Zoo farm field trip

Our homeschool group went to this zoo/farm place that is way out in the middle of nowhere.  It was just suppose to be our homeschool group but there was first grade class there at the same time although not in the same tour as us.  They were late because someone let the air out of all the school bus tires during the night and school in their town started two hours late. 

The place started 35 years ago with a just a duck pond in the back of their house.  Over the years they have just kept adding animals and now they have this little hands-on zoo.  The dad died a few years back but the wife and kids have kept it going.  They keep it very nice and well kept.  

Just our family had visited there about six years ago and liked it a lot, so when someone mentioned they would like to go I volunteered to set up a field trip.  We had a good attendance, about 40 people, which I thought was good right before a long weekend.   

Here are the highlights of the animals we like the best.

This is a little monkey.  The kids could roll cheerios down this pvc pipe and he would put his hand up to catch them as soon as he heard someone touch the pipe.  Pretty funny little guy.  He also did swinging tricks in between like if he did something cute they may send in more Cheerios.

This wasn't part of the zoo but it had made it's nest in one of their landscape areas.  It is a killdeer with four eggs under her.  She was not happy that we walked by but the area was right by the driveway in a heavy vehicle and walking area. 

This is Sally the Camel.  Her favorite food, Cheetos.  She was super friendly and enjoyed the kids feeding her grass.  Most of the animals here were very tame and you could tell they must treat them like pets.  We were able to touch or pet anything that didn't bite fingers.

The ostriches were pretty funny.  The tour lady said they have brain the size of a pea and smarts the same size.  They put their food bucket way up high on the fence in the corner and if they don't put it in exactly the same spot every day they can't figure out where it is.

This is Oscar the ram.  We took his picture because he reminded us of our goats.  He uses these big horns to push his fence out and eat the grass on the other side of the fence.   Our goats have a huge corral but they strain their necks to eat the grass on the outside of the fence.  We don't get it but it must make sense to them.  Oscar liked fingers.

This is a Trumpeter swan.  We took his picture because he was just crazy that we would be by his house.  He was the only one in is pen, which was huge he had his own very large pond, because he doesn't get along with anyone else.  They said that when wild ducks land in his pond that he runs them out.  As we were walking by him he walked along with us hissing and nipping to the end to make sure that we left.

Dancer touching the tortoise.  They have two big ones of these and they just roam around the yard with just a few big rock to keep them where they should be.  They were enjoying cabbage and watermelon. 

When we came back this little guy ran to the front of the cage again looking to see if anyone was going to give him some more cheerios.

Spark petting a penguin.  The kids got to pet one and then we saw them feeding them.  They were very curious about us.  I am not sure if we were on display for them or if they were on display for us.  Our tour guide was one of the daughers of the owners so she was very knowledgeable about their animals and had lots of good information to share.

The penguin from the front.  He had the softest feathers, for some reason I always thought they would have hard feathers for flying through the water.  This little guy was very tame and seemed to enjoy all the petting and oohh and aahhs that he got.

This is Spark with two of his good friends.  I took the picture because I thought it was sweet the three of them were hugging, they usually hug each other good bye.  Oh no, Spark tells me, we were fighting.  The girl in the photo has a lot of older siblings, many of them boys, so she is match for anyone.  I have seen her in action and wouldn't want to take her on!  I only had one older brother.

Dancer with an ostrich egg.  It was blown out and hollow and it was still heavy.  It also had a hard ceramic like shell.  Spark and Dad are looking at a huge porcupine quill.

After the tour, which took about two hours, we met at a park for some lunch and playing.  Fun day!