there's turkeys. I got a good scare today. I was in the kitchen when I saw a huge cloud of smoke blow by the window. California is tinder dry right now and wildfires are always a concern. I hurried to my office for a better look out the French ...
Pasture Morning
The farm animals are at their best in the morning. The chickens are noisy, the donkeys are goofy, the emus silly, and the goats clumsy. I love my mornings in the pastures feeding the animals. I offered to trade shifts with Michael the other day, but ...
Intruders
Lately the locals have been making pests of themselves on our property. I know this because I relocated my office temporarily to my upstairs bedroom until the downstairs air-conditioning is replaced next week. Being upstairs all day has ...
The night shift.
The routine animal chores take place twice daily at the Buck 'n Run Ranch. Scratch is tossed out for the chickens, the emus and goats are fed, and the donkeys get a carrot and their fly masks put on or taken off. I am a morning person so I take the ...
Lowell Ego lights
I have wanted a pair of Lowell Ego lights for tabletop photography since I first saw them. Frankly the price and the reviews scared me off. People described the assembly of the lights to be quite an ordeal, requiring the assistance of a second ...
The Chickens
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Egg Candling
I have Icelandic and Isbar eggs incubating. They are on Day 10 of a 21 Day incubation period. This point is a good time to candle the eggs to pull out any non developing eggs or early quitters before they begin spooling. These eggs can later explode ...
iPad in the pasture
I took my iPad out with me this morning when I went to feed the animals. They were all very cooperative with my picture taking, with the exception of mini donkey Diana. Imagine that. :-) I am pretty sure I heard her say "Get that thing outta' my ...
I’m a tweaker, man.
Please bear with me as I tweak my website. I love the Wordpress theme I am using now but, as always, I want to make it my own. You might notice I replaced the beige background with a chicken wire image. I was missing my chicken wire. I spent ...
What’s up with Isi?
I have done a bit of shuffling around of the chickens in recent days. The result is a very bare Icelandic/Layer coop. I decided to move the older girls to a private coop with a nice grassy, shady run to live out their days in peace, without being ...
Broody Freak Out
I wanted to get photos of Lukka with her babies today. They were hunkered down in a hole created when a sprinkler was removed. Apparently I got a little too close for comfort, and she freaked out. They all headed for the hills, re-grouped and ...
New mama, for the umpteenth time.
My sweet Icelandic hen Lukka went broody again a few days ago. I knew it was going to happen as soon as she saw a hen in the next run with a new baby. The old girl isn't as sharp as she once was and kept changing nests, allowing her eggs to get cold. ...
Chickens in the House
It is a bit out of control. I have a yard full of chickens and a house full too. I promised Michael I was done decorating with chickens but a trip to World Market got the better of me. I found this cute reproduction egg sign and I had to have ...
Tucker’s Chicks
Having a dog around chickens has always been a worry for me, and reasonable I believe. When I adopted Tucker I knew I would have to be vigilant in keeping him away from the chickens. So far we have had no problems. The most recent hatch of olive ...
The bad, bad, baby!
My project broody hatched three chicks three weeks ago. Two disappeared without a trace. The third has been AWOL much of the time, but as of today, he is under my control! Thanks to my trusty net, he was captured, after being on the run ...
Weekend Wrap-Up
I spent a lot of time cooking and photographing food this weekend. I learned that French fries need to be photographed almost immediately as they come out of the fryer. If not, they start to wilt and look unappetizing. I managed to get a couple of ...
Getting Ready
The project and olive egger chicks are growing fast. I am ready to get them out of the brooders and into a coop. Last week I re-homed several young cockerels and emptied one of the small coops. It was a mess of course. Chickens are messy. Period. ...
New Mama and Babies
My first time broody hatched three chicks a couple of days ago. My seriously, one disappeared and we could not find it despite searching. Today the broody brought her two remaining babies out into the run for the first time. They spent the day ...
Little green apples and other stuff
We had a glorious morning here at the Buck 'n Run. Michael mowed the grass yesterday, the sun was shining, it was 65 degrees. It was a perfect morning. I took my camera with me hoping to get some pictures of the baby chicks that hatched under my ...
Working it
Stuck between high school and college, granddaughter Emily has a lot of time on her hands. I occasionally take advantage of it and hire her to get stuff done around the house. I still had 8-10 boxes to unpack, a cluttered and dirty porch, and ...