Dorene Olson

Bedding for baby chicks and adult birds

Bedding is an essential component to chicken husbandry and there are several viable options and reasons for choice. For baby chicks, flooring is a critical...

Training family pets the right way

For most people, professional animal training is not necessarily a top priority of their time. As long as the cat uses the litter box...

Bedding material for animals: chickens and others

Bedding material comes in many options, and there are pros and cons to each one. Depending on the animal and its life stage, bedding varies...

Dorene, on naming Border Collies

I have a "thing" about naming things, for some reason, it is really important to me. For instance, with my four Border Collies, Piper...

A Truly Inspiring Tale of Love

Hi There, Dorene here, I haven't posted in a while, hope everyone is enjoying this pretty spring. I want to share a tale of...

Parrots call “Fire!” Dorene Olson is skeptical

This is a raging story on two Amazon parrots who apparently called 911 and said: "Help! Fire!" and were subsequently rescued from a burning...

Turkey helps out buddy (another turkey) with vision problems

Hello everybody, I hope that everyone had a nice holiday weekend with friends and family. Three years ago I added two, 12-hours-old turkey poults (baby...

Please don’t abandon Easter ducklings, goslings, chicks

Hello everybody, and happy Easter. Recently I wrote about my Pekin duck, Peacy, and his adopted brother, Onyx, a Cayuga. Well, they were both...

Socialize your birds, some tales: Dorene Olson

For the past 2 years I have taken ducks, geese, chickens, parrots (of course, also, my dogs and cats) and turkeys to education events,...

TV time for chickens

I used to have nine chickens, including a rooster, and two pet turkeys when I lived in the county, but I live in the...

Paramedics go extra mile for border collie

I have a nearly 14-year-old working border collie, who is just not yet at all showing her age (thank heavens). She is a Canada...

A happy tail to warm your heart if not your fingers

Hello, 4o South News-ers! Dorene here, hope this tale will give you some warm fuzzies on this brutally cold day! I belong to a chat list...

Backyard chickens: how to help them when it’s snowy

It's hard enough to be a pampered pet pooch in rain gear and snow footies, or a house cat who disdainfully shakes its paws...

Group learns chicken processing in city backyard

This past Saturday, a blessedly beautiful and shirt-sleeved, warm, unusual February day, I had an equally unusual meeting in my new back yard. I am...

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