Star Chaser Farms

Picture of a white piglet with a small black patch between her ears and one on her right eye. Her snout is also covered in red dirt.

Picture of piglets cuddled together on straw. There is a blue circle and an arrow pointing to the piglet the post is about.

Listen, I didn’t forget. I got busy.

Here we have “My Piggy”.

This is the result of letting the kiddo name things. Our beta fish is “Fishy
-Fishy”. 🤷🏽‍♀️

This gilt was picked by my child and it makes sense as they are both ✨drama llamas✨. She may be sweet…but for now she’s as moody as a toddler.

A hand holding five eggs. Clockwise from the top is a brown egg with dark brown speckles concentrated on the upper portion, a mint green egg with small light brown speckles all over, a dark olive egg with small and medium dark brown speckles all over, a light green-blue egg with a dusting of small white speckles, and finally a green egg with medium white speckles all over.

Interrupting our bacon seeds coverage to bring you some of the gorgeous eggs my girls laid today.

Picture of Penelope’s face sniffing a chunk of apple being held out to her.

Picture of four piglets cuddled together on straw. One piglet has been circled with an arrow pointing at her to indicate this is the piglet being discussed.

Hey, we’re doing another bacon seed! Look at me go!

I present Penelope.

A sweetheart of a gilt who appreciates a good chunk of apple. She’s calm and open to scratches on her back and sides but much like with all the others, I’m still chasing the elusive belly scratches.

….now I kinda wish I had done an anime pigs naming theme for them 😭😭😭

The way the kiddo would have mispronounced Botan. 🥺

I’m honestly floored my partner even suggested getting them. We’re all so happy having them and I can’t wait to share more as they grow up. Every time I go check on them I’m grinning ear to ear.

Listen we both know I’d snatch up almost any animal that has built in branding! 🤣🤣🤣

Picture of four piglets cuddled together on straw. One piglet is barely visible and has been circled with an arrow pointing at him to indicate this is the piglet being discussed.

Picture of Bartholomew’s face as he nibbles a chunk of apple being held out to him.

Meet Bartholomew.

This adorable boreling is insanely sweet, and loves being buried in straw. He’s fearless too and has already made me chase after him as he walked out of his enclosure. We’re still working on belly scratches but he doesn’t mind being loved on while eating.

I think I’m going to tentatively commit to a “Meet the Bacon Seeds” series. There’s only four so I might actually see this one through…

No promises though since life, uh, gets in the way…

Names are mostly picked but 3/4 still lack their full titles. (This will make sense later) Anyway here we go!

Four piglets cuddled together in a pile of straw

Listen, this was always a goal, it was just a “let’s do this in a few years!” goal.

Then a certain someone showed me a picture of a lone piglet so of course I said yes and let’s get him some friends too.

So, the Kune Kune have landed. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I’ve waited eleven weeks for this moment…

Big thank you to Southern Biophilliac Urban Farm for helping make my Snowflake Bobwhite dreams come true!

Now here’s hoping the other one is a girl 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽

Radish update:

She big.

Our small gosling is looking so grown up as her feathers come in. Not to exclude anyone Bobby and Ginger are doing their summer molt so they look as rough as she does. 😅

Soon it will be hard to tell her and Ginger apart… I should probably get leg bands actually 🤔.

This summer we are welcoming the first generation of Muscovy hatched on our farm. Our friends over at Secret Garden Farms kicked us off with a small starter flock last summer and then we nabbed more duckling from them about a month later. We let the ducks do what they wanted - not making any pairings or breeding choices, content to let them figure things out. Our sweet girl Nori was the first to hatch a clutch she sat on in an empty pot on the deck. She brought our first seven ducklings, then she adopted two more who hatched early from other clutches. Out of the nine ducklings she raised we ended up with six drakes and three hens. This drake and two hens are being nudged closer into the “keeper” category every single day. I may have found a color to focus on going forward… or colors…honestly I’m still learning the colors and genetics. 😅 Either way these three are definitely worth taking time to stare at at chore time.

Blue Muscovy Drake

Possibly silver Muscovy hen

Blue or lilac Muscovy hen

🦆Duck update 🦆

Watching them walk around while Ginger teaches her how to goose is such a joy.

Photo of Radish, a African gosling leaning on Ginger, an African goose on a nest of straw

Photo of Radish and Ginger out for a walk with Bob the African Gander in front stretching out his neck to protect them.

My goose Ginger went broody a few months ago but none of her eggs ever developed. Since she refused to give up and kept sitting on the nest I ordered a gosling for her so she could be a mom.

Meet Radish. They took to each other immediately. And now Bob has a family to protect.

I give up on my chocolate Muscovy hens. After 1 day of having ducklings Tiramisu decided that the juvenile ducklings must be hers actually and she abandoned her kids. 🤦🏽‍♀️

Thankfully Pudding Pop is an absolute unit of a mom. Though head count at sundown is a bit rough now with all the tiny zoomies. 😅

Photo of a chocolate Muscovy hen standing guard over several ducklings in their nest.

Meanwhile Tiramisu has been hanging out cooking her eggs in a random bin.

Apparently they’re also done. 😅

Current Muscovy duckling count: 24

Photo of a Black Muscovy hen with seven ducklings on a bed of grass.

After being mostly MIA (not really she was just hiding under the house) for over a month my little Pudding Pop has come out with 7 small fluffy Muscovy ducklings in tow.

Good job Pudding.

Holding on to the small moments of joy whenever they appear.

A splash quail with white feathers sitting on top of a wooden box with green foliage in the background.

Two splash quail standing next to hardware cloth.

A jumbo brown quail sitting next to a branch with green foliage trailing down it.

A splash quail standing next to a purple feeder looking at the camera. Several other quail are in the background.

…did I mention we added quail to the farm?

These tiny birds are amazing. Definitely happy to have finally added the livestock I originally planned to start with. 😅

Still waiting on other hatching eggs to ship but so happy to have these full grown ones already. Eight weeks flew by…

Photo of a chicken sitting on a hand. The chicken has brown and black feathers with a black crown of feathers on her head.

In the chicken keeping world it’s advised to never have a favorite because the second you give one that title it’s equivalent to putting a red shirt on them and telling them to have fun on their away mission.

So I don’t have favorites.

I just think this one is neat.

I wish to be as care free as a duckling playing in a muddy puddle.

While these aren’t the first ducklings hatched out this year they are the ones I’ve been waiting on the most.

Mainly because Nori decided to lay a nest in an empty planter on my deck. 😒

After over a month they’re finally here. Which means I can power wash my deck now. 🫠

(Ft: Gajeel aka Mr. Dad)

The final chick has hatched. Five adorable fluff balls and one tired but happy hen. Darling did a fantastic job for a first time broody - staying with it for an extra week even! - so now we get to see how she does as a first time mom.

Close up of a white hen with black beak and comb. Her eyes are closed and there is a chick partially sticking out underneath her.

The first chicks of 2025 have hatched! Darling is a tired but happy momma - who is getting an egg and grub scramble later to help replenish her nutrients after a MONTH of being broody. She’s hatched out three tiny fluff balls, here’s hoping they’re pullets! 🤞🏽

Darling has been broody for around a month - the eggs she originally had weren’t viable so my mister braved the snow and ice to pick up some hatching eggs for her as soon as we could. I wasn’t sure if she’d keep at it past the normal three week mark but she is fiercely determined to be a momma.

After an extra week (explanation to follow) my little Darling is almost done sitting on her nest and it sounds like the chicks are ready to meet her.

Did you know chicks will call to each other while hatching? It’s like they’re saying “We can do this!” Here’s hoping hatching goes well! 🤞🏽

I would like the record to show that she has access to a full pond that is less than a two minute walk away.

🤷🏽‍♀️

I can’t wait to see what this year’s hatching will bring. 🥰

Two dozen multicolor eggs sit in cartons on a countertop

A mix of green and brown hatching eggs labeled with type sit in a carton.

I’m fairly certain there are still hens not back online after the winter break but almost everyone is laying and the fruits of a year’s worth of adding to the flock are showing.

I’ve got lots of hatching eggs on order and the first round (right picture) are already in the incubator. 🤞🏽

Thank you! Besides providing for my family I’m hoping the farm lets me share beautiful things to give folks something to smile at once in a while.