2008 July | Feathers Fins and Fur

Archive for July, 2008

Guinea Pig Diet

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when it comes time to feed guinea pigs? Actually, your answer probably will be pellets from a bag. So, let me ask you what you think of first when you think of guinea pigs and food.

…Still pellets probably. And while that may have everything your rodent friend needs, there is a whole other world of nourishment out there. So much food is out there that they are naturally adapted to.

Tame Silver Foxes

How many of your neighbors own a fox as a pet? How many of your neighbors knew you could keep a fox as a pet without totaling your furniture? I’ve recently discovered the Tame Silver Fox, a color morph of the Red Fox. While the new coloring is natural, the domestication is an experiment from Russia and the Soviet Union fifty years in the making. Because of this “house-breaking”, these canines have taken on more dog-like characteristics, such as a more vocal bark (not as common in the fox world), ears that go down when moods change, and even tails that...

Anchovies, Pizza Crust, and a Fresh Worm

As chickens grow, up you can expand their diet slightly. This expansion can include human table scraps, but there are certain items that you want to avoid, such as too much pasta or rice since their stomachs will expand as they eat that. At the Kuegler mini-farm, the first items of human food were fed to the chickens this week and almost everything was a huge hit! Pizza crusts were exceptionally popular, as were lavash bread and whole anchovies (TK loves anchovies). Other things were less popular, such as broccoli stems and carrots. Also this week I dug...

Walktoberfest 2008

Tucked away in Nashua, New Hampshire, lies the Humane Society for Greater Nashua. The Humane Society is a private nonprofit corporation that has dedicated everything toward the two- and four-footed community. They protect and provide abused, unwanted, abandoned, and neglected animals with a temporary place to live and be nurtured. However, the Humane Society for Greater Nashua simply cannot continue to take care of the animals; it needs people like us to help it out. The Humane Society relies solely on community-wide support, fundraising events, bequeaths, and donations. One way to get involved would be to adopt an animal. You...

Early Morning Around the Coop

Every morning as the sun is just starting to rise in the New Hampshire sky, we go outside to let the chickens out of the coop. Upon release (and they are waiting by the door for their escape), some walk down the ramp while others try their knack at flying. But they all make a beeline for the water tower. We usually have to fill the water tower and check on the feed bin inside the coop. Part of our morning chores is to make sure the "girls" have everything they need to get through the...