Summer update!

So I started writing this post in April... ago and never finished! Spring and summer has been a lot of work, and I do mean a lot! From getting new babies acclimated to the rest of the flock, to cleaning up after these dirty little creatures I love so much! My garden is growing amazingly, I've already harvested a lot of squash! We lost some chickens and gained some. (We ended up with 3 handsome roosters and well 3 is just too many! I had to rehome my favorite roo, Einstein because he was the biggest and I was worried he could hurt our bantams trying to mate.) The day he went to his new home, our 3rd roo Koala started to crow! Little Roo kinda just stays away from Koala and the girls much prefer Koala (Or at least tolerate him!) lol. Little Roo should be going to his new home today too where he can have his own flock of girls just for him! We also gave away some hens so Einstein would have some of his own girls and now we have 19 chickens!

 Here is the flock hanging out under their favorite tree! 

I did pick up a new baby welsh harlequin duckling about a month and a half ago, and a tolbunt polish chick. I've been trying to get a welsh girl and well, this one turned out all  boy! our Magpie male ended up just hating him. After 6 weeks nothing changed and he just wanted him gone. He was re-homed Monday to a great home with his own private lake and his own girl! The new owner has shared some photos with me and he looks really happy as the only boy, and we are happy he found a great new home! After some searching I now Have our male Welsh, 3 Khaki girls, an ancona girl and FINALLY I have my girl welsh! Oh and how much I love her, she's just gorgeous! Even the girls are less skittish now that the other boy is gone! I'm just really happy they have all done so well together and got along from day 1!

All of our ducks together! 

Our 2 Welsh Harlequin ducklings together!

Here are some photos of our 2 rooster! Here is Little Roo!

 And Mr Koala! 

Sadly we lost our white turkey muffet to sour crop :( Genji got it as well and with a lot of babying and help she pulled through. They had to have gotten into something they shouldn't have eaten. Maybe some Tomato leaves? Or maybe some bad water? I just don't know. But those two loved eachother and hated eachother every other day so at least now Genji can live in peace. Her limp is still pretty bad after her knee infection. But as long as she's happy we want her around to live our her life with good food and lots of dust baths! Because they were meat turkeys, we knew they may not be with us long, but we sure love having them and pray Genji has a nice life with us!

The last photo I have of Muffet dust bathing. How I miss this girl so much. 

 Miss Genji. My sweet girl!

 Muffet today eating a treat!

The goaties are doing AMAZING! Those girls though. They are just like little toddlers. Getting into everything and eating anything they get a hold of! We did have to separate them from the chickens and now there is a nice separation in the pen. Now the chickens can have food available all day long and be able to get in and out as they please when we open the door. They seem much happier now and are laying more eggs. The goats don't know what to do with their new found separation but can still see their friends through the fence and won't be walking around stepping in chicken poop! Everyday they would jump on us and get it all over us and now, that doesn't happen so that's a plus!

Here are some photos of the girls! Brooklyn and Bailey! 

Miss Bailey! She's so pretty!

 Brooklyn had an itch lol!

Anyway I hope you all enjoy hearing about our flock and seeing how they are doing! This new journey  has been really fun, but also so much work. I'm slowly learning how to cure, help, treat, feed, and oh so much more as the time goes on! I have  new found respect for the work that goes into owning farm animals, and the love i have for this little group of mine!

Here is our newest chick. She ended up with a vitamin deficiency and I am treating her each day. I pray she starts to walk again :( Here's a photo of her before she got sick. The kids have named her Cookie and Ethan is really good about watching her each day!

Thanks for reading! ~The Vela Homestead

Chickens 5 weeks old!

So The chickens are now 5 weeks old! (The new 3 are not far behind that!)
Here are some updated photos! I had to use both my camera and my cell phone because my flash is just awful. It doesn't like to work even with new batteries very long!

Chick number 1 "Frost"! I think this will be a hen. At least I hope so! She's gorgeous and look at that coloring!

Sushi is still our smallest chick! And also I'm hoping is a hen! She is getting really pretty!

Bear is so so sweet! She (or he?) Walks up to me when I open the cage to peck at my pants and get in my lap. How sweet is that? Man I'll be so sad if this is a rooster. I just love this bird and it's my favorite because of how sweet it is! She is so soft and fluffy!

Here is Penny, who has been renamed Rocky. He is definitely a rooster. He is trying to crow and will practice  A LOT. I'm so sad we will have to find him a new home because he is just so beautiful! 

Big Sissy is as big as ever! I hope we can keep her with us for a year and if she makes it that long I'll be happy! 

Now onto the new chickies! 

Now I hope this is a girl, but if she is a he we will be calling him Einstein (and finding him a new home) Man why do people have to hate roosters so much! I'm afraid to annoy my neighbors lol. It's just not worth the risk of losing our flock! Isn't she/he just gorgeous! I love the hairdo!

Chick number 7, is small with a big comb so I'm thinking this is a he. But we will see. I have to pick out a name for is soon! 

And lastly our for sure hen, I still just love her! She needs a pretty name! 

I hope you enjoy these pictures of the chickens as they grow! <3

Thanks for reading! ~The Vela Homestead

Chickens 4 weeks old and new additions!

I'm posting this a little late since the chickens will be 5 weeks old tomorrow but here are our 5 chicks, plus 3 NEW little chicks we picked up when we got our ducklings!

First up is Frost! 

Look how much she has grown! Her colors are so pretty! She's a shy bird! (I think it's a she!) 

Second up is Sushi, who is getting more daring and coming closer to me and still our smallest chick!

Chick #3, Bear is such a bear! Look at all that fluffy cuteness! She ( I think?) Comes up to me now and gets close to my lap, and pecks at my pants. She's definitely warming up to me! She is so so soft!

Chick #4 is Penny and I'm 99.9% sure Penny is actually a roo. He's daring and that comb is big and he is so tough this one lol! 

#5 is big sissy! She's so big and yet, such a baby lol! She still hides from me!

Onto our new chickens who are not named yet! I need to get a feel for this personalities first! 

Chick #6 for now on is this Polish bantam! Look at that hair! Oh it makes me melt! That hair do it just EVERYTHING!

Chick #7 is this fluffy cutie that looks a lot like Bear yet grey! I can't wait to name this one! 

and lastly this is our Creole Orpington! (although online I see more spelling it Crele Orpington?) She's definitely a hen because the man at the hatchery said the coloring is different on hens but she's GORGEOUS! Those feathers are so pretty and she loves spreading them for us! 

I can't wait to share updated pictures in the next few days. They have already changed so much since I took these last weekend! <3

Thanks for reading! ~The Vela Homestead

New ducklings!

Wednesday, Natalie and I went to a local hatchery Duck n' Coop. I've only bought chicks and turkeys from Tractor supply so it was really exciting to go into a hatchery and see so many different chicks, ducks and breeds!

We decided we wanted 4 different breeds for our new additions!
Here are our new babies, breeds, and all that! Here is a photo I took of them the day we came home!

Here are some photos I took today! I plan on taking age progression photos like I do for our chickens each week and sharing them here on the blog! I hope you enjoy these! 

First up is our little Black and yellow ducking. He/She will be an Magpie duck! She should have white and black coloring as she grows! She's the smallest of the 4, and I believe just a week old. We haven't chosen names yet!

 Here is our 2nd little duckling. She/He will be a Ancona duck with white and silver coloring! She is just a touch bigger than the first duckling!

This is our 3rd duckling. He/She will be a Khaki Campbell duckling! He's a big duckling and I'm guessing around 2 weeks old! This little one is loud and anxious compared to the other, and definitely the fastest!

Lastly here is our 4th duckling! She is going to be so gorgeous as she/he grows up! This one is about the same size as the duckling above but not as crazy!

I look forward to sharing our little ducklings as they grow and watching their little personalites come to life and picking out names! 

Have a blessed Sunday!  ~The Vela Homestead

The chicks are 3 weeks old!

So our chickies are now 3 weeks old! Now my external camera flash is draining my batteries really quickly. I use rechargeable and have to order new ones to see if it's the batteries or the flash that's not working. So I had to use my camera phone this week instead!

Look at this fun little group shot! One is growing much faster than the others....

Here is chick #1. She definitely looks like a silver seabright bantam! So far my guess is hen but we'll see what happens as she grows! Her name is Frost! 

Here is chick #2! I think she may be a Welsummer Bantam but I'm not entirely sure! She's the smallest chick and her name is still Sushi! 

Here is chick #3! Still calling her fuzzy toes. I'm not sure what breed she is yet!  His/her name is Bear! Boy or girl, it's staying! She should be a big fluffy soft black chicken when she grows!

Here is chick #4! We believe that he/she is a golden seabright we believe! She is now named Penny however, I think it's going to be a rooster lol! We will see but look at that comb! 

Lastly here is Big Sissy! (If a rooster it will change to Samson!) But woah she's growing so so fast! She's a cornish rock! 

And to end this post, here's a group shot of the 4 bantams together! 

They are so fun!

Have a blessed day!  ~The Vela Homestead

Welcome to April!

It's April 1st! Which means I can share my newest calendar stitch! April is such a beautiful design from The Snowflower Diaries monthly free pattern with this cute little bunny and squirrel!

Yesterday way Easter, and we got to spend it with family and fun! Every holiday we get with my mom is extra special. She's waiting for a liver transplant and she's finally close on the list! We just keep praying fo her healing so we can celebrate many more with her! She was always a very active Grandma and I know she looks forward to have energy to play with the kids, but she still enjoys playing with the kids and our yearly egg dying tradition!

This was our first time dying our first year dying brown eggs and they came out just beautifully!

So Easter morning, what would you know, we woke up with SNOW. Yes snow. Not only was it Easter, but also April fools day, and God sure does have a sense of humor doesn't he? It did melt by late afternoon when the kids got to go on their egg hunt! 

Another fun event from yesterday, Muffet, our white breasted turkey, laid her very first egg! Isn't it so speckled and beautiful? She's been acting pretty oddly lately so I knew it was going to happen soon! 

Also since I'm sharing, I wanted to post a picture of Brooklyn and Bailey from yesterday too! My sweet Goaties! 

We hope you had a great resurrection day too! From our family to yours! <3

Have a blessed day! ~The Vela Homestead