Bye bye duckies...

It's been a rough time this Spring for my ducks. We lost Ducky to old age, the drakes drowned their brother Rowan (pictured in the pool above) and last week during my brief time home between trips we lost little Ping (the other duck in the photo). Don found Ping half eaten up in the big Sweet Gum tree in the chicken/duck pen. She was only two years old and we suspect a coon got her.

When the drakes drowned Rowan Don insisted we get rid of them, so I listed Puddles and Mr. Bean (AKA Mr. Mean) on Craigslist. A couple days ago I got a response and will be taking them to their new owner tomorrow. In exchange I will be bringing home a five month old rooster that looks a lot like our dearly departed Strayhorn. The owner assures me that, so far, the rooster is quite docile. Her five-year-old daughter plays with their chickens and the rooster eats out of her hand. Since she is in Olive Branch, MS I've decided to name him Oliver. I guess his last name will be Branch!

I do hope Aunt Bernice and Aunt Bertha, the hens, will warm up to Oliver quickly. For a few weeks he will be penned next to them so everyone can get acquainted. Then we'll see how they do together. I will most definitely miss the ducks and hope to get more in the future...just no drakes though! We really enjoy duck eggs...actually prefer them to chicken eggs, so I'm sure there will be more ducks in our future here on Hickahala Ranch.

Until then I have something else to keep me busy...three pygmy goats! I'm picking them up tomorrow afternoon so you know what tomorrow's blog will be about...Obi, Juan and Kenobi!

Chicken in the hen house? Um...no!

Oh what a frightful day I had yesterday! First our old Lab Drake wandered off and it took a couple hours to find him. Well...technically we didn't find him, he just showed up. Don was down in the woods looking for Drake when I heard him at the garage door. Poor old Drake's been having a spell of senility so he'll be going out into the fenced in front yard from now on.

When I went out yesterday evening to do the chores I let several dogs out with me. This is routine for me and the dogs. Yesterday Maggie, Caoimhe, Seamus, Conan, Kyla and Katie went with me...the normal evening gang. As I stepped out of the garage and walked toward the chicken pen I realized the door was open and my Wyandotte chicken, Aunt Bertha, was OUTSIDE!!!

I ran to the chicken pen and tried to quickly guide her back in, but that wasn't going to happen. Chickens are not known for their high IQ. Aunt Bertha panicked and ran in the wrong direction, which caught the attention of two dogs...Maggie and Caoimhe. I'd been fortunate up to that moment that none of the six dogs had noticed the chicken was outside her pen. Now I was panicking too!

Screaming like a banshee I tried to keep Maggie and Caoimhe away while attempting to catch Aunt Bertha. It probably took just a few seconds to catch her, but it seemed like forever to me. Once I had her safely in the pen I have to admit...I shed a few tears and Aunt Bertha shed a few feathers.

I was quite upset with Don for not checking the latch when he was gathering eggs earlier in the day, but I am very grateful that the dogs were not interested in the chicken. I honestly don't think Maggie or Caoimhe had any interest in catching Aunt Bertha. No, they were just curious as to what was going on, otherwise they'd have definitely had her before I had a chance to get hold of the poor chicken.

A stressful day for sure, but you know what they say...all's well that ends well!

Do you recycle?

Last night Maggie (pictured above and currently barking her head off behind me) brought something into the house. Don yelled for me to check it out, but I was a little freaked because it looked like a mouse tail hanging out of one side! Maggie has been known to bring in "gifts" the cats left us at the back door. She's also been known to carry fish to the house from the pond and has been caught carrying turtles around (always unharmed and released in a safe place).

Fortunately, she did not have a mouse. Maggie had the biggest cicada I have ever seen in my life. It was one big bug! Unfortunately, it was almost dead so I told Don to toss it into the chicken pen so someone could have it for breakfast.

You see, we're big into recycling here. Aluminum is taken to the recycling center, leftovers are fed to the critters (dogs, chickens and ducks) and other items are put in the garden compost. It's a wonderful circle, especially when the animals are involved.

The chickens and ducks eat scraps and  vegetable peels which they turn into eggs for us to eat and fertilizer for the garden, which grows food for us to eat, which in turn provides scraps and vegetable peels for the chickens, etc. The horses eat grass, which saves us gas and time to mow it. That grass is turned into fertilizer for the garden, which provides food for us and the chickens, and so forth.

Last night I cleaned out the vegetable bin in my fridge and left the bucket of old stuff on the floor. I was planning to take it out to the compost pile today, but Maggie and Caoimhe had other plans. Caoimhe has obviously convinced Maggie that over sized cucumbers are REALLY good, although I think Maggie just chewed hers up. I reached this conclusion when I saw the huge mess on the living room floor. Caoimhe, on the other hand, loves to eat cucumbers. Yes, she is a strange dog.

Now, if I could just figure out a way to recycle all the dog hair I sweep up...