Providing Foster Care for Animals in Need
We’re so proud to say that we’ve fostered over 600 animals (so far!) on the farm. At Herd & Flock, we rescue abused, neglected, and doomed animals and provide temporary lodging for animals until a permanent home can be arranged. For example, in 2020 we fostered 3 cows, 8 goats, 26 geese, and over 300 hens. We take in or foster farm animals who have been released from factory farming and offer homes to farm animals who are not able to be homed in urban environments, like in the Bay Area.
If you are wondering if our barn is open, or if we can help you with a temporary layover, check out the most up-to-date status on our FAQ page.
Take a look at some of the great animals we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know and love:
There were 28 chickens we rescued from a local inn. They all needed to recover from a severe mites outbreak. All of them lost most or all of their leg/feet scales, and after 5 weekly treatments of ivermectin, petroleum jelly on their legs, and poultry dust on their bodies, we were able to get ahead of it all. Also each treatment meant cleaning out the coops, brushing the walls and floor with linseed oil, adding diatomaceous earth to wood shavings and surrounding areas… needless to say it was a big job.
We fostered 23 chickens that were saved from a kapparot ritual. They were so spunky and full of personality!
We fostered 4 broad breasted turkeys and they are some cute and funny friends. We call them the Jazzy Gals: Moira, Jocelyn and Ronnie plus Aurora. Moira was the most curious, flying up on the hutches to get a better view, obsessed with finger kisses (aka trying to eat your fingers) and what a voice. She had a lot to say. Jocelyn seemed pretty chill, standing back to let Moira check it out first. But, make no mistake, this blue eyed beauty was definitely on the top of this mini flock. We saw her and Moira in a little dominance dance, and Jocelyn is the queen bee. Ronnie, middle guard, goes with the flow. Always up for cooling off in the pools or napping by a frozen bottle in the height of the heat. When they arrived at Herd & Flock, we knew something was wrong with Aurora, so we whisked her off to a medical center for birds. After she passed a blockage in her crop, she was able to come home. She continued on antibiotics and is definitely the lowest energy of all four girls, so we are made sure she gets a little extra food on the side. With each day, she got stronger! They are headed off to their forever homes at Heartwood Haven and Veganville Oregon. We already miss their cool coos and chirps as well as their sassiness.
We were thrilled when 10 of our foster geese were offered forever homes! While they waited to go off on their new life adventure they enjoyed more swimming, eating, napping, playing, arguing, stretching. We always have foster animals available for adoption, see our Adoption page to see what friends are ready for their forever homes.
How can you help Herd & Flock foster more animals?
As you can imagine, fostering takes a lot of work! The three biggest ways to help us continue to foster animals in need of rescue are by donating (medical expenses and medication add up quickly), volunteering to help out on the farm, or by sharing our foster stories on Instagram and Facebook!