Homebodies

GRRR!!!! I decided to huff it out to the pond with the ducks and geese so they could swim. If you have never walked across squishy tundra with thigh deep grass and shrubs...it is HARD work. I carried them out two at a time and each time three of them found each other the little stinks ran all the way back to the yard.

So much for worrying about not being able to get them to come home.

One group even came up the ditch between us and the neighbor's, looped around the front of the house, walked over the dirt pile and rendezvoused with the other birds in the back yard.

So now I am tired and just have to worry about keeping dogs out of the yard. Jinx must have a little of some kind of herding dog in her gangsta-mutt mix. She was the only one having a good time with all of this.

FREEDOM...for 30 minutes

The Ducks and Geese are HUGE and they poop a lot. I am still going back and forth about sending them out to the pond behind our house. It is a bit of a hike and I am afraid I will never be able to get them to come back. The pen they are in is getting increasingly smelly and muddy though so I need to make a decision one way or the other.

I let them get a taste of yard life tonight and it was not as crazy as I thought it would be. Our dog was fascinated and the geese did not care for her curiosity one bit. Too funny. I am in love with the hissing, wing waving geese. They are the BEST and the ducks just follow them around like they are the group bodyguards.

All the birds were so happy to be out and about and ate grass until they were bloated. I was really impressed that I managed to herd them back into their pen too. Not nearly the crazy scene I expected. Unfortunately this was probably because the kids and hubby were washing my truck (my truck has a sticker that reads "Do Not Wash: Conducting Scientific Dirt Experiment)...my truck was even nasty by my standards so it took them a while. I think the lack of screaming girls helped me calmly shoo them back to the pen.

I am debating between trying to teach them to come back to the pen with treats for a couple days or just turning them loose on the pond with the notion I will figure out how to get them back at the end of the summer...smart or lazy....hmmm.

Strut your stuff...turkey style

We got home after an eight day trip and before we even got into the house the girls were squealing about how big the turkeys had gotten. They nearly doubled their size in just over a week. Not the freak of nature growth we saw in the water fowl, but impressive all the same.

Turkeys are dumber, yet more personable than chickens. I think it is because they are hungrier since they are growing so fast. Whatever the reason they run to you the second they see you... sort of like obnoxious dogs. It is kind of hard to get them to leave you alone.

We have two that survived that early run of chick loss and they are frenimies. I catch them pecking at each other and picking their heads raw. But they are also always together and never out of each others sight. I am loving the mini-loud and proud displays the white one keeps doing. I can't wait to see him at it when he weighs 25+ pounds. The antics are just going to make him taste better...mmmm turkey!