Confused chickens, neices visit, garden's growin', goats like grain :)

Look how big the chickens are getting! This is a "production red"--she looks so noble in this picture--almost like an eagle!

So anyway--our chickens are confused--they don't know where home is :)

At dusk--chickens are always supposed to return home. It's something God just put in them to know how to do. Well since we've had our chicks we have always been moving their "home" (a wire cage) around. They were brooded outside (that means under light and caged up) since about a week old because the weather wasn't too cold in March and April. So the ground underneath would get pretty gross so I would just move them a bit every day. Much easier than having to change bedding and much more sanitary and they also get the benefit of sunlight, fresh air, and the weeds and grass and bugs to eat which is SOOOO good for them so they are pretty much guaranteed not to get sick. Well all that moving must of had them pretty confused.

As I said on my last post we were making them that new coop. So I did what you are supposed to do which is keep them locked in their new coop for 2 days and nights so they know it's their new home. It didn't work :(

They keep roosting where the wire cage used to be. But since they like to go to the highest place they can get, they fly on top of the goats pen which is just next to that area. The turkeys are already to big to fly that high, so they sit on a chair or something.

I'm not to sure what to do. At first we'd go out there and grab them one by one and take them into the coop (when they are roosting they don't really move for anything)--but what a hassle. And they seem pretty safe up there. So I let them stay there all night long and everything went fine so far. Our dog is a pretty good guard dog. But even still--I'm up for ideas--comments are always appreciated!

Our neices came to visit (they are identical twins!) When it was time to go home they cried--that's how much fun they had! It's kind of neat that we are the "aunt and uncle who live on a farm". Probably they'll always be glad to come visit. :)

Our daughter loves when they come--here they are all holding hands-so cute!Here's one of the twins holding a duck--they have gotten SO big! We got them on April 2, 2009--so theyare around 2 1/2 months --but they still don't stand very upright. They stand like a normal duck stands. The uprightness may just be more of an "ideal" sort of thing. It is SO much fun to watch them play in water!Here the kids are feeding the "kids" (baby goats) grain--they LOVE grain!

In the background here you can see one of the broad breasted poults--they have gotten so huge! That's thanksgiving dinner right there! By that time they will likely be 40 lb birds! I may not be able to fit them in the oven! And the geese are about the same size as them too! I'll post some more pictures of them soon.

Horns :

(we still gotta deal with those horns...that will be on Monday!)

No horns (polled goat):Today I was getting excited just thinking about Thanksgiving--it's kind of a tradition that we have DH's family over for Thanksgiving--and this last year I cooked everything from scratch. But how cool will it be next Thanksgiving when it is not only all from scratch--but all grown organically in our garden and even the turkey is organic and free range from our farm?! So cool. So with that said--our garden is growing! Lots of little sprouts! More on that to come later too! My goodness! There is so much to blog and so little time! As you can tell--we are super busy here on the farm! But I'm sure once the dreaded heat sets in I will be inside plenty! But until then I'm loving being outdoors and not all cooped up inside--hey! Maybe my chickens are feeling the same way!