I have spoken before about where we live. We love it out here in our rural paradise, where it’s a 30 minute drive to town. Wayne drives nearly an hour and a half to work every day, so he has a 3 hour commute. That makes for super long days for him…well, for both of us really. Wayne feeds the animals most mornings before he leaves and then lets me know whether he fed or not when he gets to work. He feeds the big animals at night when he gets home.
I feed the small animals (goats, chickens, baby cows) morning and evening and gather the eggs. I’m usually the one who gives medicine to the small animals. I try to make sure they all get their vitamins and required supplements, although Wayne tells me what is required for the farm animals since he knows more about that than I do.
We have three dogs. Daisy is a chihuahua and Jack Russell mix who weighs about 6 pounds. She acts like she’s a huge, ferocious dog, though. We rent some acreage to a cattleman and he says that Daisy loves to come over when he’s feeding the cows. She barks at his cows and they back up to allow her to choose her food before they eat. Once she has her pellet, she perches underneath his truck and eats while watching his cows to make sure they are minding their manners. Daisy also thinks she’s a cow herding dog, rounding them up when she believes they should be in their pens!
Daisy
Our other dogs, Sadie and Suzie, are mutts from a rescue. Sadie loves to try to reach anything left on the kitchen counters. Suzie is the investigator, tracking random smells through the house and yard. They are sisters and still puppies, so they are still learning their manners, including leaving the chickens alone. The “Girls”, as we usually refer to Sadie and Suzie, aren’t mean to the chickens, but the Girls are super curious.
We also have a barn cat that adopted us. Meow came visiting the morning after we moved into the house. She decided that we were acceptable and has stuck around. I know “they” say not to feed strays, but it’s impossible not to feed Meow when I go out to feed everyone else. She brings me gifts, bunnies and moles and a mouse here and there. Meow doesn’t bother the chickens, quail, or baby chicks, despite her great hunting skills. Aside from the mice that she brings to me, I’ve never seen another mouse around here.
Our chickens are pets, too. They come running as soon as we come out of the house. I’m sure that’s because they know they are going to be fed! LOL Nothing compares to being surrounded by tiny dinosaur descendants, all chittering at you! Our chickens free range, which makes finding eggs a challenge. But, they eat every bug that even thinks about breeding on our homestead! At one point, we were fighting a spider infestation, but I haven’t seen a spider in months. We don’t have roaches at all.
Chickens!!!
One of my favorite sights is chickens combing through freshly mowed areas of the yard. I think the sound of the mower is the chickens’ “Hot Donuts” sign! By the time I turn around from mowing a swath of yard, there are chickens scratching at the first row of grass.
Although all of our chickens free range, we can definitely tell that we have separate flocks. We have two roosters who have claimed parts of the back yard and each one has a group of hens that stay close to them. We have a third rooster who lives out front, Jay-Z. He’s a frizzle rooster and has short wings, but the prettiest feathers that look like someone gave him a feathered hair cut. His mate, Beyonce, is even prettier than he is because her feathers are longer.
Most of our chickens do not get names unless they have some look or trait that really stands out. We have Short Stop, who looks like she/he is wearing a baseball jersey with stripes. Mohawk, a little red gal with a tuft of feathers on her head. We also have a Silkie rooster with lots of white fluffy feathers that stand straight up. He sings constantly, so we named him Bon Jovi. One of our hens stays broody, so that’s her name, Broody.
Mrs. Broody sitting on her eggs.
Our goat Sandy loves to stand on the fence and scream. She demands attention and loves it when someone is willing to stand and hold the feed scoop for her to eat her feed. She’s also comical with the chickens and baby goats who try to steal her feed. She still has her horns, and she will head butt anyone who comes near her food bucket!
Sandy, standing on her fence screaming for food.
Midnight, another female, lives next door to Sandy. The two girls don’t get along if we keep them together. They head butt each other, which is normal play activity for goats. Sandy actually hooked Midnight with her horns and injured her a few months ago, though, so we separated them. Despite their rough playing, they stand at the fence and gossip all day long! I truly think they are talking about our baby goats, Prince, Bella, and Bonnie.
Baby Bella getting up close with the camera.
The babies are adorable. We were allowing them to run free in our yard, but they got into everyone’s feed, so we finally confined them. They sit and cry when I go out to feed. Don’t tell them, but I have to make myself not let them out when they cry! We give the babies the same supplements as the big girls, but they are more likely to end up wearing their powdered stuff than eating it, so we mix it into their water bucket.
We have quail, also. We feed by pouring their game bird feed into their feeder from the top of the cage. It’s like watching a game of space invaders because the quail try to catch the pieces before they hit the feed tray. We have to be very careful about opening their pen because quail are super fast, although they usually sit on the ground if they fly out of the pen. I love hearing them call in the evenings. They sound like they are having a conversation with one another.
I love sitting on the porch in the morning with my cup of coffee. I get to watch the small animals play with one another. The chickens go to visit with the goats, who seem to tell them all about what has happened overnight. Then the chickens move on to the cow pens and spread the news along. I find it soothing to listen to the barnyard chatter as I’m starting my day.
Bantam Rooster (Bon Jovi) and a hen
