About 10 years ago, an aquaitenance whom my husband had done some work for showed up at our front door on a Saturay. I opened the door, and she said "Would you like some goats?" Hmmm.... I said "Go talk to my husband, he's up in the barn." She left, I had the baby in the house (who is now 11) and about an hour later, I see a truck driving up the driveway. Yep, two goats. They are a mother and daughter pair. They never got formal names, but have always been Momma Goat and Baby Goat.

The story goes ... She was given these goats because she wanted to start a little petting zoo. When she went through the town red tape, she was told that she could have a petting zoo, if nobody was allowed to touch the animals. ............. Makes no sense, right? So she gave up on the lovely idea of allowing the suburbanite children an opportunity to pet and touch farm animals and learn what its like to live in the country. I guess that should have been a sign, because this town has done nothing but grow up ever since, with less and less farmland and animals, and more and more housing developments.

Anyway, so she brought the goats to us, because she felt they needed a family home. They were off a milking farm, and not handled much, but were surprisingly friendly considering their past. Momma and Baby goat have been with us ever since.

We also seem to have an ever-varying mix of poultry. Bunner and Sherry are a pair of African Geese. Bunner protects everyone from harm, and especially loves ducklings to care for. Bunner and Sherry's partners in crime are Tom and Jemimah a pair of Runner Ducks. If you keep poultry, or especially waterfowl, you just have to have Runner Ducks. They are the goofiest ducks you'll ever meet, and they just make me crackup with their silly antics.

There are also a pair of Muscovy ducks who just hatched their first clutch. There were 13 little ducklings. The kids found one laying in the middle of the yard, half dead. They "rescued" it, warmed it up, and we've been raising it in the house. There are 10 left outside still with momma. I found one dead, I think she stepped on it, and one is MIA.

Here is the happy family on the left, and Champ the house ducky on the right.

 

There are also 5 chickens left at the moment. We seem to lose quite a few to fox and hawks. Here is my chicken, a RI Red. She follows me everywhere I go, accompanies me to feed horses in the morning and evening, and comes and sits with me on the ledge when I stop for a break. She even jumps in my lap from time to time.