adjustments

Sozo lost 2 more babies. 

Reality is 12 is just too many babies for her to deal with.  I have read about one breeder who "adjusted" each litter so they were 6 kits.  Either by moving babies from one litter to another or by actually just, well you know.  6 is thought to be the optimal by many people.  When there are larger litters some say you need to separate them into groups of no more than 6 and the thought is that the mom will go to each nest to feed babies and there is a better chance of all babies getting something to eat.  Not everyone believes this though, some say the mom might only feed one group of babies.

Lovie has been successful with her 7 babies and now Sozo is at 8 so we'll see how they do.  She has some really cute little bugs!  One is grey on her back and white on her belly.  I will get more photos when their eyes open up. 

I got some fresh goat milk at Trader Joe's on my way home and I finally tried it and it was really good.  I tricked Shane into trying it, told him it was some new organic milk for him to try...ok not a total lie really, and he thought it was really rich and couldn't believe it was goat milk.  He thought goat milk would taste more goaty, I guess goats smell.  So that is one more plus for us getting goats, we will have our own milk.  Course we won't be able to leave home when they are in milk but maybe we can plan ahead and have it timed so during the summer they will have a break?  Our own goats would also be our own butter, yogurt, whipping cream and even cheese.  Better find a good goat magazine and book to start learning about them!

really strange

So I was cracking eggs for breakfast and inside an egg was a beautiful yoke and what looks like an almond. 

It is actually a tiny egg with a soft shell that got caught inside another egg.  I cut it open and although having a soft shell it was just a miniature egg.  I wish I had thought to take a pic with it next to the yoke but you can see a push pin in the upper right corner to show size.

Photos

The prep work is all done and we are going to paint the main part of the house today!  The dormers are done and Shane is taking the scaffolding back now to save us an additional week rental.

We are waiting to do the trim upstairs because of time,  we are planning to replace the 2 front little windows in the dormers before winter and we will paint the trim from inside the bedrooms when the windows are out.  People keep asking how my house is set up so upstairs the right window is the boys room and the left is our room.  Main floor the right window is currently Shane's office but will be the guest/craft room once his new office is built and the left window is the living room.

1st photo of Sozo's babies!  I checked them well last night and found that she actually had 12 babies and 2 have passed away so we are left with 10 which is still a big litter.

Here is Rosey and one of her look alike babies.

The triplets.

And Lovie and her babies try to crawl out as soon as the door is open unlike:

Rosey and her babies who huddle in the far corners when the door opens.

And lastly isn't this a sad nest?  The upper right corner nest appears to be the favorite of several of my girls and they squabble to get in and lay their eggs so most of the bedding gets pushed out.  Today I really need to get the coop cleaned out and the chicken run racked up.  It is amazing how quick the poo builds up with 20 birds in there.  Can you keep a secret?  I am already thinking about getting a few more chickens next spring.  Shhhh don't tell Shane...

Here is a photo of my garden it runs from the chicken coup back to the barn.  Yesterday Sky harvested Zucchini (green and yellow), carrots, beets, potatoes, lettuce, blue berries, peas and Chinese pea pods.

Well, there are some photos.  Once the painting is done Shane is going to start on the dock down at the river.  That will be so wonderful!  The fishing area will not get much work this summer though.  Next year we should be done with the big house stuff and can focus on making it a wonderful camping/fishing Oasis!

home again

To start, Sozo had her kits, 11 in all.  I need to go out and check them all over still but all appear to be in good shape.

Lovie's babies are getting so big and are chowing down on everything in sight.  They are almost a month old and cute as can be!

Rosey's babies act just like her and want nothing to do with anyone.  But they are cute little balls of fur!

My chicken girls are as beautiful as ever!  They were stepping on each other to get close to me when I went out to see them this morning.  Red Velvet jumped on my back, even Christmas came over and let me give her a hug and quick scratch. 

So many emotions came up going back to Spokane.  I miss my life there so much.  Things have been rough on the boys because we have a total new life.  I am always telling them how much better our life is now but while in Spokane I really questioned if I am doing the right thing.  I started making my to do list this morning and there is no way I can get the list done!  I will never have a day to zone out, watch tv for an entire day ever again. 

Although I have to say, I was very happy turning into our driveway. 

Krista wants more pics so I am going to try and get more posted, well as soon as I get some of my to do list done.

Road trip

So I am taking my baby to spend a few days with his grandparents.  I am not sure if he or I are ready for this...Ok mostly me.  I have already lost Sky.  He is in a life of sleep overs and calling friends, bugging us daily for his own phone too!  Not to mention the attitude!!!!  When he rolls his eyes at me I just want to slap him.  I want my babies back!

On a happier note, we are working on getting the house panting done.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be done by the end of the week!

Monday Update...

You asked for it...Here it is...

All 7 of Lovie's babies.  They were not thrilled with being taken out of their nest.

Here you can see the size difference between the smallest and the other bunnies.  So far little runt is holding his own though.  He is even smaller than Rosey's babies! 

2 white bunnies are starting to have their ears, tails and noses turn black and have pink eyes (like their daddy) and the 3rd white one has brown eyes and staying pure white.  2 are silvery grey like the mom one is pure grey and little runt is pure black.

And now for my chicken girls:
Egg production is doing great, actually got 6 eggs yesterday and as I opened the side door I saw Turdis actually lay her egg...Brady thought it was gross but I thought it was cool.  How can you not think it is interesting how this chicken's body is able to create the hard shell around her egg? 

After another 2 double yoke eggs I did some research and young chickens tend to have more double yoke eggs until their reproductive system settles into the process...interesting.  There are a couple breeds in India (I think it was) that the norm is to lay double yoke...FYI. 

I can hear a chicken having a fit in the coup, Birdis squawks so much in the morning but she hasn't layed any eggs.  When ever someone is laying an egg she is cackling not far away.  I think I will sneak out there and check for eggs...

Twins!

When we started to fix breakfast we found that the 2 larger eggs were both...

double yokes!  The boys were very excited as I explained that if they had become babies they would have been twins.  Each boy got to eat a double yoke for breakfast and they were very happy.  I will have to look at the odds of double yokes but I would think it would be odd to have 2 from such a small sample of eggs.