The EmPAWyees and EmHoofyees

I wear many hats. I am a full-time wife and full-time mom to two rambunctious boys. This alone would be enough, but I am also a full-time farmHer (love the term) at Tucker Acres. I do this on top of being a part-time veterinary technician (animal nurse) and a part-time writer.

I have a very full plate. However, when I started Tucker Acres, I realized that I couldn't do it alone. I have many EmPAWyees and EmHoofyees that help to make my farm successful. Here are some of the animals that I count on on a regular basis.

Tucker Himself

I couldn't talk about Tucker Acres without talking about the dog who started it all. Tucker was a one of a kind dog, the one that doesn't get forgotten. Years after he is gone, my family still talks about him.

He was the best dog. He lived for chasing balls, and he even stole some from the neighbor one time. We still talk about that, every time that we see that neighbor. He was always in the field with my horses. In fact, that is where he is laid to rest, right in their field.

Tucker was such a huge part of my life. He was in my wedding and stood beside me while we said our vows. He became a good big brother when the boys came around. Not only that, but he was always right beside them, no matter what they were doing! He went on vacations with us to the mountains, and even went to most of our family parties.

Tucker was special and is still missed, all of these years later.

Rosie

We waited a few years after Tucker was gone to get a new puppy for our farm. We rescued Rosie at four months old from someone who wasn't prepared to deal with a working dog.

She quickly became a part of our life (and farm). She went with us to see grandma and grandpa, to the mountains, and to family parties. She learned to love riding in the car, truck, tractor, and our side-by-side.

When we bought the goats, her mind was blown. She found a purpose in life, to watch and herd all of the animals on the farm. In fact, there is a worn path with no grass from her running around the goat field on a regular basis (like all day long).

If you can't find the chickens, because they got out, all you have to do is look for Rosie. She is keeping an eye on them and watching their every move! A goat gets out, and she is all over it, though she usually herds them in the wrong direction! I would love to find a way to harness that energy and herding ability to work in my favor (instead of against it).

She is also our right hand man, no matter what we are doing. If we are working on hay, she is right by our side. If we are riding around checking out everything on the farm, she is on the seat beside us or running around after us. Working on a building? She is sitting in the shade nearby. I don't know what we would do without our sidekick.

Jumper

No farm is complete without a rotten cat. Ours happens to be named Jumper. The boys love bugs, frogs, and all things gross, so that is how he got his name.

Jumper doesn't always work hard around the farm. In fact, if you are looking for him, you just need to look in some open windows. He may be sleeping in the truck, car, or tractor. He also has a hideout (and friend) in the hay barn.

The Boer Goats

I am very proud of my herd of goats. We have been working hard to get ourselves a herd that we could be proud of. I love the dappled color, so I have been buying and trading, until I have quite a few goats with this coloring.

Our male (buck) is Tommy Boy. I love his coloring. He produces some very nice babies, so even though he can be a handful during breeding season, I am going to keep him around as long as I can.

In total, we have four dapples, two paints, and two traditional goats. This year, I was happy to have almost all dappled colored babies. Three of them went to 4-H kids, while all of the girls went to a farm where they will be bred, when they are of age.

The Chickens

There are always a lot of chickens at Tucker Acres. In fact, I started out with Silkies, which are still one of my favorite breeds. However, as I sell chickens, I mostly have chickens that are good at laying.

For the most part, I buy chickens as chicks and raise them until they are able to go outside. Most people don't want to be bothered with the heat lamp and all of the extra work. They would gladly pay extra for chicks that are ready to go outside.

There are others that I buy at the auction, feed them for a few days or weeks (depending on how they look), and then I sell them. Some of them I sell as laying pullets or hens, depending on their age.

While I buy many chicks at a day old, I also have tried my hand at incubating eggs. I am not very good at this. I have better luck when a momma hen decides to hatch her own eggs.

This year, I got a batch of Buff Orphingtons, which I am hoping to keep as mothers for next year. Since Silkies go broody (which means that they want to sit on eggs), I often keep a few around to hatch these eggs.

The Serama Chickens

This year, I discovered Serama chickens. They are the smallest chickens in the world. Their babies are so small, you can't even imagine it.

Of course, I had to have some! I am quite tickled with my little chickens. I have four roosters. Two are frizzled, which I hope will produce some frizzled babies.

At this moment, I have about eight hens. I was so excited when I got my first eggs. They were so tiny. You wouldn't even believe how small they were. Then, one went broody. Then, another. I got six little chicks out of them. We still have five left, and they are doing wonderful.

I am very excited about breeding my Seramas, and watching the babies grow. I am hoping to keep this batch of babies and start selling some next year.

The Ducks

Evan just had to have ducks, so we have a male duck and two females for him. Last year we had a baby duck, but this year hasn't been successful.

Hopefully we will have better luck next year.

The Pigeons

Cody wanted pigeons. He fell in love with them at the auction, and even though they are expensive, we decided to let him have a few.

We are up to eight pigeons at the moment. Cody has started letting them out to fly around the yard. We are thinking about taking them a mile or so down the road to see if they come back. Homing pigeons is a big deal, so that is what Cody is trying to do.

And Whatever Else Floats Our Boat!

If you think our farm isn't full enough, with Rosie, Jumper, eight goats, three ducks, eight pigeons, and too many chickens to count, the truth is that we always have something else on the farm too! We have given turkeys a whirl, but that hasn't ever worked out for us. We had miniature horses here for a while.

We are on our third batch of pigs. We always get a pair of two that we raise for meat.

I hope that you enjoyed the tour of all of the EmPAWyees and EmHoofyees that call Tucker Acres home. They certainly make our lives full and busy. We raise corn and have a hay field to help keep them fed.