Erin’s Barn Brief

Spring has finally sprung!!!!!! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and it is now…. mud season!!!! Movings and Shakings We’ve been playing musical birds over the last week or so here at the sanctuary. Lots of the ducks and chickens have moved houses to make the best use of space. Rene the chicken and his gal pal have become roommates with bunnies Harvey and Lily and seem to be getting along quite well. Turkeys Tomas and Henrietta are in the neighboring house beside the pond and loving it! In the duck house you will find Bailey and Dexter sharing the fenceline and pond quite peacefully with Maury, Mugsy, and goose Ming. Duck Pip is loving life with Petita and his new friend Lapis. Lapis arrived at CAS last week after being rescued from a live animal market in NY city. Pip is definitely the big man on campus, strutting his stuff for the ladies and being super protective of his new girl. Rich has been busily working on dividing up a vacant house for some of our rooster friends. Since we have so many roosters who seem to be not fancy one another, this will be a wonderful house with separate yards when finished. I can hear the happy crows already! Recently rescued ducks Sabine and Gisele took their first steps on grass this week! They are in 7th heaven spending their days out in the old garden with ducks Bruce, Leann, Dixie, and Valentina. It was truly wonderful to see these girls happily splashing in the puddles and poking their beaks in the mud. Everyone seems to be getting along well, but Bruce is still the boss of course. Friday will be a big day for the sheep at the sanctuary. The sheep herd, along with Hannah, Shirley, and Liz will be getting their summer crew cuts. Our sheep shearer will be coming to coif their new dos. It will be fun to see if we can all recognize them without the wool in their eyes. Though the sheep don’t especially enjoy the shearing, they will love feeling cooler as the temperatures begin to climb. Comings With open hearts, we welcomed a mule named Diane, our 9th blind equine, and thank Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary for the opportunity to know and love this gentle spirit. Diane has lost nearly all of her sight and could no longer safely free-range at WFAS, so she came to join our laid-back herd of blind horses Mirage and Buddy, and Beyond who has been looking for a gal pal since his friend Crystal passed away. If you knew and loved old Diane, we hope you’ll visit her at CAS! That’s the news from CAS! Enjoy the warm air and sunshine everybody!