Spring

HELLO ALL,

There has been allot going on around here since I last posted a blog. Above this line of type is a picture of something that the staff here thinks is special . What you see is a Chicken with her baby. However her baby is a Black Spanish Turkey poult. Our friend the hen turkey had given up on her nest after three traumas and went back out into the general population. It must have been at that instant that this hen jumped on this egg and stayed with it until it hatched. She is a good mom to it and won't let anyone near it. It will be kinda funny when baby Hughie gets to 40 pounds and mom weighs 2 pounds soaking wet.





We have also had another batch of Muscovy Ducks hatch. She may be a new mom, she has already lost two but the rest seem healthy and she is caring for them nicely.

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The big mystery just gets worse and worse. The Duck who stole / kidnapped a bunch of ducklings is still at it. We are begining to think that maybe she is babysitting, not known behavior in ducks but nothing else fits. A couple days ago a hen duck with a badly damaged leg showed up and the staff tried to catch her to help her but were not successful. That very evening when that hen disappeared 8 of the ducklings also disappeared . So now our duck had 9 babies and there are only 9 babies for several days. This afternoon she has 13. ( update via edit... new count, now 14 babies ) Four of them are quite a bit smaller than the others. You can click on the photo to see the difference, The tiny ones are the ones on the left of the photo. The question still remains, Where is she getting all these baby's. I would like to know her secret, I would love to raise a colt, I just don't want to ruin my figure having it myself.

There has been allot of construction going on around here. That not so bright human woman who seems to help run the joint thought that since Nicky and I are so close we would stay in the same bedroom together. Especially since once it gets wet I will have to spend allot of time indoors . Oh well, Nicky's was 12 X 12 and mine was a miserly 8 X 12 ( originally built for a bunch of goats ) . My stall was so small she thought it would be great for us both to have a 20' X 12 room to share. It took me about 3 seconds to pound down on Nicky and convince everyone that it was not a really bright idea to expect me to share space . We both now have a 10X12 of our very own to eat in. Nicky is thankful not to have to be enclosed with what he calls Demon Daisy.



Also , They have changed the drive-in snack shack because apparently we were not as careful with the hay as was expected . Fiona ( the ass ) said we wasted allot on the ground , They also believe making us work a bit harder for it will entertain us. I think they're nuts , if you want to entertain us read Black Beauty to us again and provide popcorn.

We all anxiously await getting into Prairie Pines Preserve, 2,700 acres to stroll, run and gambol about in. We are locked out of our favorite little ( 300 + acres ) park, Pop Ash , until they finish some work so last night we went out to Caloosahatchee and saw another herd of 10 + deer. I am excited because my friend April from SE is coming to see me tomorrow. We will take lots of photos of our time together and share them with you all dear readers.

ARevoire ( is that spelled right ? )

Daisy