New Chickies from Altoona!

It is with much regret that I must announce some rather recent carnage on the Britton farm. Saturday evening, after a day of celebrating Kyla's 2nd birthday with the fam, we returned home to four frightened little chickies. The other two, sadly, were obviously Bear's entertainment for the evening. I feel terrible even having to say this as it somehow seems to reflect a measure if irresponsibility in both my husband and myself. Strangely enough though, Bear's assault was not the result of a couple stray chickens wandering the yard, nor was it the result of the hen house door being left open. No, Bear's brutal attack was the result of his physically tearing through the chicken wire. . . with his bare teeth and paws. . . Needless to say, Bear's temporary lapse of sanity has left him totally lacking for any attention from me. . . After a day in his crate, and another of my ignoring him altogether, we've made peace (sort of . . .aside from when he goes anywhere near the chicken coop. . .). The chicken coop is now surrounded by an electric wire that will send a little *reminder* current through Bear anytime he should attempt to play with my chickens again.

Despite our sorrow over the brutal dealths of Henrietta and Sissy, we realized the time to get any more chickens for our flock was now. Part of the reason for our haste in acquiring more chickens was the fact that they don't mix well with other chickens of different ages. Once they're about three months old, they're pretty set in their ways and in their friendships (think: *us four and no more!*). Left with only four, and having previously discussed getting a couple more, we decided to get four more for a grand total of eight chickies.

Thus began my journey towards finding four more six week old hens. I called various listings on the Ocala 4 Sale website, but was unable to find any chickens meeting our specifications. Finally I noticed a more prominent add stating: many young breeds of young pullets for sale (somehow, I've trained my eyes to overlook the obvious ads in favor of straining to find the more miniscule ones; thus my actually noticing the big ad was pretty commendable for me.). I called the number listed, and sure enough, they had six week old girl chickens for sale - all different varieties.

Immediately after speaking with Jay on the phone at Cunard's Corner Poultry Farm , I loaded Kyla and a large plastic bin (to bring the new chickies home in) into the van for a trip to Altoona to see what we could find at this place. Let me just tell you, these folks had it all! When we arrived, we were greeted by a humungo Turkey who followed us around sharing his company with us as we checked out different chickens of varying sizes, ages, and breeds. There were also a couple of peacocks, scads of ducks, bunches of cute and fancy chickens, and a couple of very talkative and proud roosters. Jay and his wife Danielle (hey!) were very knowledgeable about their chickens, and you could tell they took great delight in raising them, learning about them, and loving them. We ended up selecting a couple of gorgeous little white cochins, one brown cochin, and one little leghorn.

With a couple of tips on integrating them into the flock we already had, the transition went beautifully. There is of course a pecking order (literally) wherein the chickens determine who is the *alpah chicken* and so on, but there've been no big spars or disturbances. Our original girls are doing quite well with their new friends, and the new little girls seem to be quite happy in their new home.

A HUGE thanks to Cunard's Corner Poultry Farm in Altoona for making it possible to add a few more chickens to our flock, and for so kindly sharing with us newbies the knowledge you've gained over the years in the poultry business.

Uncle Donald's Farm Wins Ocala's Best in Show in my Book!

This week is little Jimmy's spring break, and given that we're going on 6 days of no school and not a whole lot of getting out (aside from a trip to the local Wa-Ma. . . .) we decided to go on an outing today. Our destination: Uncle Donald's Farm in Lady Lake (right amongst the Villages). While I'd heard about this little working farm from friends, I never could've imagined just how much fun it would be or I would've started going a LONG time ago!

While Uncle Donald's Farm is only about 2 miles off of SR441 it feels like you're right in the middle of the country. There is ample room for all the livestock to graze and play, and there is ample livestock for the farm's visitors to play with too!

We first enjoyed a hay ride wherein we were able to feed some hungry cows and a feisty llama or two (see picture below of llama chasing the hay wagon hoping to get some more eats!). After that, we fed some sheep and visited with all the animals in the barn (which included: newborn lambs, chicks, baby alligators (!), snakes of all sorts, Shetland ponies, donkeys and a ginormous pig named Wilbur. Next, we enjoyed an actual guided tour of some of the animals wherein various animals were taken out of their pens to be petted and fed.

After all our discoveries, we were hungry for lunch. There were plenty of picnic tables in the shade available for the farm's constituents to enjoy some fine dining. (Also, for those who are rather germaphobic like myself, it's worth noting that the farm had a humungo wash station complete with running water and antibacterial hand soap; after all the animals had licked food out of our hands, we figure it was best to scrub down before feeding ourselves.) While we ate, we enjoyed the pleasant company of chickens, a big white dog, several cuddleh kittehs, and a couple of proud peacocks strutting their stuff amongst us - the best lunch entertainment possible!

Next, it was time for pony rides. The kids LOVED this! Little Jimmy had the air of a real cowboy, and Kyla was simply awe-struck by the whole event (before we left the farm we visited their tiny shop where the kids each got a real cowboy hat for about $3.50 to remember their riding experience by).

Finally, we checked out their section of wild animals. There were various sorts of owls and vultures, otters (which unfortunately for us, were hiding in their little cave home so we couldn't see them play), a panther (fabulous to see one of those actual alive here in Ocala!), a fox, coyotes, an emu, and some funny little animals that I've never seen before that look like a cross between a bunny and a kangaroo.

For a total of around $25 (kids under 3 are FREE), I'd say we couldn't have possibly found a more fun adventure for the day! Uncle Donald's Farm easily takes my vote for the Best in Show of the Ocala area. If you're ever looking for a little outing with your kids for the day, this is most definitely the way to go!