J and J Farms Animal Sanctuary

06/05/2026

It’s supposed to be another hot one today. This past week, we’ve added extra waterers for our birdies, brought out the big belt fans for the coops and barn and given lots of fruits and veggies as treats to aid in hydration. The horses all got a nice hose down to cool off their core temperatures and wash the salt and sweat off their bodies, too.

We keep a submersible pump in the large water trough for the horses to discourage mosquitoes and to keep the water fresher. Our drafts can drink up to 50 gallons of water, each, per day when the mercury climbs. Liberty easily sucked up close to five gallons just in this single trip to the trough.

What do you guys do to keep your animals cool during hot days? We’d love to hear your tips and tricks in the comments. 💕

06/04/2026

Sweet Pea came to us years ago after being bullied by her previous flock. She’s a tiny D’Uccle chicken with a big personality and her boyfriend, Butterscotch, just adores her. The two are inseparable.

While the rest of the flock is out free‑ranging, Sweet Pea prefers the comfort of the run, where she spends most of her days being adorably broody and supervising from her favorite perch.

Because she never ventures out, we make sure the world comes to her, including fresh treats like the dandelion greens she’s enjoying here. It’s the little things that make her happiest, and we’re more than happy to spoil her. 🥰

06/03/2026

We have a new barn kitty resident here at the Sanctuary! Meet Skinner. This sweet boy showed up at a feeder’s house south of Pittsburgh back in February. He was in horrible shape. His breath smelled awful, his teeth were rotten and he was covered head to toe in a bacterial skin infection. Fortunately, he found his way to a wonderful rescuer who was able to give him the care and treatment he needed. The vet aged Skinner at roughly ten years…a very old age for a feral, street kitty.

Due to the nature of his horrible dental disease, Skinner ended up needing a full mouth extraction. He officially has no teeth. He’s also NOT a fan of people. His rescuer reached out to us, seeking placement in a barn where he would be safe and fed a wet food diet. Skinner was in luck: our bougie barn kitties are fed wet food, daily, so he would fit right in.

He’s currently decompressing in a large dog crate in our loft as he acclimates to the sights and sounds of the Sanctuary. Barn life is a big change from the streets of Pittsburgh. We trust he’ll do just fine in a few weeks.

Please join me in welcoming Skinner to the Sanctuary family! ❤

06/03/2026

Oh my goodness, BB was gifted her very own radio and she absolutely LOVES it! We hung it up in the run this evening. As soon as the tunes started playing, BB ran right over and sang her heart out. She belted out every song that came on with incredible passion. I had no idea she had such a repertoire. I was impressed, to say the least.

Thank you, Shannon Cassedy-Gray, for making BB’s day! 🎵🎶🎵

06/02/2026

Last evening, we finally got the chance to get Clarence’s foot impressions to send out to Infinitely Able Pets Orthotics & Prosthetics to use as a template for Stu’s orthotics. Clarence is a Muscovy who joined us back in January. He was found wandering a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, in bitter cold temperatures. To make matters worse, someone had chopped off all of his wing and tail feathers, rendering him even colder and unable to express himself. Muscovies use their tail feathers to communicate. It was awful.

Thankfully, Clarence’s feathers have finally begun to grow back. He has a long road ahead of him, but he’s healing and happy. He’s just about the same size and frame as Stu, so we figured he’d be a perfect candidate to loan his tootsies to make a mold for prosthetics.

I held Clarence gently while Toni placed each foot into a box of Bio-Foam, carefully manipulating every toe to ensure we got a good impression. I’m no expert, but I think the final product looks pretty darn good! For the first time making a mold of webbed feet, I think we did rather well! Hopefully the folks at Infinitely Able Pets can work their magic to bring Stu some pain-free autonomy. We’re keeping our fingers…and toes…crossed! 🤞

06/01/2026

Ronny has three full acres of lush, all‑you‑can‑eat grass…so naturally he’s decided to ignore every blade of it and become our resident tree‑trimmer instead. When you’re a draft horse the size of a small moon, you don’t need a genie boom to reach the treetops, you are the boom. While the other horses are mowing the lawn, Ronny is out here pruning the trees like it’s his personal salad bar.

Horses: give them a pasture buffet and they’ll still go straight for the landscaping. Too funny!

05/31/2026

Congrats to Kay Baker for winning our Gardening Basket Raffle! 🌱🎉

05/31/2026

05/29/2026

Guess what? We have MORE ducklings here at the Sanctuary, though these two have a much sadder story. Brady and Dorsey were found after being dumped at Brady’s Run Park to fend for themselves. Not only do domestic ducklings have very little chance of surviving in the wild, poor Brady was discovered entangled in fishing wire. Incidents like these are heartbreaking, preventable and the exact reason sanctuaries like ours exist: to offer a safe landing to farm animals in need.

Brady is a Pekin duck and Dorsey appears to be a Rouen. Both of them are settling in beautifully now that they’re safe. They may have had a rough start, but they’re already showing us how resilient and sweet they are. Watching them decompress reminds us why this work matters and why community support makes such a difference.

As you can imagine, two growing ducklings can put away an impressive amount of peas, and we’re still very much in need. Since Amazon is currently out of stock, the best way to help right now is by grabbing a $5 ticket for our Gardening Basket Raffle, which goes off on Sunday evening. Every ticket supports their care and keeps these little survivors swimming toward brighter days. Thank you so much for your support!

Please join me in welcoming Brady and Dorsey to our Sanctuary family! ❤

Raffle tickets available here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/gardening-basket-raffle

05/28/2026

So, remember when I said a bunch of crazy stuff has been happening at the Sanctuary? Ben gave us quite the scare the other day. He had a freak accident with the fence. Let me preface this by saying BEN IS OKAY!

I was working when I got a call from volunteer Taylor, urging me to come out to the pasture to help Ben. She wouldn’t phone me in the middle of the day unless it was urgent. I ran out to find our boy tangled in high tensile wire. I instructed Taylor to keep Ben calm while I fetched wire cutters. The other three horses circled around, comforting their herd mate while we worked to free Ben.

Once we safely removed the fence from Ben’s legs, we brought him in the barn to get him cleaned up and assess the damage. Fortunately, the cuts were only superficial. We were able to sterilize his leg and apply an aerosol bandage, both to let the wound breathe and to keep the flies out of it.

After Ben was cleaned up and settled in his stall, munching on hay, we reconstructed the series of events that led to this situation. Prior to Ben’s arrival at the Sanctuary, we put several precautions in place to ensure he could see the fence lines and boundaries with his limited vision. As it turns out, this accident had nothing to do with his lack of eyesight. No, Ben had an itchy butt. He decided the fence post was a much better scratching post than any of the large, old growth trees out in the pasture. At some point, he stepped back through the fence while rocking back and forth, simultaneously breaking the fence post and ensnaring his leg in the wire. It was the perfect storm. When he went to walk away, he found himself entangled and panicked, further hobbling his limbs.

Thank goodness Taylor found Ben when she did. We’ve witnessed degloving accidents due to high tensile wire at the vet’s office. It’s unpleasant. We’re working toward ensuring this situation never presents itself again. We’ve already purchased new supplies to modify our fence lines and have begun implementing the changes.

There’s never a dull moment around here. As our equine vet says, this is a perfect example of horses being horses. They’re oversized toddlers with hooves who can find ways to injure themselves on both everything and absolutely nothing. We’re just thankful Ben is okay. ❤️‍🩹