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Babydoll Southdown Sheep

Well, we went and did it. We got two of the fluffiest, softest, cutest sheep in existence and it’s already been SO much fun. So here’s a little bit about who and what they are, for those of you who might be considering them yourselves. We have two Babydoll Southdown sheep, the white one is named “Nunu” and the brown one is “Rumble”. Follow our adventures on instagram @sheepsinthecity A Short History: These sheep originally came from Sussex England, also known as the South “Downs”. They are known for their …

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Predator Proofing the Chicken Coop

Last Christmas, my wife and I had a two week long run in with a predator. Still unsure if it was a Possum, Raccoon, or Fox, but either way, I was getting more and more frustrating to losing chickens to it. We’ve had run in’s in the past with predators, usually during the winter, and we’d lost a chicken or two, but this time we lost 5 full grown, laying hens, and 5 rabbits. Our perpetrator managed to get over a 6 foot wood fence, through a gap somewhere in …

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Chickens : A Complete Overview

My wife and I started our flock of backyard chickens about 4 years ago. Each year has been a different adventure with different challenges and new things to learn. I wanted to write up a long, detailed list of as much stuff I can remember so that you, a reader who is likely interested in starting up your own flock, can benefit and hit the ground running with some new knowledge. Keeping chickens is a fun, relatively easy livestock keeping experience and is generally the recommended animal for starting out …

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Winterize the Animal Watering System

Back when I built the chicken coop, I knew the most annoying part of keeping animals would be keeping the water filled and clean. Food is easy. Fill up the feeder once every 3-5 days and let them do their things, but the water has to stay clean to keep disease, flies, and dehydration at bay. Putting out a dog bowl of water works, but its dirty in 10 minutes and chickens walk in it, quail try to take baths in it, and rabbits poop in it, so that didn’t …

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Rabbits : Raising and Care

originally wanted to get into rabbits because their poop is just the best fertilizer. You don’t have to compost it. You can just gather it and spread it on the garden. I had intended to breed them and raise them for meat as well, but we haven’t quite gotten there. My wife is still pretty opposed to the idea because they are so dang cute and we’ve gotten friendly with them. So here’s what I’ve learned about caring for rabbits. Rabbits really do have a knack for making more rabbits. Female …

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Quail : Raising and Care

got into quail kind of by accident. I was visiting a small farm I found on facebook in the Dallas area to buy some chickens (We lost 4 to a raccoon) and they had a ton of other animals as well. Ducks, geese, pheasant, and tons of quail. So I was naturally curious, because I love all animals, and was given a ton of information about the little guys. So I wanted to share some of that with you. In case you’d also like to get some quail. First of …

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Hatching Quail

Hatching quail eggs is MUCH easier than I thought it would be. About 6 months ago, I was buying some new chicken chicks and while I was looking at them, I saw another room FULL of quail. Just thousands of them. I didnt really know much about quail, but the folks that owned the place were super helpful and spent a lot of time explaining how to take care of them. Very similar to chickens, except these little guys can really fly, so you need to have a different enclosure …