and began treatment. Another kit died, leaving us with one who soon recovered with no more signs of the parasite.
After the scare with our baby rabbits was over, we went looking for babies to build up our very depleted stock. Since the illness was gone and three different vets confirmed it was no longer contagious, we brought home two 6-week-old Lionheads--not meat rabbits but yes I caved. They were named the Twins and were supposed to be two females. They were hilariously tiny compared to the New Zealand and we fell instantly in love.
Noticing our hutch space was dwindling we purchased two more large outdoor hutches. One with three holes and one gigantic pen that my friend and I could both fit into easily and could have fit another person. Into this larger pen the turkey poults went, and they seemed pretty pleased. After this we added three more Lionheads, BigWig, Clover and Angel. Shortly after this the chicks arrived and we kept them in a big horse trough with a heat lamp and bedding and all the amenities of home.
A month and more went by with nothing of huge interest coming to pass except for the addition of our friendly New Zealand white doe Strawberry. That is until we found a wonderful Breeder nearby who sold us our first pedigree rabbits. Samwise, Frodo and Maggie May were Lionheads and Cleopatra was a Dwarf Hotot. The Dwarf Hotots were my idea--not meat rabbits either I know. These rabbits stayed inside in indoor hutches until another outdoor was purchased and the Lionheads went out. Sadly, little Maggie May died of something similar to Bloat in dogs but called enteritis. We were heartbroken when such a beautiful and sweet little rabbit died, and we still are. Clover was revoked--since she and Maggie were the same color and Maggie was breed/show quality, and so we were down to three bucks and three does we thought.
We travelled six hours to the State Fair to find three awesome Dwarf Hotots and the chickens and guineas moved out into their pen. The twins turned out to be males and so we are down to five bucks and ONE doe, Angel. We took two Australorps, two Silkies, two guineas and two of the turkeys to the county fair along with Samwise, BigWig, Hazel, Strawberry, Isis and Cleopatra and ended up with five blue ribbons and four red ribbons!
Right now we're just starting our breeding program with Angel our Lionhead. She is bred to BigWig and we are hoping for beautiful babies! Our current huge project is a new pen for the Turkeys and one for the Silkies next to the exhisting coop. We have ripped tin off of the barn, set up posts and moved sand in. All that is left is the wire for the coop and run and we'll be finished.
Coming up next for us is building the rabbit hutches into the unused stalls of the barn as well as moving the current hutches inside. All the while we're looking for Lionhead does that aren't kits--tough to find! Wish us luck!
Whoo a long post hopefully I won't have to cover so much next time!
CYG