Lots of Changes on the Farm

We sold off all the goats, and now we have boarders in the pasture. A friend has two miniature horses, a mini donkey, and two mules living in our field for exercise and grazing.

We also have two turkeys, destined for holiday dining.  Although pitifully dumb, they are very entertaining.  We like to "talk" to them and let them follow us around the yard.  They have even come up to the back door looking for food.

We finally figured out that we have a male rabbit and two females.  One female had a litter of six, but they died.  We think the other female is pregnant.  Here is a picture of her when we first got her:

We also have six ducks:  four mallards and two white Pekings (?).  They are sooo adorable.  We enjoyed watching them enjoy all the rain we had this summer.  Here is a picture of the ducks suspiciously eyeing a dead snake (lower right corner of picture):

The funniest part of summer rain is how the chickens react.  The guineas don't understand why the chickens hate getting wet:

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A Saturday Shopping Circuit

Our planned excitement for this weekend was a trip to Racine's Feed Store in Robertsdale, AL. We had nooooo idea.

At Racine's, we bought five black chicks and five Ameraucanas. Herbs. Flowers. Cracked corn for the chickens. Local honey. Wormer for the goats.

Wil thought he might pop by Robertsdale Feed store. Three turkey chicks and a BUNNY!

On the way home, we discovered a feed store right around the corner from our street. A grocery sack of local produce AND the guy that owns the place followed us home and bought three goats from us!

Now we have two chicks and the bunny in the office along with the rat girls. We had INTENDED to downsize this summer. Well, I guess the bunny and chickens ARE smaller than goats!

Now Wil is off to the store for hay and alfalfa for the bunny--and a new weedeater so we can do some work instead of running around town buying more animals.

Aaaah, gotta love the weekends.

Spring Chickies!

I just adore this time of year, when the hens start setting and hatch out little peepin' balls of fluff! It's fun to hatch them in the house in the incubator, but really, there's nothing like seeing them "wild." We currently have fields of hay around us, and the chickens LOVE it--safety, to hide from hawks and owls. The momma in this picture was hard to catch on film because every time she saw me, she ran for the fields. But I finally slipped up on her nest. She has about 8 babies. Now today, another hen hatched out just one or two eggs, and she and the chicks are missing in the barn--we hear the babies peeping, we just can't locate them!

Katie told me it is time for her to have another chick--that means, basically, as a pet. In the past, she has...oh, I've got to say it...taken it under her wing! (ssshhh-boom). The darn chick will start following her around the yard and will even leap the brick steps to follow her in the house! Yes, in the house. I have LOTS of photos of Katie with the latest chick in the house.

Here's the background: when Katie was 3 years old, we went to the Elberta Sausage Festival. They had a petting zoo, and being animal lovers, we took her to it. There were goats, rabbits, others, I don't even remember, because the only animal she had ANY interest in was the little black banty rooster!!! She caught him, carried him around petting him like he was a cat, putting him down on a bail of hay, picking him back up, talking to him. It was wild! Natural born "chicken whisperer"! So we got chickens, and now, we have a huge flock, all free-range, we sell eggs, all because this little girl fell in love with chickens at a petting zoo! It's a major chunk of our family history. Gotta love it.

Our Two Girls

The human child climbing a tree, the dog child worrying about it!

Country Girl Feet

Two of our girl's favorites: bare feet and climbing. Here she is on the BIG tractor, climbing the deep treads on a tire.

Spring Training

Ethan, Jr. teaching the new kids to headbutt.