Thursday, June 23, 2022

Feathered and Furry Friends

Happy Summer! I hope you all have enjoyed a beautiful spring.

This spring we were blessed to add to our flock and I thought I would take some time to share pictures of our feathered and furry friends.

For some time now Adam has been interested in purchasing some geese. He had read articles about the benefits of geese, and that they prove to be a good alarm/guard against predators. After losing all but two of our hens over the past year he had been looking into options on how to better protect our hens. Some recommend geese as they will alert their owners of harm and even scare away predators.


 It wasn't too hard for Adam to convince me that we needed geese. Especially when I met the sweet little gosling above! Adam had ordered two Embden geese, unfortunately when the shipment arrived at the store, one of the goslings had not survived the trip. The store we purchased from had a mix of other goslings to choose from and this little dear caught my eye, she is a White Chinese.


 In just over a month the geese have grown so much! Both geese are loving and enjoy being held. In the evenings Adam and I will sit in our lawn chairs with a goose on each of our laps.


 Adam has named his Embden goose Axel, after the character in Journey to the Center of the Earth. Axel is an impressive goose already, he is twice the size of my goose. I love the picture above, as it looks like he has a crazy tuft of blonde hair! Both geese have lost most of their baby fuzziness and are growing beautiful white feathers.

As I mentioned earlier we lost all but two of our hens to a hawk and possum. We decided to add ten new chickens to our flock. The business we purchased chicks from has an incredible variety to choose from. My daughter and I had a difficult time limiting our selection to only ten birds! Each of the ten chickens is a different variety, many of which we never raised in the past. Some will even lay blue or green eggs.
The chicks are harder to photograph than the geese as they are constantly moving about. They love to flap their wings and "fly" about their pen. We love to watch their adorable antics!
Our two remaining hens have been enjoying the company of a distinguished gentlemen. Our neighbor's rooster comes over every morning to join our ladies on a stroll about the lawn; come evening he escorts the hens to the hen house and returns home. It is truly comical to watch him walk the hens home, cut across the lawn and then pass under the fence to his own yard. We have dubbed him Sir Reginald Rooster, but call him Reggie for short. Reggie is the most conversational chicken I have ever met, he is always clucking away over every inch of lawn and will even crow in Adam's garage to request an ear of dried corn.
We also purchased two turkey chicks this spring. Much to Jemimah's dismay Adam plans to have the turkey butchered come fall. Adam hopes to have a truly home grown Thanksgiving this year.

Since it has been awhile since I last posted you have not yet had the chance to meet our puppy, Darla Mae. She joined our family last summer and has been an absolute delight! Darla Mae is truly the sweetest little dog I've ever met. In the picture above she is wearing a sweater I crocheted.

Since I can't resist cute puppy pictures I had to include a picture of Darla Mae from last summer soon after we brought her home.
Adam has also begun beekeeping. We're all hoping to eventually enjoy a wonderful yield of honey, but in the meantime we are finding pleasure in watching the bees collect pollen from our various flowers. It is beautiful to see the bees return to their hive with their back legs coated in yellow pollen. Bees are such amazing creatures. How good the Lord is to bless us with His incredible creations.

 We were somewhat surprised by a recent visitor to our garden. One evening Adam spotted this enormous snapping turtle in our  vegetable garden. We stood by and watched as the turtle began to burrow down into the tilled soil. We all kept our distance, since snapping turtles can be quite dangerous, but enjoyed an up close observation of a large snapper at work.


I hope you have enjoyed this little update about our animal friends. Hope to chat with you all again soon!


"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches." Psalm 104:24

18 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your pictures - I've always wanted to have ducks and chickens. Your dog is adorable - reminds me of a dog my parents had, named Bruiser.

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  2. So good to "hear" from you. All your critters look happy and healthy - yay!

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  3. Adorable puppy photos! Always good to hear from you. Sounds like you've all been keeping busy.

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  4. ¿DONDE TE HABIAS METIDO SARAH? SON TAN ENCANTADORAS Y DULCES TUS FOTOS, TUS COMENTARIOS, HACE MAS DE 1 AÑO QUE NO SABIA DE TI, QUE LINDO QUE ESTES DE VUELTA. ¿CUANTOS AÑOS TIENE TU DULCE HIJA? DEBE ESTAR ENORME, ¿HAY ALGUN OTRO LUGAR DONDE TE PUEDA SEGUIR? ME ENCANTAN TUS DELANTALES, TUS TEJIDOS, ESPERO QUE PUBLÑIQUES MAS SEGUIDO. BENDICIONES Y ABRAZO A LA DISTANCIA.

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    1. Thank you for your kind comment! Yes, it was a while since I last shared a post! My husband is now working from home full-time in our home office, so my computer time is limited. I am not participating on any other social media platforms at this time, thank you for asking! May you have a blessed day!

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  5. Happy your back! Missing your posts. The animals are adorable! Especially Darla Mae!

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  6. Lovely photos, it's interesting how some types of animals can protect others. When I lived with my parents our neighborhood backed up to a farm, and some donkeys got loose, they had donkeys in their fields to chase away the coyotes from their cows.

    Your dog is absolutely darling, and I love her name, so cute.

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    1. Thank you for your comment! That is so interesting that donkeys will chase away coyotes. A cow farm in our area has two donkeys in the field with their cows, now I know why! : )

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  7. I was so happy to see there was a new post from you! I have missed reading your blog. Aw, those geese sound like a lot of fun - they're beautiful! What a nice flock of chickens you picked out too. That is too funny about your neighbor's rooster! I'm sure that is fun to watch. :) I miss having chickens. Our little town won't allow us even though we have almost five acres...but I heard recently there were people putting together some sort of petition, so I have hopes maybe something can get changed.

    Your new dog Darla Mae looks so adorable! I love the name too. :) Is she a Shih-Tzu? We used to raise Shih-Tzus and she looks similar, so I was just curious. I greatly enjoyed reading your post, thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thank you for your comment! Yes, Darla Mae is 3/4 Shih-Tzu and 1/4 Bichon. I hope your town decides to allow you to raise chickens. They will love to have five acres to roam. : )

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  8. It’s so nice to hear from you and see what you’ve been up to! Over the years, I had lost a couple flocks of hens to possums too. Very sad 😞 Now we have a top on the fenced hen yard and put them up in the hen house at night. They are let out of the yard around noon each day to roam, and Ezra, our dog, keeps watch. 😊 That rooster that comes to visit, that’s so funny! And he puts them up at night and heads home! 😂 Have you read any good GLH books lately?
    Blessings,
    Anne ❤️

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Anne! Recently I read "Rose Galbraith" by GLH, and it was lovely. Most of the story takes place is Scotland, which was a real treat. I thoroughly enjoyed her description of the thatched roof cottage and small village where one of the families lived. May you have a blessed day!

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  9. I will definitely check out Rose Galbraith!
    I loved Scotland when I visited there, and George MacDonald is another favorite author! ❤️

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  10. Thank you so much for another lovely post. So glad to see it in my email! I love your geese. They are beautiful! We always had geese and ducks when I was growing up on a small farm in New Jersey, and found that they did a wonderful job keeping the insects at bay. Whenever we were without them, the insects just multiplied! Hope you enjoy your wonderful animal friends and have a great summer!

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    1. Thank you for your comment! I hope you have a wonderful summer too!

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  11. Dear Sarah,
    Thank you for a lovely post. Such a blessing to read. So happy to see your new animal friends. Darla Mae is adorable and I love the chickens and geese. Glad to see you and your family are doing well. Hope you’re having a good gardening year.
    God bless you and your family,
    Lorri

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  12. Your yard seems to be a bustling pleasure. It so nice that you can have all these creatures to enjoy and benefit your home. I say that also of your puppy as I'm sure Darla Mae is a great joy and companion in your home. I always have enjoyed having a dog around. I don't have any kinds of turtles where I live but it's good to know to leave those ones alone to do what they need to do. :) I hope you have a blessed day!

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