Lots of exciting new things have been happening over on our farm! Living in Arizona has its perks, and our fall season is one of them. Cool air, perfect weather, and crazy beautiful sunsets. We love it here!
There’s been a little monster sneaking carrots from the garden. But don’t worry, I caught it. It just happened to be an adorable 8 year old, so I decided to keep her and raise her as my own.
I planted our pumpkins a whole month late, but I’m just beggin’ this little pumpkin to be done in time for Thanksgiving. Let’s all cross our fingers, ‘kay?
Look at this gorgeous chicken tractor! Are you as excited as I am about this baby? You’re probably wondering what the heck a chicken tractor is. Let me tell you. It’s a place to raise fried chicken. I mean it’s a place to raise roast chicken. I mean grilled chicken. Okay, okay. Really, it’s a place to raise our meat chicks. The tractor’s purpose is to offer a safe, secure environment and also be mobile so we can move our chicks to a new patch of grass everyday. (Tutorial to come!)
Why hello there, chicken salad sandwich.
Pshtt. If you thought that chicken tractor was cool, check out this massive coop we built! Okay, we didn’t build it, but a friend of ours did! He made this monstrosity and now I can officially say that my laying chickens will no longer become a certain coyote’s breakfast. While you’re here to ooh and ahh at my coop, let me show you around…
First, you have this very handy door. It’s for walking in and out of. Plus it looks very farm-like and cute.
Here’s another door, but it’s much to small for me. It’s for our egg-laying ladies and it has fancy latches and hinges and everything. You know, for openin’ and closin’.
Here are the nesting boxes! All 8 of ’em are perfectly lined up along the back in a row. Adorable.
Roosting area ONE.
Roosting area TWO. Apparently the chickens haven’t realized yet that they can actually share the roost with their sisters. We’re working on that.
Underneath the nesting boxes are these two adorable doors. I know, right! Can this coop get any more adorable? Oh, just you wait…
Ta’ Da’! Here’s another one! ‘Cept this one’s closed and you’ll see why…
We have two chicken runs coming off the back of the coop. One is for the egg laying ladies, and the other is to house younger egg-laying chicks that aren’t ready to be with the big girls yet. We plan on raising some every 6 months. Finally, a set up that works! There are also these adorable outside access doors that are so cute I just want to open and close them all day. And I do. And I know you want to, too.
The entire size of the coop is 8 feet by 12 feet. We plan on letting our ladies explore the pasture too, once this predator of ours leaves town.
Look at it. Doesn’t this picture just make you wanna go latch and unlatch these various doors over and over again?! I love you, new chicken coop. A lot. Will you be my best friend and promise to never leave?
In other news, Lacey (you know the one that got pregnant by a sheep and then had a geep, but then it died and then we thought she would die, but then she was fine, and then she got pregnant again and just had the cutest littlest goat?) is kinda buggin’. I mean, she’s cool and all. She’s a good milker, but man alive, that lady doesn’t shut up! She has everything she needs and she still won’t stop screaming bloody murder every day. I should record it for you guys. Scratch that. I MUST record it for you guys. It’s insane. I wish goats could read. Then I’d get a huge poster and I’d write on it, “SHUT up goat! Enough with your blabbin’!” But she’d probably act like she couldn’t read it and still scream all day. Typical.
An update on Lacey’s baby, the littlest goat: We sold her! I know, don’t hate me! She was so adorable, but this even MORE adorable family wanted to buy her and so we parted ways with her. I’ll see if I can get a picture of her to update you guys on her adorableness.
Look at our newest goat! We named her Luna and she’s the sweetest little Nubian. Now, I know I said Nubian’s have “goaty” tasting milk, but I’m telling you, her genetics produces the sweetest milk I’ve ever tasted, and I’m happy to be wrong. She’s pregnant and due to kid in February.
I can’t do a farm update without a picture of our trusty dog Dora. She’s getting old, she can’t see very well, and she’s kinda moody, but she’s the most obedient dog you’ll ever meet.
I saw this tiny toy poodle and I caved. Her name is Lilly, she’s adorable, and she will be your best friend if you let her.
(Disclaimer: We outsource the job of dog grooming to our 8 & 10 year old. They get the job done, but the results are slightly disheveled looking doggies.)
And lastly, our lamb, named Tim, will be ready to butcher here in January. He’ll be 9 months old and weigh approximately 100 lbs.
That’s it! Thanks for stickin’ with me on our latest update! Now I shall go open and close a couple of those chicken coop doors. Ya’ know. Just to make sure they still work since last time I checks 2 hours ago.
I love your coop… but you do know chicken wire won’t keep predators out right? I’m in love with backyardchickens.com you should check it out. Hardware cloth is more expensive but predator proof.
New to the blog and soon to be of the book. I’m absolutely in love with your little farm. Is there a post that explains how you got it all started? I’m very interested, but am clueless on where to begin.
Why didn’t you get a farm worthy dog to deal with the predators? The littles are cute, but not much of a worker caring for the livestock.
Ooh…I’m super jealous! My family does the farm thing. We’ve got 35 head of angus cattle, a boher/Nubian whether and two Pygmy does on our ranch. We’ve raise pigs for meat and we’ve got a steer in our barn I’ve affectionately named mignon. Unfortunately my husband works for a big poultry company here in California and we’re not allowed to raise chickens or any other birds. It makes me sad. I’m hoping though that my DH will try to cheer me up by buying me a milk goat 😉
Luna is BEAUTIFUL! I had an adorable Nubian named Gerti. I bought Gerti, her mom, and her twin brother when the twins were 2 weeks old. I was planning on keeping the mom and brother and selling noisy Gerti, but the mom and brother died shortly after I bought them. So I kept little Gerti. I had Gerti for 8 years and she never shut up the whole time! (ok, slight exaggeration- maybe) Everyone who came to our house asked what that awful sound was. She sounded sort of like a toddler saying “mooooooooooom- mooooooooooooom” She always had food, water, friends, etc, but she liked to pretend she was dying. She calmed down a lot when we got a horse and they became best buddies. But God forbid the horse go out of Gerti’s sight. If I rode the horse away from the pasture, Gerti would get upset and bawl louder than ever, which would upset the horse so badly that it was dangerous to ride her. Sometimes I let Gerti out so she could follow behind the horse when I rode her down the gravel road. (definitely made passer-bys laugh!!) Otherwise, my sister and I took turns and one of us would ride and the other would sit with Gerti and try to console her.
I’m curious, in the end how much did will pay for the lamb per pound to purchase, raise, and butcher?
Love, love, love your new coop!!!
What a beauty! 🙂
I love your new coop and chicken tractor!!! Such a fantastic idea to have separate runs for the young ladies 🙂
I have Nubians and adore them! Their milk is not goaty at all, it’s sweet and delicious. I think it’s Toggs and the other Swiss breeds who have goatier milk? My hubby’s dad used to have Toggenburgs and their milk was STRONG lol! Glad you are happy with your Nubian girl!
LOVE the pics, and the new additions to your farm! Thanks for the update! My chickens would be jealous of that coop… they live in a repurposed outhouse LOL!