As most of you know, we had a mink get into our chicken coop and kill all of our egg laying chickens a few weeks ago. I have since "mink proofed" the chicken coop and we ordered new chicks. They arrived this morning! Check out the video below!  -Steve
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Well that was a quick February! That month seemed to fly by here at the Homestead. We had a lot going on from weather to sickness! But the good Lord brought us through.

A few weeks ago, we had a mink get into our chicken coop and kill all 28 of our egg laying chickens. It was terrible. (see video below). I have since done a bunch of work on the coop (video below) and "mink proofed" the coop. We ordered 24 chicks that are due to arrive on this coming Thursday, March 5th. We are excited. We order our chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio. We have been very happy with the chicks we have received from them over the years. 

I'm actually surprised that we haven't lost chickens over the past six years. We have a lot of predators up here on the Homestead. We have coyotes, fox, fishers, minks, and hawks. I'm sure I have had weasels and other things in the barn, they just couldn't find a way into the coop. Check out the video below and see how small of a hole that mink got into. Mark my words....I will avenge the chickens and get those minks!  (I put a video below from my game camera of one of the minks. I have a bunch of videos of them) 

In other news....Payton turns 6 months old today! Wow does time fly. She is growing fast and we love her so much. She really completes our family. Children are a true blessing from the Most High! 

Sickness has struck the Homestead! I have not gotten sick yet, but 4 out of the 6 kiddo's have and so has Janel. I'm hoping to avoid it. I have had a pretty healthy winter so far. I usually have a couple colds during the winter, but so far, so good. I'm hoping to keep it that way. Hopefully we are at the tail end of this thing. 

Although we have had a pretty mild winter so far this year, we got hammered with a good storm this past weekend. Lot's of snow and very cold temps. With the lake not freezing, we get dumped on with lake effect snow. Looking at the forecast for this coming week, it looks like it will be melting as temps will be in the 40's.. I'm ready for spring and outdoor activities! Tired of being all cooped up in the house. Ready for fires and outdoor movies! Who's with me??

Stay tuned this week and I will post an update when the new chicks arrive. But until then check out the videos below.

Thanks for checking in and God bless!  -Steve
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