Chicken Nest Box Blues

See these nice nesting boxes our hens have?  Spacious and full of clean hay...(right now)

Well, for some reason the upper right hand corner box is desirable real estate in the chicken world.

I mean, come on girls!  Is it worth the crowding to have the finest view in the coop?

Oh yeah!  What do you know anyway egg stealer?

Erm. Okay.

Just keep those eggses coming please!

Lila's Art Show

 This year, Lila was fortunate enough to be included in an art class that was sponsored by the Erickson Center for the Arts.  It was a class intended for fifth graders (Lila is in fourth grade) but there was extra space and the Fifth grade teacher knew how much Lila loves art so she was offered a space.

Duncan scratches his head, bewildered by it all....

Linda Tucker, of Newberry taught the six week course.  Each week was themed around a different painter and style.  The kids learned about the life of the painter and the style in which they painted and did their own painting in that style, in various mediums.

This is Lila's painting of our family friend Rachel Mills in Picasso style.

Lila's rendition of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" (one of my favorite paintings).

Not sure whose painting style this one is modeled after but I like it!

Georgia O'Keefe, a la Lila.

 Pop Art Map. (Jasper Johns)

Lila won the young artist award for this painting.

It has a bunny in it!!!

Free form colored pencil of her favorite subjects.

The show was held at the Erickson Center and we had a potluck dinner prior to the public arriving.  It was a wonderful experience for Lila and the other children in the class.   There isn't an art teacher on staff at school so this was nurturing for the soul to be sure.

A Wish for Sam

Today, our Sam is Eight. 

This is his "usual" look.

I don't know what he wished for, but I hope that he gets it.

(I think...)

Re-Breed

Okay.  I tried again with a slightly different lineup....

Dalilah paired up with Butterbur.  Dalilah is Dd so this pairing may produce some dilutes.  Both of these bunnies have excellent temperaments and nice fiber.

Mocha was again paired with Bigwig.  These two are awesome wool producers and good natured to boot.

Both pairs stayed together for about 8 hours, under supervision in an outside pen.  They seemed to enjoy each others company and romped around and rested together in the shade.  They were put together on Mother's Day for a first week of June kindling.  The weather should be much kinder then anyway.

Skunked!

It is day 33 and 34 for expectant rabbit mothers.  I think I've been skunked by all three.  No interest in the nest boxes and evidently what I thought was the movement of tiny feti was gas (or my over hopeful imagination).  This is the earliest I've ever bred bunnies and I'm not sure if daylength could have affected fertility or not.  Everyone seemed to have a good breeding...I watched and was nosy enough to check the does vent so there was some passing of bodily fluids going on!  Two of the bucks I hadn't used before, but I know for sure that Bigwig is capable of making some beautiful bunnies.  I won't rebreed Buffy- she is getting up there in age, but will try a rebreed with Dalilah + Butterbur and Mocha + Bigwig, probably this weekend.  I'm thinking that both Dalilah and Mocha are a bit on the overweight side too!  GRRRRR.

Bunny Watch

It's that time of season again....I'm on bunny watch. 

All the expectant mothers are in hutches on the front porch and had their spring housecleaning over the weekend.  Nest boxes are in and stuffed with shiny bright straw.  Some of the mummies had already started pulling wool so that was placed in the box too.  Mo decided she'd pee in hers so I had to clean it out and put it in a different location which seems to have worked.

Dalilah and Buffy are at 31 days tomorrow.  I can feel babies moving around in Dalilah after gently placing my hand on her lower abdomen.  I couldn't tell or not if Buffy had much going on...maybe one or two babies?  She is getting up there in age (Four) so she may not have taken.  She hasn't pulled any wool yet so we shall see...I was looking forward to seeing what she and Butterbur would produce so my fingers are crossed!  Mocha will be at 31 days Wednesday, and I could feel some bunnies in her as well.  Nothing cuter than a nest box full of kits!  I only wish the weather was a bit warmer.