Well, it’s time for my annual post where I introduce you to all the new babies on the farm! Typically, baby farm animal season happens earlier in the year- like maybe more March or April. This year we got a really late start with breeding and so we are just now having alllll the babies on our little homestead! I’m kind of glad we held off, though, because May has been REALLY cold and wet, and it’s always so hard to make sure that all the babies are warm enough at night.
So here it is: the current lineup!
Rabbits
We have four adult rabbits- one male, Gentleness- who was Tera’s OG bunny. He’s about 4 years old now and has been a great buck. We have one little one, Joy- who is about a year old. And then two lion head siblings that were were told were both girls, but alas- there was babies one day, proving that one was NOT a female- this litter did not live. It’s not best practice to breed siblings, although it can be more common if the pedigree of the animal is not questioned; for example, in the case of meat animals or when they are bred simply as pets.
ANYWAYS- on to the babies! Joy and Lionhead female both delivered sweet little litters a week ago! One Mama had 7 babies, and one Mama had 5 babies. We’ve lost 4 of the babies, so we are down to 7 babies total.
Newborn baby bunnies are not cute haha- they look like naked mole rats. After about a week, they start to get really furry, and at about 10 days old they open their eyes and then they are LITERALLY THE CUTEST THING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE. And SO SOFT, too.
Piglets
Many of you know that we raise our pigs for meat (sorry), so we typically buy a couple of pigs each winter and raise them until late fall. Well, when we bought three piglets in winter of 2025, the farmer told us that the female pig would make a really great breeder pig. We decided to keep her and bred her over the winter. Pigs are pregnant for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, so we knew she was due around May 12. Well, on May 10- Mother’s Day- I told the boys to go and check on the pig. I honestly thought she still had several days, and wanted the boys to get out of the house haha. Imagine our surprise when they came screaming back inside that she had her piglets!!! She had done it all on her own and had them cleaned off and was nursing them. She is SUCH a good Mama. Pigs can be notoriously bad first time Moms, and will often eat or squish their babies- but so far she is attentive and has needed zero help from us. The pigs are SO CUTE! We haven’t held them too much as it agitates the Mom.
Chicks
A local elementary school teacher reached out to me because she heard through the grapevine that we have a homestead. She said that all of the 3rd grade classes at their school were hatching chicks, and did I want to take them home when they were done hatching? I said sure…and then asked how many.
70.
Excuse me, what? SEVENTY? 7 and a 0? SEVENTY chicks? Hahahaha, oh boy- was I in over my head! In the end it only ended up being………….58. 58 chicks. That is a lot of chicks!
Kitten
Our beloved Patience ran away last October. She was my favorite cat and was seriously the sweetest. She slept at my feet every night and we just had a special bond. We have two other cats, but they are indoor/outdoor cats and aren’t really sweet and snuggly. I asked for a kitten for my birthday and last night….Theo brought home this sweet little one! She still doesn’t have a name, but I’m hoping she will be a great indoor cat and will be my personal pet, not a “chore animal” like all the other animals we have around haha!
If you could have any animal- chore or non-chore – what animal would you choose?
Which of our animals would you most like to snuggle?
What animals do you currently have/manage?