Squirrels Haven

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Squirrels Haven Join us in our adventure of city slicker to farm life. Located in Ste Genevieve Manitoba.

We would love you to join us in our blunders and successes as we learn to navigate living on 12 acres of land, complete with forest, gardens a creek annd animals!

Sprocket is at the vet for the night. He is one sick little dude. Glucose IV and fluids in general, and we are hoping fo...
06/12/2025

Sprocket is at the vet for the night. He is one sick little dude. Glucose IV and fluids in general, and we are hoping for the best. His prognosis is grave at this point.

No obvious signs of illness, no obvious signs of infection.... We don't know why he's so thin, or so dehydrated. I see him eating and drinking all the time. We are doing basic care at the vets and hopefully he pulls through.

I'll update once I know more.

This isn't how I planned to be spending my Friday evening.. Little Mr Sprocket is very unwell. He looks to have bloat, h...
05/12/2025

This isn't how I planned to be spending my Friday evening.. Little Mr Sprocket is very unwell. He looks to have bloat, he was eating earlier today, but I found him in the outside coop all alone. I brought him in the coop under the heat lamp, but he kept crying. So I made judgement call and brought him inside. I'm glad I did. His temp is extremely low.

He was frothing at the mouth, so I've drenched him with baking soda mixed with water, and a pepto bismal pill dissolved in water. He's now warming in a "tent" in my grooming tub, where I have a blow dryer running, until I can find the space heater.

Come on little sprocket! You've got this.

The birds were not a fan of the weather today. Honestly I don't blame them, neither was I. -20C as a high is a little ch...
04/12/2025

The birds were not a fan of the weather today. Honestly I don't blame them, neither was I. -20C as a high is a little chilly for early December. I took this photo at 10am, normally at this time, they would be all over the place, not hunkering down. Even the rogue ones who have learned they CAN go outside anytime they want, via the "goat door", chose not to.

The temperature picture was taken at 9:30 tonight. "indoor" is inside the coop. This is no heater. Only a humidity exhaust fan, and animal heat. The heater is set to come in when temps hit -10C, so if it drops much lower, the heater will come on. The only change made this year was the addition of the "barn doors" which are fully insulated.

Believe it or not, I've got a broody hen! She's trying to hatch eggs. She insane! Photos or a video tomorrow of miss grumpy pants. At least she's preventing the eggs from freezing! 😂

Tomorrow will be warmer.

29/11/2025

The strange things I see on the cameras. Lol. Good morning Aspen! 😂

We know the cold is coming. It's almost December, we've had an extended stretch of amazing weather, but we all know, goo...
27/11/2025

We know the cold is coming. It's almost December, we've had an extended stretch of amazing weather, but we all know, good things must come to an end.

So today I got all the coops ready for the animals. The heater is set on a temperature sensor, the exhaust fan is set on a set temperature as well, but soon to run via humidity instead of temp alone. The main coop has fresh bedding, the goats have a fresh bale of hay, the heated water bowls are plugged in and ready, one inside, one outside. The goat shelter is sealed off from drafts, and the smaller barn is open, with all windows sealed from drafts (baby goats due in January and I'll need to seperate the boys from the girls), and hopefully this barn will be used by the rogue roosters I need to go and hunt for every night. It's too cold to play "find the roosters".

I plan to set up some Christmas lights in the mini coop just to add some festivness in the chicken run. I just need to find where I put them.

We are officially winter ready and the birds seem to be ready as well as everyone insists in being indoors now. Lol.

We've been busy over here the past week. We had contractors in the house all last week, insulating and framing the basem...
11/11/2025

We've been busy over here the past week. We had contractors in the house all last week, insulating and framing the basement, plus insulating the attic and one of the two storage wings upstairs. We are now up to code.

I got the bees prepped for winter today and have the battle wound to show for it. All I did was give them some fondant! They apparently didn't appreciate the food offering.

I groomed 2/3 of the dogs today as well, and the boys set up some drywall. Now my shop and laundry room are mostly complete with walls. Flooring is next.

The ladies are looking a little plump right now, and we are expecting kids in January. By the look of patches, she may be hiding 2 or 3 on there. No udders yet so we are just keeping g watch for now. The boys are stinky as ever (well Aspen specifically), and sprocket is cute as a button.

I've convinced all of the extra roosters I have that the coop is a way better place to sleep then outside in the elements. They finally agree. It took a few days though.

All is well at Squirrels Haven and we are almost completely ready for winter.

It was inevitable, winter is coming... Today the temperatures are substantially cooler. So even though I'm battling yet ...
06/11/2025

It was inevitable, winter is coming... Today the temperatures are substantially cooler. So even though I'm battling yet again ANOTHER germ, the coop needed to be winter ready.

Hubby and I emptied the old coop bedding with the assistance of our son about 2 weeks ago, I got fresh bedding in there and got everything cleaned and ready to go. I prepped the goat shelter last week sealing up all the edges with plastic to allow for a draft free shelter. The ladies will be moving into the main coop in mid December likely as we are expecting babies in January according to my best calculations.

Boys will be seperated into the smaller
Coop and and allowed to roam, ladies will get the tlc treatment of heat, light, and extra warmth sharing with the birds. For now as long as temperatures remain milder everyone will remain in the goat shelter away from the main coop.

I've got a little more tweaking to finalize everything on the main coop, and I've got the smaller coop windows to cover with plastic. But, the coop is ready for the chilly nights over the next few days. We've got lights, all windows are closed and drafts are sealed up, dry bedding is added and we are 99% ready. I've also "snow prepared" the run so we can shovel or use a snow blower to make paths for everyone.

What's crazy, just these additions today of the closing windows and sealing drafts in the coop ... The temperature already increased in there. I literally needed to unzip my jacket! Lol

I got a lot of herbs in my recent loop pick up, so I've dehydrated them and am now making a "chicken" herbal mix to add ...
29/10/2025

I got a lot of herbs in my recent loop pick up, so I've dehydrated them and am now making a "chicken" herbal mix to add to their food, as well as it doubling as an insect repellent which I can scatter around the coop and nesting boxes as well.

So far it contains thyme and mint, I'll be adding garlic and whatever other herbs I end up with in my loop pick ups.

27/09/2025

Crisis averted! Electric fence is worth its weight in gold when you live in a forest. I plan to put a trail camera aimed at the bees going forward.

The first batch of 100% farm grown tomato sauce is about to be made!I saw someone do this method, vs the pot method, and...
16/09/2025

The first batch of 100% farm grown tomato sauce is about to be made!

I saw someone do this method, vs the pot method, and thought it's a fantastic idea! Cook everything in the oven, then put through the food mill, viola! Sauce! I added an extra ingredient after the photo, to help with Stephs MS symptoms. Lionsmane mushroom powder.

Ingredients : tomatos, onions, garlic, parsley, oregano, basil, celery salt (made with lovage and salt), Lionsmane mushrooms and I sprayed the pan with olive oil, plus I did a top spray of olive oil as well.

I'm choosing to cook for a longer time at a lower temperature for better favour. 300F for an hr (standard recipe is 350 for 30-60 minutes - higher or lower temperature and time as per your flavour preference).

Doesn't this look amazing! For someone who HATES tomatos and onions..... Tomato sauce is delicious!

13/09/2025

Go home you robber bees! Find your own syrup! Leave mine alone.

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