Animal Fun

We have lots of fun with all of our animals or as they are better known "Critters".   The animals have been quite the learning experience for me.  All we had for a pet when I was growing up was a cat and dog so for me most of this is a hands on learn as you go operation, sounds fun doesn't it.  We are not completely helpless in the critter department as the Hubby has worked on farms in the past but as we all know it never the same thing twice with animals.   Let the fun begin....

New Additions for 2018
We didn't need new chickens this year but it just wouldn't be right not to hear that cute little peeping so we caved and added a few new additions, so far that is.

Oreo, the other Puppy
So Oreo is not a puppy but a Nigerian Dwarf Goat, but don tell him that. He is the Hubby's other "mans best friend" and he wont have it any other way.

4-H Pheasants
We took on a raising pheasants to release with our 4-H Club this year.  See how things are going in our 4-H Pheasants post.

The Pigs of 2016
I haven't really introduced this years pigs to everyone and honestly it just has bee too crazy here to do it so you can see them and meet "Black Bob" in the New Addition post.

Meet the Turkeys
So we step off onto a new adventure in crittering (yes, I just made that word up) with the addition of turkeys this year.  Not sure how things are going to turn out and even what to expect with them other then some online reading but we bought goats before we had any knowledge or home for them and it all turned out well so we can only assume since we were more prepared for the Turkeys with a "barn" or parade float (haha) we should have an easy go of it.....Stay tuned as I'm sure the fun is just beginning with these cute little critters.

Its a rainy day here so its time to meet some of our animals!

The Goats were a new addition this year for us.  They have been a learning experience and lots of fun!  Oreo is our Nigerian Dwarf (black and white) he is just about 1 year old.  Heidi (gray) is our Pygmy she is 3 years old.  I saw Oreo for sale and wanted him so bad.  Finally talked Thad into letting us get him, spent weeks preparing and making him a pen.  The first day we had him he showed us how smart he is and easily jumped the fence and free ranged.  He is just as silly today as the day we got him.  I started looking for a friend for him when I found out we were getting him and found Heidi.  She is such a nice calm goat.  She is a perfect match for Oreo as he is silly and crazy  and her clam gently nature balances him.

Not all of our chickens but this picture showed the nice variety we have. We have 17 chickens total with 2 of them roosters and 4 were new chicks this year.  They have all sorts of names from Pecksy to Stupid Chicken.  The chickens were definitely not on my list of animals when we got them but in just a few months I have gone from having no desire to be a farmer or stepping in poo to wanting all sorts of animals.  They sure made an impact on me and I am happy that they have changed me and my opinion on life.

THE PIGS!  These guys/gals don't have names as they will be dinner someday.  They are not all our pigs we are helping to raise our friends pigs too as we have the room and were making a pen for our pig.  I was so sure I would not be able to raise an animal to butcher for food and I was totally against getting but after reading where scientist are making bacon from stem cells I think I will be happy that Thad talked me into them.  I still do not like them though because I'm not going to attach myself to them and not be able to enjoy them later.

Our ducks.  This was one of the few animals I was totally into getting.  I love them as duckling they were so cute and now that they are getting bigger are so pretty!  They are fun to watch too.  Last year on a whim we got ducks for the kids for Easter.  We had to build them a pen from scratch as we had nothing but a swampy spot to start with.  After damming up and digging out we ended up with a pond area perfect for them.  We apparently need to work on the fencing though as we lost all of them to a weasel.  These ducks are of our new batch.  So far we have had no issues with predators so hopefully all the changes we made worked.

Ticky Ticky, our only cat was the 2nd pet we had.  We got her when my oldest daughter was 1.  She named her Kitty Kitty but always pronounced it as Ticky Ticky and that name stuck with her.  She was in rough shape when we got her as kitten.  She was the only survivor of a litter of barn cats whose mother was then hit by a car.  She turned out great though and she can catch mice like nothing yet has never made an effort to get to the chicks or ducklings when they were little.

Turtley our turtle.  Thad was out in the driveway and found a little turtle one day he gave it to my daughter who was only a few years old and she named it Turtley.  We kept it for 2 years before it died while Thad was in Afghanistan.  My daughter was very upset even though I sort of convinced her it was hibernating, so my sister picked her up a new turtle which she again named Turtley.  Although he don't get as much camera time we still love him.

                                                                                         

Our first animal was our dog.  Mutt (the hubby named him) is exactly what his name say a mixed bag of every great dog in the world.  He is a great Dog!!!  Guardian of the whole property, family, animals and even the neighbors.