Suburban Homesteading: May 2013

This update's chicken photo bomb is Amelia. But we'll come back to the chickens in a little bit. Let's start with the garden. It's growing very well!! A raised garden was definitely the way to go because there haven't been too many weeds. All the plants are getting big. Most don't have fruit/veggies on them yet. There are a couple of green tomatoes. But the strawberries... They've taken off!

Next on the homestead tour is the chickens. The big girls are doing great. They are now 5 months old. Henrietta started laying a month ago. Betsy and Amelia just started laying. I actually witnessed Betsy's first or second egg. She was pacing the front of the run when she let out a cackle and a tiny shell-less egg fell from her. Poor thing probably had no idea what was happening!!

The babies are now 6 weeks old. We added a newbie, a Columbian Wyandotte, from a local farm. She is 5 weeks old. A couple weeks ago we moved the babies out into a nursery run. They love the outdoors and I love how they aren't making a mess of my house.

We'll have more babies soon! This week I am expecting a shipment of white and red bantam Silkie eggs and a friend has been collecting bantam Frizzle eggs for me. Time to break out the incubator again!!

In case you missed the posts on incubating/hatching eggs: Part 1/ Part 2

Speaking of eggs, here's a look at some of the eggs the girls have left for us lately:

Last but certainly not least is the rabbits. As I mentioned in a past post, Cottontail turned out to be a he, not a she and he got his sister pregnant. Mopsy had 9 kits but unfortunately, none made it. I believe it was just a case of first time rabbit mommy not knowing what to do. We wanted to have 2 does so I started searching and found a beautiful Californian doe that is right about the same age as the rest of rabbits. We named her Flopsy and she's doing wonderful. Once she was settled in we bred the rabbits; Mopsy with Peter, Flopsy with Cottontail. They are due tomorrow! I'm quite excited! We did everything right this time so I'm hoping for a good outcome. If Flopsy proves to also be a bad first time mom, we'll try to foster her kits over to Mopsy. I gave the girls their nest boxes on Saturday. Flopsy did a little rearranging and that was about it. Mopsy did major rearranging including removing a lot of the bedding. She keeps hopping in it and messing with it all. Yesterday she did a lot of panting. She did that right before she gave birth last time so I'm on baby watch now!

Here are the pretty mamas!

© Mama Dani's Musings
Other places to find me:

Emily's 17 month Update

Little Emily is no longer a baby. She's a walking, talking, climbing, on-the-go toddler. She will be 17 months on Weds. At her last check up she weighed in at 19lbs 3oz (16th percentile) and 31in (36th percentile). Her check up went well but since I mentioned that I still notice her eyes looking crossed (more her left eye turning in), the doctor sent Em to an eye doctor. Poor thing got her eyes dilated for that one. Though it really didn't phase her.. Good news is everything checked out fine. She does not have strabismus (eye misalignment). She has pseudostrabismus (false appearance of strabismus) b/c the folds of skin in the corners of the eyes makes it look like her left eye turns in at times. That peace of mind is priceless.

Em's a little peanut like her brother but that doesn't stop her. She has really started sticking up for herself but on the flip side that means she has developed a bit of a temper. Her vocabulary has taken off lately. She's up to at least 25 words. Her current favorites are "shoes", "chicken", "guys!" (usually yelled at her siblings), "see dat?", and of course "nana" (her word for nursing). Sean and Maddy find it funny when Emily calls things the wrong name..like our rabbits are kitty cats and many things are called chickens, especially small dogs and babies (??). She can say baby except it comes out as "daydies" because she replaces "b"s with "d"s. I'm not quite sure why she calls babies chickens except for the fact that we laugh when she does it. She knows what chickens are. She loves our chickens. The first time we let the hens free range a little Emily got mad and tried to chase them back in the run while yelling "chicken, chicken" at them. Her latest accomplishment is she has started the potty training process. It started with her bringing diapers to us when she was wet and then turned into her grunting and pointing down the hall and then walking to the bathroom and pointing at the potty. We've decided to run with it and she's now peeing in the potty more than in her diapers. She hasn't figured out pooping in the potty yet but she demands to be changed as soon as she does it in her diaper. I've ordered her trainers. I can't wait to get them; they will make this much easier.

© Mama Dani's Musings
Other places to find me:

Maddy's 4 Year Update

A month over due, but better late than never right? Maddy turned 4 on April 1st. Maddy is still just as artistic. She loves art and fashion (as in she has her own fashion). She is energetic but she's also a snuggler. She loves to have someone to talk to too. We just recently changed her nightly routine to include some talk time. She can't seem to unwind at night unless she lays in bed and talks to someone a lot longer than Sean needs to. Since we started that there haven't been any bedtime fights! Maddy's growing like a weed. At her 4 year check up she was 36lbs (~50th percentile) and 3ft 5in (~75th percentile).

Last month we celebrated Maddy's birthday with a mermaid party. I made her a mermaid tail. Everyone got sea shell necklaces. The kids played under the sea themed bean bag toss. The boys turned their wands into swords. And everyone had a great time!

A preview of Maddy's next update; her dance recital's coming up!!

© Mama Dani's Musings
Other places to find me: