Meow! Meow!

       We have been reading and talking about getting some cats to put in the barn with the rabbits.  We were told that if you get them while they are kittens and raise them up in the barn with the rabbits , chickens, ducks etc that they will kill mice and rats and hopefully any snakes and not harm the rabbits.  Well... I had to go to Ranchers Supply to get some feed and when I got out of the car I heard a small Meow.  I went looking and by the front door there was a box with 4 kittens in it.  I called Brent and told him about them . He said sure.  So I went inside to and asked. She said a customer had brought them in for barn cats.  We will be taking them out to the barn when we go so that they can get use to the rabbits and the rabbits use to them.  They will also be in the house with us for a few weeks getting use to us, Robin and maybe even Kanga. We will need to be finding some cute name for them. I forgot to check what they were when I picked them up.  The gray one looks to be a female and the yellow one looks to be a male.  Oh well.

       With all the rain we have been having , not only is everything green, but very tall also.  Brent got the brush hog out yesterday and cut down some of the area around the house and then got the weed eater out and worked and on a little bit more.  The mosquitoes sure have been loving the wet weeds!

     We did some work in the chicken house this week. the roosting poles were low and side by side. Finally talked him into stair stepping them.  He said the next morning we would probably go out and there would be chickens on the floor with broken necks.  As you can see they love it.  They fight to get up on the top one and it is always full.

     The Black Soldier Fly larva is coming right along.  ( If you have a weak stomach you will want to scroll past the next picture. )  The compost  is moving up and down in their box, which means they are doing what they are suppose to .   We have started to have them crawl out. Hopefully several of them will turn into flies and start the cycle all over.

     Brent has been walking the property when it rains looking for the low areas. He has been marking them with sticks and is hoping to start making swales in those areas  by chopping down the rest of the dead trees here and covering them up with dirt and start planting stuff on them and then letting them all go back into the soil.  If you look close in the pictures you will see where some of the sticks are.  That is just a small portion of the sticks that he has in the ground.

     Here are a few other random pics from this week.
             With the rain the last several days I have started a fire in the evenings.  It sure was nice.

     I have been seeing Barn Swallows flying around the house and was hoping they would build a nest here and help with the bugs.  The other day I noticed they had started building their nest. ( I have also asked Brent about building a Bat house to maybe attract bats here to help with the bugs)

     The turkeys just love getting up high.  Well, not any more.The other day they got their wings trimmed.

Until next week,
The 2 Moore's Ranch

A wet fun week.

     The Lord has blessed us all with a lot of rain the last few weeks.  With all the rain we have had, our place looks completely different.   It is so green and there are puddles,  lakes  and rivers everywhere.  We have also seen some very pretty cloud formations out here.  No the bottom pic is not a tornado. 

      When we moved out here there was a lot of different piles of stuff laying around.  In one area there was old wood fence panels stacked and thrown about.  We are using those that we can and making another enclosed area for the chickens to run in.  While moving panels last week we found an area where the hens had been laying. Plus they love to eat all the bugs!

     We have started another project here.  We are growing a kind of food for the chickens to eat.  They are called Black Soldier Flies.  You build a bin for them to live in and lay their eggs and then when the larva gets big they crawl up and then fall into a bucket.  From there they will be fed to the chickens.  This kind of fly is also suppose to chase away the nuisance flies.The pic below is Brent getting ready to put them in their new home.

     The rabbits nightly weed cuttings has really spoiled the grow outs that live on the floor.  We put it in our wagon and they have learned the sound of it and all meet us at the door now.  A few of them went to camp yesterday along with the one we called psycho.  I think there are 11 left on the floor now that are all girls.  There are 2 Rex grow outs that are in a large pen and one little guy that is going to be the mascot for a while that we call Billy.   Look close in the bottom pic and you will see white ears.

     The chickens are really enjoy their afternoon range time.  They just go everywhere.  As you can see , so do the turkeys. The older ducks and the baby ducks are doing just fine.  The babies have started going out in a little pen with water and having a great time.

Until next week.
The 2 Moore's Ranch

Guess What??? More babies!!!!

     Yes that's right. There are 2 new litter of bunnies in the Rabbit barn. Annabelle had 3, not sure why. Miss Lorelei had 7. One did not make it.  That puts us up to 21 new babies.  The other 2 groups of babies are jumping in and out of their boxes now and eating moms food now.

     We also have 20 , 3 week old baby ducks. They are the Welsh Harlequins like we already have. So that puts us up to 34 of those and 4 of the Peking ducks.The bigger ducks have been getting in trouble.They have found my fish pond and have been having a blast swimming in it.  That is taken care of. There is wire over it now.

     The field of deer plot is growing so big and is doing great.  I am even a little nervous to just walk out there now.  Yesterday I put my snake boots on that were given to me.  A little bulky but sure felt better. When we let the ducks and chickens out in the mornings that is usually one of the first places they head to.  This morning Brent cut extra when he was cutting for the rabbits to put in the hang up dryer for this winter.

     After I finally got back out in the garden and worked in it last week it sure looks better but the chickens and turkeys also found it and have been eating and scratching.  Now it has a fence all the way around it. So about the only thing I will need to worry about is birds and the occasional rabbit that finds a way in.

     The little Guineas and the 2 baby chickens that had been in the brooder room finally got to come out this week and meet the rest of the flock.  They are very unsure of everyone and all the big open spaces. but they do love to fly and run around.  But once you put down feed everyone is friends.

      In the shop building we put up a wall and made some shelves and it will be our little store room.  The garage is slowly getting more room in it now. There was a time when there was just a few walk spaces.

     This pic was taken when i was driving home one day. It still seems like a dream sometimes when I drive down the road and see it.  We sure love it out here.

Until next week,
The 2 Moore's Ranch

A wonderful week on the farm.

     Today we added 10 new Rhode Island Red hens and a Rooster to our flock.  That makes us having 25 hens, 2 Roosters, 8 Guineas, 3 Turkeys, and 14 ducks plus 2 chicks, unsure if they are girls or boys.

The chicken house had been getting kinda crowded and with the new 11 ones I do believe the ducks will be sleeping outside starting tonight under their new shelter.

   
 We had been getting anywhere from 5-11 eggs a day.  Getting the new ones, we should start getting 15 or more a day.  We have a few people that are wanting eggs, so this will help.  We also got our first double yolk the other day.

 

 We have started cutting the Deer Plot mix we planted when we moved out here. The rabbits have been getting fresh cut greens at night and when we can in the morning.  They sure do like having their salads again.

     Yesterday I finally got out and and finished making the rows in the veggie garden.  Was able to get some green beans , Black eyed peas, corn and a few other things in the ground finally.  I also finally got out there and weeded the rows that were already out there.

     The Turkeys have decided they rule the roost here.  They go and do whatever they well please. Whether it be sitting on the tractor, the top of the fence, the barn roof, the front porch railing, lol.  Next stop, probably the house roof. This was taken after I made them get off the porch.

     Last Monday it rained almost all day. A really good soaking rain. Here at our house we received almost 2 1/2 inches!!!!!!  What a blessing from God that was.

Until next week.
The 2 Moores Ranch