Animal | jmgoyder

Gutsy9 learns how to be a peacock!

by jmgoyder

Gutsy9 is now outside for his third afternoon in one of the yards. It is foxproof and I check on him every hour or so. The cage is where he will eventually sleep overnight. In one of the photos you can see how his right leg is deformed. It probably always was but he was so fluffy to begin with I didn’t notice and was mostly concerned about his injured toe (which, ironically, is now his strongest toe).

His transition to the outside for so many hours per day is akin to a child in his/her first week of preschool! In other words, I am suffering!

Animal Family Friendship Wings

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Are you sure it’s safe out here?

by jmgoyder

Animal Family Friendship LOVE STORY Wings

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Graduation

by jmgoyder

Yesterday evening I took Gutsy9 outside and picked up the brick I had to use once before to put an injured turkey chick out of its misery.

I had weighed the situation up in my mind (his legs and feet would only get worse, he would be vulnerable to predators and the pecking order), and I had steeled my heart to do the deed.

I put him gently on the ground and raised the brick high so that it would be quick, but then he looked up at me and winked!

I couldn’t do it.

It was Rachel’s suggestion (see comments in last post) that gave me the idea of putting him outside in an upside down cage (a cage with a roof but no floor). That way he can scratch in the grass/dirt with his faulty feet but be protected from attack by the various other birds and animals.

And he will now eat the calcium mixture if I give it to him from my finger. He will still come inside for the night.

Ming and I have decided to give this new idea a week and see how Gutsy9’s legs go. If they improve, we have hope!

In the meantime I guess little Gutsy9, at two months of age, has graduated from my lap to a more normal peacock existence.

Animal Family Friendship Wings

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Difficult decision

by jmgoyder

Before I even took Gutsy9 to the vet today, I did a bit of research and discovered that his feet are slightly splayed, especially one, mostly due to being brought up inside rather than outside. The injury to his toe is insignificant in comparison to the structural damage caused by him mostly walking on a floor instead of grass and dirt.

The vet gave me some calcium mix for Gutsy9 (which of course he won’t eat!) but she and her consultant seemed to think his legs might never be normal. The photo I posted of Gutsy9 on the table was taken a few weeks ago. Since then, all of his toes have gradually become crooked and one leg goes backwards instead of forwards. It is possible, that he was born with a defect but I don’t know.

What I do know, however, is that he is unlikely to ever be able to survive outside. I took him out for 3 hours this afternoon and, if I hadn’t been watching, he would have been pecked to death by the adult peas and the gang, he would have drowned in the pond, or he would have been taken by a crow.

He is sitting on my lap now, nearly asleep, but cheeping more than usual. His legs don’t seem strong enough to hold his growing body and I am worried that he might be in pain.

Ming and I will decide tomorrow. I think we will have to put Gutsy9 down.

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Peachick physiotherapy

by jmgoyder

Gutsy9 adores scrambling around in the dirt – best thing he can do for his feet. Yeeha!

Animal Friendship Wings

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Peachick problems

by jmgoyder

I am a bit worried about Gutsy9’s feet. I accidentally injured one of his toes when I first rescued him (i.e. he ran at my desk chair as I was rolling it back, so one of the little wheels mashed one of his toes. Okay, so that is all healed now but, because he is inside the back veranda for most of the time (a back veranda that has now become peachick poop paradise), he is not getting the normal dirt/grass traction for his feet to develop. I take him outside every afternoon so that he can interact with the others but they still peck at him and he runs to me.

Once he is big enough to fly up into the trees at night, I think the other peas will accept him. I hope so.

In the meantime, I will take him to the vet to get his feet checked. I will do this tomorrow.

Animal Family Friendship Wings

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Ming the Merciless!

by jmgoyder

When Ming finished school just over a year ago, his cohort was issued with school windcheaters which each kid was allowed to have labelled with their name or a nickname. Ming chose “Ming the Merciless.”

I was reminded of this when we drove into town yesterday morning for him to have his driving test. All the way in (20 minutes), he yelled different versions of a victory cry at the top of his lungs – for example:

ROOOAAARRRRGH – I AM GOING TO WIN THIS TIME!
ROOOAAARRRRGH – I AM MING THE MERCILESS!
ROOOAAARRRRGH – THIS IS MY DAY!
ROOOAAARRRRGH – DEATH TO THIS TEST!
ETC.

Eventually, I managed to quieten him a little by saying, “Now I want you to keep roaring, and I am sure you will pass this time, but just in case you don’t, it’s okay.”

He resumed his roar of absolute confidence even more loudly!

When we arrived, we waited outside, with another kid and his driving instructor, for the driving assessors to come out of the licencing centre. Ming had ceased roaring, but even his ordinary voice is LOUD, so he rather overwhelmed the other kid (who was very shy) with:

IS THIS YOUR FIRST TEST? DON’T WORRY, MATE, YOU’LL BE RIGHT! THIS IS MY FOURTH! WE ARE GOING TO NAIL IT! YES, YES, YES!

In the meantime I had a much quieter conversation with shy kid’s driving instructor.

“He’s just excited,” I said.

Öh,”he said.

Then (at exactly 7.50am) the driving assessors whooshed out of the building and called out the names of the victims ha! The shy kid simply nodded when his name was called but Ming yelled, “MING YES, THAT’S ME!”

A few minutes later, it was just the shy kid’s driving instructor and me sitting on a bench outside the centre, making pleasant smalltalk. I was trying very hard not to bite my fingernails!

About 25 minutes later, both assessors and boys arrived back. Unfortunately, the shy kid had failed outright so, as I watched his driving instructor and his mother commiserate with him, I also watched Ming’s body language as he sat inside the car listening to his assessor. I was still sitting on the bench at a distance from the car so I couldn’t hear what was being said but, at one point Ming put his head in his hands, then he threw his arms up in the air, then repeated both gestures before getting out of the car. I didn’t know if this meant he’d passed or failed.

As his assessor slipped back into the licencing centre, Ming approached the shy kid, and the shy kid’s mother and driving instructor with a loud ROAR, punching the air. They were standing just outside the centre whereas I was at a slight distance still glued to my bench. I yelled out, “Ming, yes or no?” as I ran towards him, but he didn’t hear me above his huge voice.

But, just as I reached him, he threw his arms around the shy kid’s driving instructor (someone we have never met before, by the way), and I knew he’d passed the test! He then shook the shy kid’s hand nearly off, saw me (finally!) and kissed me soundly on both cheeks and we entered the licencing centre, with Ming yelling:

WHO CAN I KISS OR HUG?
CHAMPAGNE AND CAVIAR!
JOY, BLISS, FREEDOM, I LOVE THE WORLD!

Ming, the Merciless!

Animal Family Friendship

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Enough is enough

by jmgoyder

I never intended for this blog to become so personal and I certainly didn’t intend for it to become so sad. It was a blog about our adventures with birds – a way of cheering the three of us (Anthony, Ming and me) UP!

How was I supposed to know that Anthony’s Parkinson’s would escalate, then collide with Ming’s spinal surgery? How was I supposed to know that we would have to find a nursing home, that I would have to resign from my job, that I would have to figure out Ming’s post-op. requirements, that we would lose many of our birds to foxes?

How was I supposed to know what last year would entail – Ming’s anger, Anthony’s sorrow, my despair? Obviously I don’t have very good foresight.

I do, however, have pretty good hindsight and tonight I have realized that enough is enough, that I am not going to allow myself to die because Ants is dying, that I am not going to allow myself get angry because Ming is angry, that I am not going to allow myself to sink into this self-pitying quicksand of despair.

Apologies for recent posts.

Enough is enough!

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