Puppies and chicks!

Just when I thought brooding was over....we went and bought some more baby chicks! We were at the feed store doing our normal bi-weekly purchases when I noticed they had chicks! They had 2 kinds we didn't have...Rhode Island Reds and Americaunas! (Turns out the "Araucaunas" we thought we had are really Americaunas...to find a true Araucauna is very hard--almost all are hybrids and should be labeled Americaunas). So we bought 4--2 of each--it was like the little girl inside me that used to have a dozen different collections of things growing up (rocks, stamps, ceramic dolls, coins, barbies, etc) was saying--"collect all 4--you don't have these ones!" So then I called our other feed store and sure enough THEY had 2 others we didn't have! So I made a special trip over there to get me 2 frizzles (they are just like they name sounds--their feathers grow straight out all frizzled!), and 2 light brahmas, oh and a barred plymouth rock--great layers and pretty to look at. So here we are with 9 little chicks! The kids love it. And I will be glad to have more eggs too. There are always people to give them to who are so thankful for them and even our neighbor who we hadn't met yet, stopped by after seeing our chickens foraging out front, wondering if she could buy some!
Now for the puppies...our dog situation is this--we have Sarah who is the most loyal and faithful and sweetest dog ever--she can leave the property, and sometimes she'll go just outside the fence, but she'll come right back. And when we leave, she stays right at the house, keeping watch. We live on 5 acres--fencing is VERY expensive--so all we have is what came with the house, some 5 foot field fencing (big squares) that any animal could get through. We've seriously considered fencing just a small backyard with chainlink but even still we don't have the money for that--chain link is very expensive too. But we've trained our dog not to be a nuisance to others. Only problem is--that doesn't keep the neighbors dogs out.
On July 16th I heard an unexpected noise outside..I peered out the back door only to see my dog....and well...our neighbor, George's dog! His dog is HUGE! A mastiff I'm pretty sure, George gets purebred mastiffs and raises them from puppies, keeping them with his goats so that they will protect them. Needless to say I was surprised and disgusted and yelled, "Get out of here!"
Well sure enough...a few weeks later Sarah started to look very pregnant! To tell you the truth we actually got pretty excited. Most people hate the idea of breeding puppies and think it is so irresponsible to not spay or neuter, but Sarah has such a terrific temperament (and a great mix of genes--she's 50/50 lab and Australian shepherd--that ='s a sweet herd/watch dog!) So I've wanted to breed her with a guard type dog and I guess the Lord knew exactly the dog we needed because he sent a purebred! So we've been pretty excited.
60 days later....she had her puppies! I've been concerned because I figured she'd have them under the house, but I was worried the chickens would peck at them or snakes might get them...I had no idea that Sarah had it all figured out! The morning we heard little squeaky noises I went to look under the house and there was nothing! No sign of Sarah or her puppies! Where were there???!!! I could hear them! Then all of a sudden, out comes Sarah from inside the insulation! She had found a hole in this tarp stuff that covers the bottom of the house and made a little "nest" in there with the insulation! So smart! That way the chickens and snakes (if there were any) couldn't bother her!
However, no one schooled Sarah in the dangers of insulation and it really isn't the healthiest place for brand new little puppies, so once DH came home I had him crawl under there (not me--I was way to claustrophobic) and grab the little guys! He handed them out one by one and it was so exciting to see all the different colors! We have 3 black ones (like Sarah!), 2 brown ones (like daddy!--one especially looks very "mastiff-y")--and get this---one black and white one! How surprised I was when DH pulled this one out! One of the twins promptly named him "Pongo!"
We were all baffled until I thought about it and realized--oh yeah--australian shepherds are usually black and white with blue eyes--I think Sarah must have carried a recessive gene from her mom! and here's the real kicker--they are ALL boys! I was blown away! I guess the Lord knew we needed some hard core testerone guard dogs! Not a one was female! I've never heard of such a thing!
Here are the newborn pics--this was 5 weeks ago so now they are running around and have their eyes and ears open and are starting to eat food.

"Brownie" just born

you can see Pongo! And Benny is the one closest to the top, he looks just like a Mastiff.
The kids love them. This is a picture of my oldest with "Brownie." She loves to treat them like they are her babies! This one is her favorite. This picture was taken when they were about 3.5 weeks old--after I kicked them outside--I had them inside with mama for about 2 weeks before I couldn't stand the hair and having to let Sarah out (all the time!) and the puppy poop and pee....I have a strict no animals in the house policy! My house gets dirty enough all on its own thank you very much! So they are living in a 10x10 kennel, with a dog igloo. They are very safe in there with a protective mama standing close watch too. I'll post some recent pics of them tomorrow (or soon) and of the chicks too--they are huge now!As for the puppies--they are right about at that time when it is time to start think of giving them away.... :( I think we might keep them all.....I've kind of been the hard nose out of us 3 adults (oh yeah, my s-i-l, the mother of the twins, moved in with us) and I've said we're only keeping 2, but we've been discussing the pros and cons and we may end up keeping them all....details on that discussion later! But needless to say--with all these male dogs around the house we will be spaying and neutering for sure!