Tying Things Down for Autumn
The busy farm days of summer are behind us and these Autumn days we’re trying to use every decent weather day to finish up projects, winterize the farm animal homes, and generally tidy up the place.
With that warm weather, I was able to finish painting the barn doors! But as you can see, not the framing, so somethings still to look forward to this spring. When the siding gets on, this home built barn will be a beauty! The sheep already call this space home, check it out on our post
The Big Move to the Barn.We’ve had a couple of bonfires, which was a great way to get rid of the piles of sticks and then all these Autumn leaves.
The three ducks have moved in with the older hens. This is helpful for two reasons. Justin completed his mouse proofing project on this coop, so we’ll save cost on grain. Secondly, it will be easier to water and feed this winter just two coops and the barn instead of three. Check out our water feeder here. This rubber bin filled with fresh water and a bottle of salt water floating in it, keeps the water from freezing. We used 1/2 cup of salt in a 12 oz container. We have already had some cold nights here at our backyard farm and when the regular waterers were frozen, these were not! I put a larger empty bin outside of the first bin to collect the over flow from the ducks splashing.
Justin re-built this entire coop this Fall with a lining of hardware cloth to mouse proof it. You can see the ladies’ front porch is renovated and has an actual roof now with bonus storage for rakes and shovels that we use often off the back.
Our sweet new hens have started
laying eggs. We’re getting three daily from them and they are small, but they’re just getting started. Soon we’ll have fresh chicken eggs and duck eggs for sale! The ducks are consistently contributing their two daily eggs even after their winter move in with the hens... so we know they feel safe.
Comparison of duck egg to our newly laying chicken egg.
Inky in the spotlight
We’ve filled the barn with hay for the winter.
Carla the cat staying alert and ready to work.
I will be putting my creative energy into making art during the winter, so you will not be getting weekly posts over this time. Check out our
Virtual Craft Fair page. I will be putting some prints up for sale. We will update you with a fun post in February, when the lambs arrive!
Mama sheep Dolly and Rosie; Southdown Sheep.
Nala the Katahdin sheep greeting Angus the rooster.
I have appreciated all of you taking the time to visit our family farming blog and hope to see you back here soon. If you haven’t yet, please take the time to mark yourself a follower on the upper right corner of the page.
