jmgoyder

wings and things

Dec 12

Darwinian devastation

by jmgoyder

Yes – survival of the fittest, the pecking order, natural selection – all of that.

In the bird/animal kingdom this is quite straightforward and even makes its own sense, but in the human kingdom it’s not quite so easy.

Husband, Son and I had an interesting conversation the other night about whether our birds and other animals had feelings, memories, consciences and, despite a vigorous to-and-fro debate, we didn’t come to any conclusions.

This frustrated Son who likes to have answers; it amused Husband who thinks Son and I are a bit odd; but, for me, this inconclusiveness is a gift of mystery and, once I got used to it (years ago), I became enthralled with all of those unanswerable questions about suffering, about unfairness, about why and why and why….

Neverthless I keep wanting to intervene in that life and death cycle; I keep wanting to insinuate myself into that in-betweenness, to save us in the same way I might have saved our first Zaruma.

Strange post I guess – sorry; I am between a 17 year old who wants to embrace life and a 75 year old who is faltering. To be inside this situation is a bit unbearable, but luckily I can do that ‘stand back’ thing, so I know it is all going to be all right.

Animal

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Dec 12

‘You’ve got to pick a pocket or two….’

by jmgoyder

The quote, in case you don’t remember or realise, is from Oliver – oh how I loved that movie!

Ever since we started accumulating a few (just a few!) birds I have gotten into the habit of always having bits of bread and lettuce in my back pockets and it didn’t take long for the gang to realise this. As a result, even after I have given them their morning treats, they pick and peck at my pockets relentlessy, so much so that most of my clothes are now full of holes.

This picture of Ola (Pilgrim goose on the left) and Zaruma (Muscovy duck) is the best I can do to show you what I’m talking about (as it’s difficult to take a picture of your own back pockets!) Ola is pecking at my trousers and Zaruma is heading towards my back pockets where Ola soon joins him.

Wings

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Dec 9

When are we going to get a proper pond?

by jmgoyder

In the picture on the left, you see Pearl (Sebastopol) and Seli (Pilgrim) having a ‘swim’. In the picture on the right, Diamond has hopped in and there is now a queue – oh, that’s Woodroffe in the forefront by the way.

As you can see, the babies are all grown up now and the shell pools are a little inadequate! I didn’t want to get a proper pond too soon because I was told by one of the breeders that ducklings and goslings can easily drown, and obviously baby chickens and turkeys are even more at risk.

But finally, now that they’re so BIG, we’ve put the first pond in (I can see we are going to need a few of these!) and they are delighted, I think, although a little hesitant as you can see!

The funny thing is that when I lock them in the yards in the early evening (to keep them safe from the foxes), they still love to squish up together in the shell pools. So I still empty and refill these for them constantly, which sometimes seems a little futile as these tiny pools immediately becomes filthy again. But they don’t seem to mind; in fact they seem to find muddy water much more interesting than clean water – more bugs I guess.

The picture below is to remind you of what they used to look like, not that long ago! If I had known they were going to grow up so fast, I would have savoured these childhood moments more. That reminds me, Son graduated from high school this week. I wonder if he is going to require a bigger pond too – mmm?

Wings

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Nov 26

Father goose

by jmgoyder

Godfrey: Now, listen up, you four. We are geese! I insist that you to stop fraternizing with the ducks. They have absolutely no manners, no morals and they are filthy. Pearl, wake up – you are to stop associating with Zaruma. You’re not children anymore. You are a Sebastopol goose and Zaruma is a muscovy duck. Need I say more?

Seli: I am getting really sick of these morning lectures.

Ola: Yeah, that Godfather guy is a real piece of work.

Seli: Where is he now?

Ola: I think he’s teaching Pearl some sort of etiquette thing.

Seli: What’s ‘etiquette’?

Ola: Pearl reckons it’s something to do with standing up straight and stretching your neck up high.

Seli: What for?

Ola: Dunno – hey, there’s Zaruma. Let’s make a run for it!

Seli: Wait for me!

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Wings

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Nov 15

Casual about casualties

by jmgoyder

I hope the title of this post doesn’t upset anyone but the only way I have been able to cope with the inevitable bird casualties (ask any bird or poultry breeder about that!) is to become casual, philosophical and get straight back to Quokka online to find a replacement. Yes, I realise this sounds callous, but it has become a survival mechanism that matches the survival-of-the-fittest reality of having birds as pets.

The picture below is of our first Zaruma (a Muscovy duckling) and our first Bubble (a turkey chick), both of whom died within days of each other in ways that could have been prevented if I had known better. I’ll save that advice for another post because this one is about the necessity of wiping your tears, learning from your mistakes and simply getting another one – or two. For example, we replaced Zaruma with another Zaruma and we replaced Bubble with four Bubbles all of whom are thriving … so far….

Wings

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Nov 13

Copulating confusion

by jmgoyder

First it was the dogs, Doc and Blaze, a father-and-son-miniature-dachschund-duo. After we lost Inky (Doc’s wife and Blaze’s mum), Doc kept trying to, you know, ‘do it’ to Blaze. It became such a problem that we had to take Doc to the vet for a hormone implant, after which he left his son alone thank goodness!

Then it was the pigs (half sisters don’t forget!) Vegemite started trying to ‘do it’ to Mathilda. I found this much more disturbing because Vegemite had a rather aggressive sexual drive so when I tried to stop her she would raise her hackles and bare her substantial teeth. It’s not that Mathilda minded particularly; she didn’t even seem to notice what was happening at the back of her, as long as there was wheat in front of her. Anyway, this is another reason both pigs are happier now they are with boars.

It wasn’t until the Indian runner drake did the same kind of thing with his brother (despite the fact that there were two girl ducks available), and the peacocks – the males – started flirting with each other, that I began to realise that the sexual antics of fauna might be a little different to those of humans. I realise this is debatable but my point is that I no longer fret when I see what I now call ‘an incident’.

Oh now naive I used to be! The first time I saw our rooster, Courvoisier, copulate with one of our first hens, I didn’t realise what he was doing. I thought he was attacking her so I screamed out “stop it, stop it, Courvoisier!” But it was all very fast and the hen, Sussex (her breed name), just shook herself and walked off as if nothing had happened, although she did have a rather smug look on her face and that’s when I sort of understood.

And now I totally understand!

Animal

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Nov 11

Poo

by jmgoyder

My son has always had an extreme aversion to the word ‘poo’ – not to the actual substance, or even to the act of ‘pooing’ (in fact he used to brag about what he called his ‘whoppers’ (sorry, hamburger-lovers!) when he was little and sometimes compared them to works of art, much to the horror of his friends. So ‘poo’ is not in his vocabulary; he much prefers more abrasive words like ‘sh**’ so I have to be careful to use the correct word when I ask him to clean up the duck droppings from outside the back door which Tapper (above) and his mates seem to think is their toilet area.

I had heard that ducks did it more than other poultry but I wasn’t prepared for the amounts. At first I thought it was fantastic that the ducks came to the back door quacking for me to come out and give them lettuce, but it was a bit alarming to find that they were giving me much, much more in return. And they do it rather noisily too – I call it squelchily. Sometimes the squelch noise is louder than the quack noise. It’s a little off-putting for visitors to have to tread carefully through what has become a maze of duckpoo.

I did consider nappies but that’s another story.

The Indian runner duck below is about to ‘do it’ – to poo (sorry, Son!)

Wings

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