The Quail Report............Part Deux......

So The Man's C/L quail, while delicious, weren't "quailing" as they should be.  He'd yet to get an egg, no signs of breeding, no quail-ish noises.............NOTHING!  The weekend after we brought the 14 home, he butchered 5 of them, and gave 4 of them to JB the guy at work who gave us the deer.  The remaining 4 hens and one rooster have been living in quail paradise.......

 with plenty to eat and meal worms as a treat. Every day The man goes out wanting to see some little speckled eggs and every day there is nothing.......We've still heard no crowing, no cooing, no mating, no nothing!

One day last week while I was perusing the ever helpful C/L at work, I saw an add for some Italian Speckled Coturnix quail, cages and all.  It was 4 pens of mated quail, 3 hens and one rooster per pen.  They were about 12 weeks old and already laying and included the whole setup for one price.  I mentioned it to The Man and he didn't say much as he's had plans of buying some hatching eggs and an incubator in the next couple weeks.

Saturday it was nasty out so we were busy canning pork and beans and butter beans, cooking pork down for lunch sandwiches through the work week, and making homemade frozen burritos. The Man said, hey, get on there and see if that lady still has those quail!  So I did, and she did, and we set up a time to go look at them on Sunday after church.

In the meantime, I was looking at the farm and garden section and saw a Silver Fox buck for sale, with the key words PROVEN BREEDER...........magic words when you've got a reluctant doe on your hands, but that story will come later and I'll let The Youngun tell it......

Back to the quail......

So after a 5 hour round trip, The Man came home with these..........

and they are a whole different ball game than the ones he currently had!  These things "got busy" the whole way home, and made all sorts of interesting quail-ish noises.  

As you can see, he is quite enamoured with his new birds!

They are quite beautiful and VERY docile.  Here they are taking a dust bath in an ice cream bucket lid.  They do love dust baths just like chickens.

And this had him even more excited!!  EGGS!!!  He's got 12 ladies and he got 11 eggs tonight!  We just brought them home last night.  He's had the other quail for over 3 weeks and nothing......

So you can imagine how happy it made him to collect these little speckled beauties!

And now tomorrow night...........we are having deviled quail eggs!

The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

Psalms 105:40

Till next time......

Operation "Little Balls of Fluff in a Basket"



This is the Youngun with the rabbit report!

Things are well in the Bunny Barn, however, getting little balls of fluff might be harder than we thought...

We have been setting Mr. Presley and Eden up on dates to soon receive some little balls of fluff in a basket! 

We have made four attempts so far, and each time Presley has tried, but nothing really... Happened... If you know what I mean. We aren't sure if Eden isn't old enough, or if she just isn't ready, or what is going on, but we keep trying every few days.

The Goodwife did some research and she discovered some remedies you can do at home to get your rabbits "in the mood"

One of these remedies...

She read that giving rabbits a tablespoon of sunflower seeds every day in their food mixture will get them "in the mood" I suppose kind of like oysters for humans. ;) I have been giving each rabbit a tablespoon every day, hoping to eventually get Eden in the mood for baby making.

Another remedy...



Apple Cider Vinegar in a rabbit's water is supposed to also help with their love yearning... We'll find out soon if these methods really do work! Comment below if you've encountered these same problems and tell us some homemade remedies you used or heard of! We might just try it if these things don't work!

All of you have a great rest of your day!

<3



Ten Reasons Goats are Better Than Cows.......

So I was thinking about this last night as I was milking my beautiful ladies......

It's a thought I've had many times before.......

It's totally no offence to those of you who are dyed in the wool cow lovers.........

Please feel free to do your own post of 10 Reasons Cows are Better Than Goats.....

I'll go read it...

And prolly enjoy it......

But you won't change my mind........

So without further ado and dithering.......

Here we go......

Top Ten Reasons Goats Are Better Than Cows

according to the Goodwife

Ahem..... 

10) Goats are small.............therefore they don't eat as much, and they don't tear the ground up near as much with their little bitty cloven hooves, as a cow with their huge giant cloven hooves.

9) Goats are browsers............therefore they will eat the poison ivy, briars, multiflora rose, thistles, and all sorts of other obnoxious stuff and convert it into yummy milk, all the while twitching those cute little tails in glee!  A cow wants grass........grass.........and more grass!

8) Speaking of those tails, goats do have little bitty tails that twitch in glee, as opposed to broom corn tied to the end of a baseball bat.  While I'm milking and Tulip and Star are happily gobbling up their goatie granola, their tails are twitching with happiness.  When I was a kid milking Rosie the Jersey cow with my dad, her tail was wont to do something else, namely smack me upside my head with every swing!

7) Beards......cows don't have beards, and I do love me some facial hair!

6) Multiples.......cows don't often have more than one calf, although it does happen.  Goats almost always have at least twins, and sometimes triplets or quads!  More bang for your buck so to speak!

5) And speaking of multiples........goats have two boobies, while cows have four.  I don't know about you, but I've only got two hands..................

4) The tongue.......goats have cute little tongues that they like to lick you with!  They stick them out in anticipation of grain, or treats, or in lust for breeding, but I've yet to see a goat pick it's nose with a giant tongue.

3) Goats are very clean.....very!  I've never seen a goat laying in their own poop, never had a goat poop while I was milking, and never once have I seen a goat poop on top of the head of it's nursing kid.  I've witnessed all of the above with cows.

2) And speaking of poop......goat poop = berry, cow poop = patty.........it's sort of like the difference between peanuts and soft serve ice cream...........I'm just sayin...

1) And the numero uno reason goats are better than cows?  

I LOVE GOATS!!!  

Till next time, I remain goatishly yours......

Rabbit Report Introduction......Courtesy Of The Youngun

Hello, this is The Youngun with the Rabbit Report!

Tails are fluffy and eyes are bright! All is well in the Bunny Barn!

 

On the weather is our very own Presley Fluffyrump!

 

                                                                      

Covering the news is yours truly, Eden the Giant

 

 

 

On those cute animal stories that cheer everyone up after hearing about the deaths, natural disasters, and other real world problems is Gorgeous Tauriel!

 

 

 

And finally, bringing up the rear on the bunny trail on sports is our one and only... She's foxy, she's big, and she has the best hair highlights of anyone I know.. Elvy!

 

 

Stay tuned for more information on our furry friends!

...

It's time for the official bunny welcome featuring Presley, Elvy, Eden, and Tauriel!

Let's head out to the bunny barn for a grand and very fluffy introduction!

 

Fashioned together by my fabulous father, the bunny barn is an enticing establishment for human and bunny to partake of!

 

Let's say hullo to our first fluffy friend, Presley!

 

Isn't he a handsome hopper!? Okay, so I'm not into rabbits.. But if I was, he would be my first choice for sure!

Presley was our first new rabbit, and he is currently our only buck. He is six months old and supposedly a standard rex rabbit, however, his ears and feet speaks volume that he is most likely a mini rex instead. I'll try to get some comparison pictures of him and our standard rex doe to show the ear and feet difference, but with Presley's personality it might not be possible, at least not right now. Presley is certainly Mister Personality... 

 

 

Hey! My name's Presley!

 



 

 My hobbies include chewing on my empty toilet paper roll toy...

Nibbling on my yummy stick...

And of course my most favorite thing of all....


Making sure mommy can't get a good close up of me!

 

 

 

 

Yea... So maybe in a few thousand millenniums Presley will finally give in and decide that it's a good idea to let mommy take a picture with that big black contraption rather than for him to sniff it, lick it, and bite it.

 

 

  

Next up we have Elvy, our Silver Fox rabbit doe. She is two months old and MUCH bigger than Presley already! Silver Foxes are very large rabbits! However, they are turning out to be a VERY sweet breed and I'm really enjoying my first experience with them!

 

 

Hi, my name is Elvy, and I am a silver fox! I am very mellow and sweet...

 

 

I prefer being kicked back in my cage in a pile of hay rather than being up and about running around all the time. Our fur is very unique! It is silver infused black and when brushed forward, it stays standing up until being pushed back down!

 

I love it when my mommy holds me like a baby... And I have very fuzzy feet!

 

 

 

 

Third, we have Eden, our Californian doe! She is six months old like Presley, and we are currently setting them up on nightly dates! ;)

 

 





 

 

Okay so somehow my post got, uh, posted.. And I didn't mean for it to LOL, so here we go, time to finish my post..

 

Hello, my name is Eden! I'm a little shy and I enjoy eating my yummy pellets! I'm going out with Presley and soon I will have several little bundles of joy!

 

 

 

 

Last but certainly not least we have Tauriel, our beautiful Standard Rex doe. She is five months old and will also be dating Presley in a couple months. She was a little thin, therefore we are trying to put some weight on her before she has a litter.

 

Hey! I'm Tauriel! I love my nest box and being petted. I am sweet and elegant and I eat a lot for my size!

 



 

 

And that sums up my little introduction! Check in again in a few days for a Rabbit Report update!

 

 

 

 



Farewell to a Blundstone.......

Does anybody remember this post about my Blunnies?

My dear faithful Blunnies, how I love them.  How my FEET love them. They are truly my go to footwear for almost every occasion.  Most Sunday's I wear jeans to church.  What is on my feet you may ask?  My Blunnies of course!  Work every day, (and homestead chores before I was a full timer) my Blunnies!

Well in that post I made this sweeping statement...

  "I will never wear another kind of boot again"

 HA!  Drama much Goodwife??

In that post when I said I was making my "town" Blunnies my work Blunnies and ordering a new "town" pair, that's what I did.  And I got a nasty surprise.  My beloved Blundstone 500's went from being made in Australia, of wonderful, soft, supple leather and fantastic craftsmanship.....

See Made in Australia on there??

.........to being made in Thailand, out of some sort of I don't even know what, but boy is there ever a difference.  They went from no break in time, to FOUR years later and almost wore out, and they are still stiff as a board.....

I kept wearing my work Blunnies to put off the ordeal of switching, but for the last year or so my "work" Blunnies have been done for......

I am of course still wearing the dang things for wood cutting and chores because I just can't bear to give them up, but it's time to order a new pair.  I think they deserve a decent burial....

And my feet are starting to get wet when i wear them...

So Goodwife, what the heck is the point of this post??  I NEED NEW BOOTS!  And I can't/won't order my Blunnies anymore beacause of this...

See that tag that says Made in Thailand?

 ........so what's a gal to do?  

I guess I'm going to head to boot barn and try to find another boot that will steal my heart (or er.. my feet's heart).

Wish me luck!

Till next time, I remain yours in Christ!