1) Poison Ivy - Before we got goats, the barn had one side covered with the stuff. Guess who ate it all off in the course of a summer?

2) Thistle Plants - Everything but the main stalk. Makes for easy pulling.

3) Rhubarb - It had to be them. It completely disappeared.

4) Maple Leaves - They stretch way up to eat them off of the trees, as high up as they can go.

5) Willow Bark - There's an old willow tree in the barnyard that's now got to be dead because they ate all the bark off up as high as they could reach. Thought about cutting it down, but the chickens like to hang out under it.

5) Paper - Things I thought were secure and weren't - an old feed bag, pieces of a grocery bag, two different calendars I was using to track chicken goings-on. (This is where the myth that goats eat tin cans comes from - they're actually eating the paper labels).

6) Wood - There's an old wood pile in the barn yard, and they nibble on the older, splintery wood.

7) Duct Tape - But only chewed it up, just to get to the paper it was holding. I think. All I know is they they didn't feel well after this little incident.

8) Fresh Pine Needles and/or Branches - The tree my daughter and I planted when she was in grade school is their latest target.

9) A Week's Worth of Chicken Feed - Okay, a no-brainer. What was staggering was the amount. I have to admit, I took secret pleasure in the fact that they had belly aches for a couple of days after that.

10) Most of a Computer Box - I was storing it to use as a makeshift chick brooder. They stretched their necks under the manger, got their lips on it, pulled it closer... the rest is history.

11) Lemons - I must admit this was deliberate. We took half a squeezed lemon out of my fair lemonade last year and offered it to them. Lewis and Clover weren't interested, but Clark gobbled it down. He got a couple more during the course of the fair... and was the only one who didn't come back from the fair with a cold. Seriously.

It's easy to see why goats are called "desert makers."

They also like to mouth things. They found an old extension cord I thought was lost and chewed it worthless (luckily, it wasn't plugged in). They like to mouth the buttons and snaps on my winter work coat, and the work gloves I sometimes wear. They're goatskin gloves, so when they start to do it I say, "Yes, that's your cousin."

Update 4/19/05: Added Chicken Feed, Computer Box, and Lemons.