Birds | jmgoyder

Giggling grief

by jmgoyder

Grief is a very strange emotion because it comes and goes. One minute it is like a punch to the throat and the next minute it’s like a memory tickle. Yes, grief does giggle – well, at least mine does.

For example, I have just recovered from one of those sobbing onslaughts – you know the kind? You are cooking dinner, or on the phone to a friend, or feeding the dogs/birds/pets/whatever, and suddenly your voice stops short and you are crying and, no matter how hard you try to stop it, your crying becomes sobbing.

Okay, when this happened to me this afternoon, I went straight outside, and there were the guinnea fowl again! So my grief got the giggles!

Uncategorized Wings

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Back at the beginning

by jmgoyder

I just looked up my ‘bird records’ to discover that our bird adventure began less than a year ago, last March. That made me feel weird because it seems like the birds have been here forever! Previous to the birds, we just had the two miniature male dachschunds, Doc and Blaze. Here are my records fyi:

Tuesday 15^th March, 2011

Bought 10 guinnea fowl chicks

Doc and Blaze not happy

Monday 4^th April 2011

Bought 5 more guinnea fowl chicks

Doc and Blaze really not happy

Tuesday 12^th April 2011

Bought 2 pullet Isa Brown hens with Colleen

Doc and Blaze have to be yarded

Thursday 5^th May 2011

Bought 6 peafowl (1 mother and 5 chicks)

Doc and Blaze in shock

Tuesday 17^th May 2011

Bought 4 more peachicks

Doc and Blaze in rage

Tuesday 31^st May 2011

Bought a breeding pair of peafowl

Doc and Blaze resigned to things

Saturday 11^th June, 2011

Bought 2 male golden pheasants – 6 months old

Doc and Blaze want to eat them

Thursday 16^th June 2011

Bought 2 female pheasants – 6 months old

Doc and Blaze amazed

Saturday 18^th June 2011

Got rooster from Colleen for free ‘Gladiator’

Doc and Blaze scared of Gladiator

Wednesday 22^nd June 2011

Bought 3 bantam silkies – 6 months old

Doc and Blaze confused

Wednesday 29^th June 2011

Bought 7 Araucana-cross chicks – 5 weeks old

Doc and Blaze don’t know yet – chicks in brooder box

Friday 1^st July, 2011

Bought 2 Indian runner ducklings – 3 weeks old

Doc and Blaze don’t know yet – ducklings in brooder box

Monday 4^th July 2011

Bought 2 bantam light sussex hens – 6 months old and 1 Malay hen – 1 year old

Doc and Blaze licking lips again

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Bought 2 pekin bantam hens – 1 black 6 months old and 1 mauve a year old

Doc and Blaze have to be kept separate – dog trainer coming out tomorrow

And that’s where my records stop because, not long after the last entry, we experienced the fox massacre (we lost almost all of our chooks in one night), Husband’s health began to deteriorate dramatically, Son’s scoliosos increased dramatically, my stress levels reached for the clouds dramatically, and so on.

So I have no records of when we purchased our beautiful geese, the white peacocks and the emus (although the blog helps with the latter).

It is hard to believe that so much can change so fast.

I wish I could go back in time and change the records.

For example, maybe if I’d warned the dogs, they wouldn’t have had such a negative attitude to the birds. Blaze, Doc’s son, has adjusted to things, but not Doc (below photo deliberately blurred – ha! – due to disturbing material).

Animal Wings

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Duck dancing

by jmgoyder

Tapper, one of our two Muscovy ducks, has two perfectly good legs but, for some reason, he often prefers to tuck one leg up and stand on the other one. He then does a pirouetty move and, eventually, sticks the tucked-up leg straight out backwards, at a right-angle to his body, to perfectly to align it with his tail feathers. In the photo below you can just see his one ‘foot’ tucked up.

Tapper can do this ‘duck dance’ for ages and ages. His balance is incredible and, when he does this, he doesn’t seem like the Tapper who usually waddles around quite clumsily. Weird! Here he is with that left foot tucked right into his wings.

Whilst Tapper was doing yet another one of his dances the other afternoon, I stood opposite him and tried to stand on one foot for as long as he could. I was pretty good, but, when it came to the pirouette, I kind of fell over. Well actually I did fall over. Yeah, but at least I don’t waddle!

Duck dancing is for the birds……

Wings

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Yesterday

by jmgoyder

Yesterday, a friend said we had made a good decision in ensuring Husband’s permanency in the nursing lodge.

Yesterday, a friend said we had made a terrible mistake ‘putting’ Husband into a ‘nursing home’.

Yesterday, a friend said Son’s spinal operation was the best thing we could possibly do, and our only option.

Yesterday, a friend said spinal surgery was a bad idea, that Son might become paralysed and that, at the very least, he would lose flexibility.

Yesterday, a friend said that everything would be all right.

Yesterday, a friend said that things would be very difficult.

Yesterday, I wanted it to be Today.

So I went outside to see Pearl … because she doesn’t say anything.

Animal Uncategorized Wings

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“You care more about the birds than us!”

by jmgoyder

Guilty as charged.

When Son accused me of this a few months ago, I explained to him that (a) the birds were to cheer Husband up; (b) to keep me sane; and (c) to keep us happy….

“And to drive me crazy!” Son growled.

Point taken!

The real point is – and this has now been extensively discussed with Husband, who is totally supportive – Son is now THE priority with his scoliosis surgery happening next week. I should be able to stay in Perth for two nights with my good friend, Colleen, looking after the birds for us. And Husband is safe in the nursing lodge, so all is well.

I feel awful that Son thinks that I care more about the birds than I care about him and Husband, but I understand how he may have gotten this impression.

Son hasn’t really changed that much in his 18 years, has he? He still has a relentless determination to be a STAR!

And he is!

Uncategorized Wings

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Favouritism

by jmgoyder

I don’t agree with favouritism but nobody can deny that it does happen – with kids, with pets, with friends and family, and – for me – with the birds. So, even though I don’t like the idea of favouring one breed over another, I am unable to deny that the geese are my favourites. Of course I love the chooks, ducks, peacocks, emus, guinnea fowl, golden pheasants, our new weiro and the wild birds too, but the geese have grabbed my heart and imagination more than any of the others.

This is probably because of the phenomenon of imprinting (see a previous post & http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id6.html) which, to some extent, works both ways. You see, except for Godfrey, our geese were raised from tiny goslings, whereas most of the other birds came to us a bit older. The following photo is of Ola and Seli (Pilgrim geese) on their first day outside (we had them in a box in front of the Aga beforehand).

And here is Ola now – she’s the one at the back of the ‘lake’. Pearl, our first Sebastopol goose, is in the middle (she deserves her own post so I will save that).

And here is Seli – again, at the back.

One of my favourite friends came over the other day and, as she was leaving, she said, with unintentionally wise wit, “Julie, you are such a goose!”

Mmmmm!

Wings

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Up close and personal

by jmgoyder

Okay, now that I’ve figured out how to zoom in for a good photo, and have taken advice from fellow bloggers who are proper photographers, I believe I have a few half-decent photos of the many birds you’ve been reading about. I hope these pics are better than my usual standard!

Here is Godfrey, the gander, who guards the other geese. He and I share a love/hate relationship which works quite well – i.e. I give him bread, he nearly bites my hand off, I say ‘no Godfrey!’ and then we repeat the ritual. Don’t ask me why I persevere! Maybe it’s just that I admire his magnificent stance; after all, to him I am but a mere mortal.

And below we have Brad, the adolescent blue peacock showing his fiancee, Angie, a white peahen, that he is getting into the groove. He is pretty thrilled to now be developing those famous ‘eyes’ in his feathers!

Angelina doesn’t seem terribly impressed but she may simply be a little confused?

Another character who has featured in many of this blog’s posts is Zaruma. We raised Zaruma from a very young age and, now that he’s a big boy, he can actually get the better of Godfrey, despite having been bullied earlier. Go Zaruma!

And, to cap this little experimental photo journey off – my best photo of today is of my least favourite bird (Tina Turner, the rooster who attacks my legs all the time). He didn’t do so today because my camera was intimidating him; also he seemed to almost be posing! Now that I know he isn’t a hen, I have promised to re-name him Sam if he stops the attacks!

Are the photos okay?

Wings

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by jmgoyder

I love this blog! Have a look, everyone.

Uncategorized

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It’s not Buttons

by jmgoyder

Husband is home from the nursing lodge for the weekend because yesterday was his birthday. As he loved Buttons, I decided to buy him another weiro for his birthday present and he was delighted. I chose the only one that resembled Buttons, the difference being that this one has not been hand-raised. As it turns out, this is a significant difference!

Just in case you think the idea of replacing Buttons is a bit ‘off’, I did not make this decision lightly as my grief over losing Buttons still sits like a clenched claw in my chest. I guess I just felt that getting another weiro would be good for all of us – Husband, Son and me – and the weiro too. I hope so. Now I just have to tame him!

I don’t want to name this little bird Buttons because, despite the resemblance, he is very unButtonsish – slimmer, paler, louder (he has a beautiful soaring whistle) and, again, not hand-raised. According to all the information I’ve read, taming him will take a lot of time, patience and human proximity. I can do that.

So the next picture of It’s-not-Buttons (still can’t think of a name – any suggestions?) will be minus the cage. I can’t wait!

Wings

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Proximity cures phobia!

by jmgoyder

Yesterday, my niece, Ashtyn and her extremely bird-phobic mother, Julie, visited. Julie has suffered bird phobia ever since being given a rather wild weiro a couple of decades ago, so this visit took enormous courage! Ashtyn is a little nervous of birds too as you can see below!

But Julie was in a state of suppressed horror. As she has read my blog, she was particularly frightened of Godfrey who was just outside the frame of the picture below. Little did she realise that the evil Baby Turkey was even closer.

Eventually, she began to feel more at home with the birds. In the photo below you can see her biting her lip with determination not to scream!