Homestead Update 1

I'm excited that we got a Premier1 electric fence for the chickens! I've been wanting one since we got the chickens, for many reasons...

When they free range they don't really stay together and they wander all over the property.

One day we had to go on a hunt for a lone chicken that wandered WAY FAR from the rest. Scared us that something had grabbed her and taken off, but thankfully our daughter found her in the woods.

We rent cabins out to people and we don't want the chickens around the cabins.

I need the chickens to work for us. They are excellent mulchers, can clear grassy areas for us, and can even spread compost and wood chips.

The fence is powered by solar. It will help keep wandering dogs and other critters from hurting the chickens.

We've lived here a year and a half and have already had FIVE lost dogs here! Three of those we took to the shelter. One keeps coming around at odd times and won't let us catch it. And the last one, the person responsible lives across the street and was out looking for their dog and saw that we had her, she's come over twice.



We tried it out for a couple of days by Cabin 2 where the grass was needing a mowing anyway.



Only one chicken managed to get out and her wings are clipped now so hopefully she won't be able to do that again. The chickens aren't use to being out in the grass and having to stay in one area, they weren't happy with this fact those first two days.



The ducks seem to like hanging out by the chickens even though our white duck named Grapes would bully the hens. Unfortunately the next day Grapes was run over and killed by a cabin renter. They didn't see her or know that they ran her over. The kids and I were totally devastated for a couple of days. She was more like a dog than a duck! So now the ducks don't get to roam anymore. We allowed it because they stayed together and they stayed close to their run. So no more running loose for the remaining three ducks without supervision.



We took the fencing box and another large box and created a playpen for the bunnies. Totally supervised because there's nothing to protect them from predators in this pen.



The bunnies enjoy looking around, chewing the grass, and running and kicking up their heels. They are so cute!



They love the boxes, which makes them even cuter. LOL



I caught the ducks walking by in a row! And this is my last photo of Grapes. We miss her. :(



We had a couple days of spring like weather. Then it got cold again. Then it turned to summer weather. And now today it's raining and snowing again. *sigh* I hope spring comes back!