Category Archives: Animals

All things animals. Pets, Farm animals, Livestock.

My adventure with Box Turtles + Ebook for children

Kai: Once upon a time, I had not seen a turtle in five years.
That all changed this year, when we started seeing turtles (both dead and alive), in our urban neighborhood. We, and several neighbors now have turtles living in our yards – some say they’ve had them for years, but we had not seen one until November of last year, when I was then inspired to do more reptile research.

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A Permaculture Fish System

Kai: When I first started breeding goldfish, I knew I wanted to do it in the most permaculture fashion I possibly could. This led me to challenge myself – no filters, no chemicals, no prepackaged fish food. To overcome the commercial ways, I partition the ponds often, and use an ecosystem strategy to keep them clean. When I partition water, it is used to water the garden instead of just getting dumped. It might be odd to say, but I did treat some ill fish naturally, and as for food, I used a Japanese method used for koi – feed from the garden! Meaning fruits, veggies, eggs and garden pests! This all worked well, but there were two things that I could not wrap my head around in the beginning. The first, was when fish would leap out of the ponds and kill themselves. The other, is when I put fry in seemingly “safe” crystal clear water, which caused them to perish. These were conundrums that first year.

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First time Breeding Pigeons

Kai: Almost a year ago I acquired 4 homing pigeons from a man at the keepers of the old ways expo in Blountstown Florida. When we got them home, I found that it had been a stressful move for the younger bird, and I had to nurse him back to health because he’d lost a lot of weight. The 4 birds had to gain back their muscles after being in quarantine, and once they were finally released into the coop, I found their behavior hard to follow…for months and months, all they did was fight and claim perches.

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Baby Quail Hatch Update

Kai: The baby quail are 2 weeks old now. Out of the 8 that hatched, 7 have survived to this point and are looking good. One that still remains has a bit of a longer story though, as when he or she hatched, they were born with splay-leg. This condition can be fixed if caught immediately, and so luckily l recognized it shortly after hatch day – but at the same time, I had absolutely no experience with it.

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Eat Clean, Both You and Your Animals!

Kai: I have never been a fan of buying premade pet foods. We like to keep everyone’s diets clean in this household, yet pre-packaged organic products can be expensive. However, having a garden has made this a lot easier – as well as the “co-op” between animal and permaculture systems. Our hens eat greens and veggies from the garden, while our dog and cat benefit from their eggs! The chickens also receive feeder fish from our aquaculture, and worms from our earthworm farm. Our turtles also get fish, but the majority of their diet are the pests in the garden!

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