Well, we're really starting to see results now, around 3 Lil' Acres, from the garden to the barn and beyond.
We harvested some more honey today - a full bar - though it's still draining, and so on, so I don't know how much we have yet. As with the first bit we harvested, we'll store this back until spring, in case we find the bees need it. Our visit to the hive went smoothly, and for that I'm grateful. They've another bar in progress, and three empty ones besides, so I think this'll be all we're taking from the hive until spring when the nectar flow begins again. We're already looking forward to getting another hive built to add to this one, as we both anticipate needing to split the hive.
We weighed both Cocoa and Lily's litters this morning, and are very happy with the numbers. Cocoa's five are at 10 weeks as of today, and weighed as follows: Amber- 4#5.5oz, Hossenpfeffer - 4#5oz, Fricasse - 3# 13.5oz, Hershey - 4#8.25oz, and Otter - 4#8 oz. Not to shabby, considering they're a smaller breed than traditional meat rabbits who are expected to reach four pounds at eight weeks.
We weighed Lily's litter of six as a whole, just to get an idea of where they're at. At four weeks, the whole litter weighed 6#.5oz. Meat breeders aim for a litter weight of 10 pounds at four weeks of age for a littler of 8-10, so I think that means we're not doing too badly. We'll keep track of the numbers and see how we do. We didn't think to weigh Cocoa's litter, so we don't have a comparison there.
Mama hen is doing a fine job of taking care of her three chicks, and is teaching them to scratch and scrounge for bugs and other edibles. They're venturing farther and farther with her every day, and the rest of the flock seems to have accepted them without issue. It's really neat to sit and watch them though, and it's hysterical to go to check for eggs and find she has them up in the nesting box with her. Nothing like reaching under a hen for eggs and finding chicks!!
The garden is coming along, though struggling. Our poor cukes and zukes are fighting a wilt(not sure which one though), but the tomatoes and peppers are growing well, and we should be able to harvest our first tomatoes in a week or so, hopefully. Our Painted Mountain corn is in various stages tasseling/silking, and we've little ears starting to form. The spaghetti squash has set four so far, and hopefully alot more to come, and we've been steadily picking peas for about two weeks. Didn't plant enough to freeze or anything like that, but they've been delicious to snack on!!
Let's see...other news. We're working on reshingling the barn roof, and hope to have the whole of the front side done today. Here's a shot of our progress as of yesterday when it started raining - I must say, we've gotten a LOT of rain this year!!
We just finished the front of the barn, but my foot slipped, and I ended up spooked, so we stopped there for the evening.
We weighed both Cocoa and Lily's litters this morning, and are very happy with the numbers. Cocoa's five are at 10 weeks as of today, and weighed as follows: Amber- 4#5.5oz, Hossenpfeffer - 4#5oz, Fricasse - 3# 13.5oz, Hershey - 4#8.25oz, and Otter - 4#8 oz. Not to shabby, considering they're a smaller breed than traditional meat rabbits who are expected to reach four pounds at eight weeks.
We weighed Lily's litter of six as a whole, just to get an idea of where they're at. At four weeks, the whole litter weighed 6#.5oz. Meat breeders aim for a litter weight of 10 pounds at four weeks of age for a littler of 8-10, so I think that means we're not doing too badly. We'll keep track of the numbers and see how we do. We didn't think to weigh Cocoa's litter, so we don't have a comparison there.
Mama hen is doing a fine job of taking care of her three chicks, and is teaching them to scratch and scrounge for bugs and other edibles. They're venturing farther and farther with her every day, and the rest of the flock seems to have accepted them without issue. It's really neat to sit and watch them though, and it's hysterical to go to check for eggs and find she has them up in the nesting box with her. Nothing like reaching under a hen for eggs and finding chicks!!
The garden is coming along, though struggling. Our poor cukes and zukes are fighting a wilt(not sure which one though), but the tomatoes and peppers are growing well, and we should be able to harvest our first tomatoes in a week or so, hopefully. Our Painted Mountain corn is in various stages tasseling/silking, and we've little ears starting to form. The spaghetti squash has set four so far, and hopefully alot more to come, and we've been steadily picking peas for about two weeks. Didn't plant enough to freeze or anything like that, but they've been delicious to snack on!!
Let's see...other news. We're working on reshingling the barn roof, and hope to have the whole of the front side done today. Here's a shot of our progress as of yesterday when it started raining - I must say, we've gotten a LOT of rain this year!!We just finished the front of the barn, but my foot slipped, and I ended up spooked, so we stopped there for the evening.
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