Our emus, Stuart and Louis were very calm and well mannered this morning so I took some video to show how big they are getting. Louis is just a bit shorter than me and picks at my bangs when we talk. The hunt for a female emu continues. I am trying ...
Mornings at the Buck ‘N Run Ranch
The best time on a ranch is early morning, especially in the summer before the heat of the day makes everything a chore. I try to take a still or video camera with me every morning in case something interesting happens. The emus rarely fail to ...
Not on my Bucket List!
Let me start by saying, "I don't have a Bucket List." If you don't know what a Bucket List is, let me explain. It's from a recent movie in which two dying men make a list of all the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. Then they try to ...
Emu wrangling is not for amateurs.
It started a couple of weeks ago. The emus refused to go into their shelter at night, even with the lure of food, which had always worked before. The favorite place to hide is in the thick blackberry brambles. They cut through the center of our ...
Sexing Emus (Rated “G” for General Audiences)
My emus are almost four months old now. I want to know if they are boys or girls! I desperately want a pair! There are many ways to determine the sex of an emu. We have now officially tried them all, with the exception of waiting 18-24 months to ...
They were stinking the place up!
Donald and Daisy Duck, my adorable new baby white crested ducks have been living in a brooder in my office for three days. OMG, they made such a mess and stunk the place up. I have had baby chicks in here and emus for six weeks but I never smelled ...
Beatin’ the Heat at the Buck ‘N Run Ranch
It was hot today. In fact it was the first day to top 90 degrees. Around midday, the place was deserted, not an animal in sight. Fearing a band of chicken, goat, and emu rustlers were working the area, I went in search of my animals. I found a ...
The Morning Spaz Attack!
I have a routine that I follow every morning to let all the animals out of their enclosures and make sure everyone has food and water. This includes chickens in the layer coop, juveniles in the grow-out coop, baby chicks in the brooder, Icelandics in ...
Emu Road Trip!
Good news. I spoke with a Dr. Jackie Gai who was recommended by UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She put me in touch with a Dr. Brian Speer, avian vet in Oakley, CA. He agreed to see Stuart at 2:00 p.m. We took Mary Catherine by our local ...
Mayhem at the Buck ‘N Run Ranch!
It has been quite chaotic around here lately. Let me see if I can catch us up. J.D., our little buckling Fainting goat decided he was ready to date even though Thelma and Louise are underage. To avoid a teen pregnancy, we moved J.D. into the ...
The Circus is in Town
We have introduced the donkeys to the goats and emus separately on a couple of occasions. The sessions were scary with the donkeys giving chase and near catastrophic results. For the last few weeks we have kept them in separate pastures to get to ...
Seen and Heard Around the Barn
The weather has been cruel to us. We had rain, rain, and more rain, followed by a couple of ninety degree days, then rain, rain, and more rain. Today is supposed to be the day! In the meantime the animals have made the best of it. THE GOAT ...
Emus on the run!
The baby emus are three weeks old. They spent eighteen days in my office until they wore out their welcome and moved outside into a temporary little shanty next to the goats. Don't feel too sorry for them, they have a nice warm heater suspended over ...
Emus, Buy 2 Get one Free!
Believe it or not, we returned our adorable emu baby to the breeder today. She was just out of control, sleeping till noon, watching TV all night and surfing the internet all day! She's probably max'd out our credit cards shopping for jewelry ...
Emu Tantrums
It turns out my baby emu girl is probably a boy, which is fine. Hopefully, I will get a girl next time for a pair. The emu is still being called "Baby" because Michael can't think of a name. Now he has to start over thinking about boy ...
Never seen a duck like that before…
I joined up with a hundred or so of my closest cyber friends over the holidays and we set eggs to all hatch on New Year's Eve. There were contests for the first New Year's chick, best hatch rate, etc. Sometime during the 21 days we were incubating ...