Foxes have been a huge problem in our area. It's a combination of factors I suppose - our area is 'fox friendly' in that there are a number of small properties, mostly lifestylers who don't go out of their way to make an area unappealing to a fox. There is plentiful wild game, water sources, pockets of bush for dens, virtually no one trying to do them in as is more common on big farming properties and a number of people who still leave dog and cat food out or toss food into open compost piles. The only real danger they face here is cars and they learn to avoid those easily enough. In short, if you're a fox, this is eden.
If you're a chicken, a duck or a goose or a person who loves them however this is not such a good area. We've battled the foxes since we moved in, putting up pens and aviaries, more fox proofing, better fox proofing, different fox proofing etc. We've buried rubble and wire everywhere around perimeters. We're reinforced pens, we've used sturdy material, put aviaries in pens to lock the birds in at night, never let the birds out unless it's bright daylight and put them away well before dusk even hints at arriving. We've limited the areas the birds can free range in to right around the house and garden. We've banned the waterfowl from going anywhere near the dam or even into the paddocks or small-yard. We've even got a Maremma for their protection although that turned out to be a remarkable failure.
We've had them break through wire fencing, dig under buried bricks, climb over two meter tall fencing, chew 2x4 wood pallets set underneath an aviary to grab the birds out. We've had them bait the birds to pecking at them and grab any bit protruding from the fence before trying to tug the birds through the wire. It didn't work - a rooster won't fit through a 3" square but it did kill him. We've had foxes break into an aviary on the porch by pulling the door until screws on the bolt-latch snapped at the nut. We've had them pull and pry away colourbond from the steel frames of the shed. We've had them take them during the day while the dogs were wandering loose around the place. I lost my first goose 10 minutes after it arrived and got onto the dam when I went to the sheep shed. We've had them take a mature Embden gander while we were a few hundred meters away working on the chook pens. We've lost several adult geese who were spooked by a neighbors 4 Wheeler. I've opened the door to find foxes on my doormat several times, utterly unafraid of my presence. Sometimes I have seen them working singly, sometimes in pairs or trios. Regardless the results are devastating.
Each time up till now we've simply tried to build better, safer, stronger, bigger, more reinforced homes for our birds. We've spent thousands doing so. The results always the same, eventually the foxes work out how to defeat it. We've tried dealing with the foxes 'the nasty way'. We've got a Maremma, Shadow, a breed of dogs who adopt the birds as their 'pack' and protect them. We'd been careful to quiz the owner that he was old enough to start working and had been bonded to animals before. We didn't want a puppy but adopted an older rescue because we wanted one who would be old enough to protect them straight away. He's a lovely boy but I think the guy telling us he was raised with ducks and lambs was nuts because there's no way they were around for long if so. We were persisting with him though, I'd decided to reduce how many birds I had until he was trustworthy with being loose with them full time, adapt how we penned them near him etc. It was not ideal but if it meant investing a bit of time until he matured we were willing to do so.
Then on the 23 I decided to let them out in the garden with us while we were moving mulch. Bright daylight, Nic, myself, La running around like a loonie, Lily babbling, Hope and Si with us. The only ones left were one Silkie, one Wyandotte hen, two Aylesbury girls and my black Muz girl. The rest just disappeared with nothing but a few tufts of the roosters feathers left. Most of my chookies are pets with names, many were born here and will (would...) hop up for cuddles and eat from your hands, sit on your lap, get kisses from La, ride in the pram calmly along with the kids etc. La adores them. Lily adores them. One of my favorite stories is how our geese stood outside the window where I was birthing Lily and honked encouragement to me. The next day we were out in the sunshine and she got to meet them and help feed them. It's just too much to keep loosing our lovelies. I've kept at it this long because I couldn't imagine not having our lovelies greet me and beg at the door for treats and helping me garden. I still can't and keep thinking, maybe I could just keep Lilah, the silkie... and maybe just the rmaining dottie girl... how can I let go of my lovely 'dotties? But at this point I'm not willing to risk anyone anymore. It's not fair to them.
Showing posts with label Chooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chooks. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Birthday chickie-babies...
as Laurent likes to call them! Our first batch of chicks run through the hexabator incubator have arrived. They were quite obliging and hatched the evening before and day of his birthday party which he was quite excited about as well!
Of the 12 Australorp eggs that were set and one Wyandotte egg 3 Australorp eggs candled clear at 8 days. The shells all showed a heavy amount of light spots, which is the likely reason and the hens may need some more calcium grit or have been laying heavily? (These were purchased eggs so I've no way of knowing.) When checked these eggs showed no development whatsoever so the embryos never started maturing or they were infertile to begin with.
Of the remaining eggs, at 17 days one of the Australorp eggs cracked while I was rotating them courtesy of tornado child hugging my legs at an inopportune time making me drop it! Usually you'd discard a cracked egg as a matter of course as it's a virtual death certificate and will go rotten in very short order. Exploding rotten eggs in an incubator are a bad thing! However every time I checked this egg, the chick was still bopping about in there so I kept leaving it 'one more day'. When it hit 21 days, we were rewarded with a bunch of peeping and looked in to discover one had hatched and one was on it's way...
All 9 Australorps and 1 Wyandotte from that setting hatched successfully... including the cracked egg! One of them was even kind enough to hatch in my hand during La's party.
Here's La with his "chickie-babies"...
Most of these little guys are for sale, so if anyone near me is looking for some Australorps, chicks are $5 ea unsexed atm.
Of the 12 Australorp eggs that were set and one Wyandotte egg 3 Australorp eggs candled clear at 8 days. The shells all showed a heavy amount of light spots, which is the likely reason and the hens may need some more calcium grit or have been laying heavily? (These were purchased eggs so I've no way of knowing.) When checked these eggs showed no development whatsoever so the embryos never started maturing or they were infertile to begin with.
Of the remaining eggs, at 17 days one of the Australorp eggs cracked while I was rotating them courtesy of tornado child hugging my legs at an inopportune time making me drop it! Usually you'd discard a cracked egg as a matter of course as it's a virtual death certificate and will go rotten in very short order. Exploding rotten eggs in an incubator are a bad thing! However every time I checked this egg, the chick was still bopping about in there so I kept leaving it 'one more day'. When it hit 21 days, we were rewarded with a bunch of peeping and looked in to discover one had hatched and one was on it's way...
All 9 Australorps and 1 Wyandotte from that setting hatched successfully... including the cracked egg! One of them was even kind enough to hatch in my hand during La's party.
Here's La with his "chickie-babies"...
Most of these little guys are for sale, so if anyone near me is looking for some Australorps, chicks are $5 ea unsexed atm.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
berk-begurk!
When we first moved in, it didn't take very long at all before we'd added a 'few chooks, just for eggs' to our family. It didn't take long to discover what amazing and social creatures they are, each with their unique personality and my 'few chooks' quickly discovered the importance of heritage breeds in poultry, many of which are now endangered and many genetically valuable lines have died out as most people get their eggs from the grocery or else keep commercial hybrid layers like the IsaBrowns. It was love at first sight when I saw standard partridge coloured Wyandottes. It took me some months and several hours drive to track them down but they're strikingly beautiful, friendly, docile and good layers and mothers. It wasn't long after that we ventured into ducks with the beautiful Aylesbury and Brown Chinese and Embden geese.
Many people don't consider the benefits of keeping a few chickens in their backyard - something that is legal even in many suburban areas. Chickens actually make excellent pets as well as being useful - they produce lots of fresh, tasty and healthy free range eggs. They also clean up virtually any kitchen scraps minimizing waste, scratch in the backyard and provide 'fertilizer' and compost (used bedding) as well. The eggshells can be dried and crushed and put back into the garden or given to the birds for calcium. Having your own layers will help reduce your carbon footprint as all that money isn't spent in producing and managing a large scale chicken farm or transporting the eggs from farm to factory to stores.
In addition, most eggs are produced in a manner that most people would find highly objectionable. Heidi of Operation Gloria, covers some of the conditions of battery cage hens with her rescued girls. Commercial hens are burnt out after a season of laying and disposed of rather than the expense of reconditioning them being paid when they will not be able to lay the same maximum number of eggs for minimum amount of cost input as they do their first year.
However even the supposed 'free range' eggs are not terribly humane in most cases as the requirements for being able to be labeled free range are nothing like the idyllic farm most people imagine when they picture it. In Australia, other than the Qld's basic protection laws there is no legal definition of what free range is. Some companies adhere to the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia or RSPCA's standards, where the requirements are no more than 7 birds per square meter and no more than 1000 birds per shed or per FREPAA 10 birds per sq metre up to 1000. The 'pasture' these birds have access to is to be shared by the whole lot of birds in the shed. While it is required to have shade, shelter and palatable vegetation, the maximum range density is 750 birds per hectare at 25 DSE [300/acre at 10 DSE].
THIS is a free range system that is being introduced into the EU. This has been rejected in NSW as being 'too liberal' in space. Compare that to the average backyard chicken who is free to engage in the full range of behaviours natural to a healthy chicken and in many cases is only locked up in a shed at night to protect them from foxes. (Who are a real danger even in inner suburban backyards.)
Here are some of my eggs from today... the rear ones are duck eggs, the middle pale brown ones are 1-2 year old Wyandotte eggs and the dark one on the right is from Tiger, a 3 year old little silkieX who is one of my best mums. These eggs are fertile (well, we hope!) and going to be set in the incubator to produce chicks and ducklings.
I began breeding and planned to set up a larger shedding and pens (you can see one a few posts back) for my birds and got an incubator to hatch out more chicks than the mother birds can do by themselves. My incubator is a fairly small, fairly basic one which will take 60 hen eggs at a time. The eggs are set in a batch every week, after which they must be turned several times a day to prevent the embryos from being able to turn. Just like a human baby must turn in the mothers womb to get out, chickens must turn around in the shell in order to pip, tie off their 'umbilical' cord and hatch.
Here are some of the current eggs in the incubator. Below the grate is a little well filled with water to provide the correct humidity for the eggs. The shells are porous and breathe, allowing the exchange of oxygen and water in the form of humidity. The embryos must loose a particular percentage of their weight from day 1 by the end of hatch, which is determined by the humidity and porosity of the eggs. The wrong amount will hinder the embryos from being able to pip and hatch correctly. EG The air cell size is affected, too small an air cell can prevent the chick from being able to inflate it's lungs once it's punctured into the air cell.
The lines you'll notice on them are pencil marks to tell me which side to turn them to. They go from line up to line down and around again. When I collect the eggs from the nests I write the date of collection on the rear (fertility declines in eggs older than 7 days) and on the side where the lines are I write the date they were set. About 8 days into the setting, the eggs are candled - which means they're held up against a bright torch (flashlight) to see if there is any development or if it's clear. At 8 days you can see a little embryo developing and a bit older than that you can see the embryo move around. Clear eggs are removed as they can go bad and explode in the incubator... NOT very nice!
Here is the whole incubator with the lid set back on. The temperature is a bit low here as it's just been set back on after turning the eggs which temporarily lowers the temperature. The eggs require a temperature of 37.7C and 21 days, longer with ducks.
And speaking of ducks, this is our most recent addition - Honey aka Dini (as in Houdini), a little bronze and white muscovy duck who found her way to rescue and then to me. She is a cheeky little thing and an escape artist!
Many people don't consider the benefits of keeping a few chickens in their backyard - something that is legal even in many suburban areas. Chickens actually make excellent pets as well as being useful - they produce lots of fresh, tasty and healthy free range eggs. They also clean up virtually any kitchen scraps minimizing waste, scratch in the backyard and provide 'fertilizer' and compost (used bedding) as well. The eggshells can be dried and crushed and put back into the garden or given to the birds for calcium. Having your own layers will help reduce your carbon footprint as all that money isn't spent in producing and managing a large scale chicken farm or transporting the eggs from farm to factory to stores.
In addition, most eggs are produced in a manner that most people would find highly objectionable. Heidi of Operation Gloria, covers some of the conditions of battery cage hens with her rescued girls. Commercial hens are burnt out after a season of laying and disposed of rather than the expense of reconditioning them being paid when they will not be able to lay the same maximum number of eggs for minimum amount of cost input as they do their first year.
However even the supposed 'free range' eggs are not terribly humane in most cases as the requirements for being able to be labeled free range are nothing like the idyllic farm most people imagine when they picture it. In Australia, other than the Qld's basic protection laws there is no legal definition of what free range is. Some companies adhere to the Free Range Egg and Poultry Association of Australia or RSPCA's standards, where the requirements are no more than 7 birds per square meter and no more than 1000 birds per shed or per FREPAA 10 birds per sq metre up to 1000. The 'pasture' these birds have access to is to be shared by the whole lot of birds in the shed. While it is required to have shade, shelter and palatable vegetation, the maximum range density is 750 birds per hectare at 25 DSE [300/acre at 10 DSE].
THIS is a free range system that is being introduced into the EU. This has been rejected in NSW as being 'too liberal' in space. Compare that to the average backyard chicken who is free to engage in the full range of behaviours natural to a healthy chicken and in many cases is only locked up in a shed at night to protect them from foxes. (Who are a real danger even in inner suburban backyards.)
Here are some of my eggs from today... the rear ones are duck eggs, the middle pale brown ones are 1-2 year old Wyandotte eggs and the dark one on the right is from Tiger, a 3 year old little silkieX who is one of my best mums. These eggs are fertile (well, we hope!) and going to be set in the incubator to produce chicks and ducklings.
I began breeding and planned to set up a larger shedding and pens (you can see one a few posts back) for my birds and got an incubator to hatch out more chicks than the mother birds can do by themselves. My incubator is a fairly small, fairly basic one which will take 60 hen eggs at a time. The eggs are set in a batch every week, after which they must be turned several times a day to prevent the embryos from being able to turn. Just like a human baby must turn in the mothers womb to get out, chickens must turn around in the shell in order to pip, tie off their 'umbilical' cord and hatch.
Here are some of the current eggs in the incubator. Below the grate is a little well filled with water to provide the correct humidity for the eggs. The shells are porous and breathe, allowing the exchange of oxygen and water in the form of humidity. The embryos must loose a particular percentage of their weight from day 1 by the end of hatch, which is determined by the humidity and porosity of the eggs. The wrong amount will hinder the embryos from being able to pip and hatch correctly. EG The air cell size is affected, too small an air cell can prevent the chick from being able to inflate it's lungs once it's punctured into the air cell.
The lines you'll notice on them are pencil marks to tell me which side to turn them to. They go from line up to line down and around again. When I collect the eggs from the nests I write the date of collection on the rear (fertility declines in eggs older than 7 days) and on the side where the lines are I write the date they were set. About 8 days into the setting, the eggs are candled - which means they're held up against a bright torch (flashlight) to see if there is any development or if it's clear. At 8 days you can see a little embryo developing and a bit older than that you can see the embryo move around. Clear eggs are removed as they can go bad and explode in the incubator... NOT very nice!
Here is the whole incubator with the lid set back on. The temperature is a bit low here as it's just been set back on after turning the eggs which temporarily lowers the temperature. The eggs require a temperature of 37.7C and 21 days, longer with ducks.
And speaking of ducks, this is our most recent addition - Honey aka Dini (as in Houdini), a little bronze and white muscovy duck who found her way to rescue and then to me. She is a cheeky little thing and an escape artist!
Monday, September 21, 2009
I live...
As usual time has gotten a bit away from me. I'm still very wrapped up in my own head at the moment. This has led to much badness in terms of keeping up with correspondence, in that I sit down to start replying to someone and walk off a dozen times and then feel awful for being about a week late and probably making people wonder if I'm mad at them or don't like them or something. Meh. I need to get my act together.
In the midst of this here's what we've been up to:
this scarf was actually completed ages ago but I never posted it as I was trying to find yarn for a fringe and haven't found any so.. eh... it's being called completed.
this one is a ribbed neckwarmer in handspun overdyed coloured corriedale thick-n-thin paired with a vintage French button... for when you need a scarf but don't want to be dealing with the wind blowing it up in your face or a baby grabbing it.
And for my KAL group, the September "ABC" dishcloth. I use them for burp rags for Lily and they are the most fantastic burp rags as they absorb heaps without looking gross like face washers do!
In the midst of this here's what we've been up to:
- The kitchen is back to normal after the tree crashing through it and is now a nice sunny yellow instead of the dark green it was previously
- We've spent some time restructuring two raised veggie beds out back, making them six slightly lower beds and spent time planting out some of my little seedlings.
- After getting up the large (10 bay, each bay being 1.2m wide x 2 m deep) aviary for the chooks, we're now working on the fencing for it a bit each weekend as funds permit.
- We also went to the Melbourne Royal the other day to watch the Australian Shepherds. It was lovely to catch up with people but I'm afraid I rather put a damper on the day for Nic and La as I wasn't much in a festive mood. I did learn that a breed that had been on my wish list some years back, the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, IS actually in Australia and spent awhile patting one though.
- La's lobby for a hermit crab won and we brought home "Crawlit" the crab the other week
- We've also welcomed ChaCha the chook, also named by La. She appears to be an brown layer cross of some variety and came from a neighbor as she was getting bullied by the hens there. She's rooming with Tiger, one of my friendly little SilkieXs.
- With the house repaired I've finally been able to test my incubator! I have a dozen std Australorp eggs in it as well as a few Partridge Wyandotte eggs to give it a trial run! 20 days to go!
- The lambs are growing well, except for poor Luna who came up with a bum leg last week. She either pestered one of the other ewes or it's polyarthritis but either way she gets an injection every day for 5 days to help. A few of the lambs and ewes may be looking for new homes in the future, though I'm not 100% final on my decisions yet.
- La has been veerrryyy excited about his birthday coming up in October. He's singing himself (a very off key) happy birthday song every day, has decided on his theme (it's going to be a brachiosaurus party... not just any old dino, a brachiosaurus specifically), planned his cake (it's got to be 'berries, mango, strawberry and mandarin dino cake that's green') and would like 'a lot of kids, his Hopie and a lot of people and Ana' there. Ana is a local Aussie breeder for anyone not in the breed and La has a wee crush going on. LOL
- In keeping with his party, Lily has an actual dress. You may now all die of shock - the child owns something overtly GIRLY and I even think it's cute. LOL We also got her lovely amber teething necklace in the post the other day.
this scarf was actually completed ages ago but I never posted it as I was trying to find yarn for a fringe and haven't found any so.. eh... it's being called completed.
this one is a ribbed neckwarmer in handspun overdyed coloured corriedale thick-n-thin paired with a vintage French button... for when you need a scarf but don't want to be dealing with the wind blowing it up in your face or a baby grabbing it.
And for my KAL group, the September "ABC" dishcloth. I use them for burp rags for Lily and they are the most fantastic burp rags as they absorb heaps without looking gross like face washers do!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
I hate foxes....
The majority of our poultry are in their own colourbond sheds at night, with two smaller cages being used for a single pair and Leopold the Old English Game bantam who is kept for his good looks despite sensibility dictating I don't need a spare rooster and certainly not an OEG when I breed Wyandottes. His cage is on our verandah, only about 5m away from our bed. After having pretty well fox proofed everything as well as possible, yesterday at 5:30am we were woken by the sound of screaming and crashing coming from our front verandah.
This is the damage... the fox had taken ahold of the mesh with it's teeth and pulled until the screws that hold the slide bolt broke, letting it swing upward and the door open. We bolted awake and dashed out knowing exactly what the sound was but too late, the fox was already gone into the night and so was poor Leo. I'd snapped these only a few days before, Laurent was cuddling him and giving him a frontrow view while we had a handyman out.
I am rather seriously considering getting a Maremma to protect the birds and sheep as well. Not just because of this incident... I am sick to death of the number of foxes we have around here and the fact that being on smaller parcels of land (nothing much larger than 50 acres, many being 5-15 acre blocks) means we can't do boo about the foxes really. I've opened the door to find them sitting on the porch, even the doormat and see them all the time trotting across the fields in broad daylight completely unconcerned about human presence. I've got research to do, I'm not jumping in uninformed but other options I've looked at either aren't good matches for our situation or are impractical, so I think a livestock guardian dog may be in our future. With breeding season approaching and an incubator (finally!) on the way, we should have lots of babies this year and I don't intend to loose any to foxy loxy.
This is the damage... the fox had taken ahold of the mesh with it's teeth and pulled until the screws that hold the slide bolt broke, letting it swing upward and the door open. We bolted awake and dashed out knowing exactly what the sound was but too late, the fox was already gone into the night and so was poor Leo. I'd snapped these only a few days before, Laurent was cuddling him and giving him a frontrow view while we had a handyman out.
I am rather seriously considering getting a Maremma to protect the birds and sheep as well. Not just because of this incident... I am sick to death of the number of foxes we have around here and the fact that being on smaller parcels of land (nothing much larger than 50 acres, many being 5-15 acre blocks) means we can't do boo about the foxes really. I've opened the door to find them sitting on the porch, even the doormat and see them all the time trotting across the fields in broad daylight completely unconcerned about human presence. I've got research to do, I'm not jumping in uninformed but other options I've looked at either aren't good matches for our situation or are impractical, so I think a livestock guardian dog may be in our future. With breeding season approaching and an incubator (finally!) on the way, we should have lots of babies this year and I don't intend to loose any to foxy loxy.
Friday, January 09, 2009
For anyone who hasn't heard (which I suspect is down to one hermit who lives in a cave in the middle of nowhere and hence is out of hearing range of the victory shout...) Nic GOT HIS DRIVERS LISCENCE yesterday! It took me since shortly after 2005 to convince him and after we moved out here and planned for a second child it became non-negotiable. So this is a major celebration!
Completely unrelated, I brought my camera with me while we were doing the rounds this afternoon. Some "chores" are more enjoyable than others and this is one of La's favorites... a bucket with several scoops of wheat to hand out.
Good for flinging out so that the birds all run around hunting through the grass...
giving out hand outs...
and the inevitable catch-n-cuddle sessions, with one of the Wyandotte roosters above and Matilda the Muscovy below.
Completely unrelated, I brought my camera with me while we were doing the rounds this afternoon. Some "chores" are more enjoyable than others and this is one of La's favorites... a bucket with several scoops of wheat to hand out.
Good for flinging out so that the birds all run around hunting through the grass...
giving out hand outs...
and the inevitable catch-n-cuddle sessions, with one of the Wyandotte roosters above and Matilda the Muscovy below.
Saturday, November 08, 2008
A nice day out yesterday at an Australian Shepherd seminar put on by the ASCV hosting for Sheila Polk with the extra bonus of having Nic being at home and minding La! Mind you I wasn't totally alone as Squidge V. 2 was alternating between a storm of little kicks and hiccups the entire time... LOL This show, combined with the agility/obedience/herding/MVA comp and then the seminar this weekend has been such an absolutely lovely thing for the club (and a few hardworking individuals in particular who saw to all the behind-the-scenes stuff you don't always get much recognition for) and very impressive that it's come off so well. I hope we'll be able to have something like this, if not annually, then every few years! What a fantastic resource to be able to see and put your hands on so many of the dogs you don't always get to see outside of photos and to hear from someone who has long and varied history and get their perspective on our breed!
When I came back in the afternoon from the seminar, I snapped these pictures of the little artist hard at work.
The artist ponders... A bit more here? A loopy squiggle missing there?
Inspiration hits."Ohhh!"
Success! (And a manic grin!)
Baby related I've also arranged to book into the back-up hospital (Warrigul) though have yet to speak to the OB there. Hopefully shouldn't be too much worry, given how cruisey the whole mood of this pregnancy has been so far. I was e-mailing my MW this morning and it got me to reflecting how utterly different this pregnancy has been to La's. Nothing is a drama, everything will get taken care of, everything is lovely-happy-good atm. It's amazing what not feeling like something the cat dragged in and not having to contend with a doctor who got his degree from Acme will do for one! Most days, despite the obvious reminder (I have certainly popped and plenty of little taps and kicks and hiccups) and having seen bubs on the ultrasound I just don't really FEEL pregnant odd as that sounds!
Meanwhile the weather is slowly turning to summer and the rhododendrons are putting on a show. I've had to slow on the major progress in the garden for a little while but the existing plants are making up for it now that they're happy enough to bloom and covered in a carpet of flowers! The pics are from a few days ago but La and I ended up spending the day puttering and planting today after I realized we were a few weeks overdue for someones vax and couldn't go to the obedience sign up like I'd thought. Doh! (Meantime the ratbag ate ANOTHER freaking collar!)
Meanwhile I've sold several chooks, which leaves me at my breeding groups and broodies waiting for eggs to hatch. Candling looks promising for most. Little Lucky the lone duckling has been joined by three little Aylesbury duckling buddies
Before long they'll be joined by Wyandotte chicks, Old English Game bantams, another Aylesbury all of which candled as looking nice last night. Possibly goslings! Baby birdies are lovely little creatures, they help curb the cluck-factor over puppies atm (and I do realize a baby puppy anytime soon is probably rather insane alas... *sigh* very sad as Cami will probably be flying out before long...) as La and I love our soft, warm, cheeping little "chicky babies".
The sheep are officially Yarn On The Hoof! LOL
Despite having lower rain than we should things are quite lush at the moment and increasingly (and welcomely!) warm golden days for the chooks to putter around searching for tasty bug between naps
For La this means he's able to run his ever-abundant energy off. Unfortunately he instantly recharges - when I nicknamed him Bunny I should have specified NOT the Energizer bunny! He's hunting for clover flowers and other such treasures here.
This also leads me into other treasures we've found lately. I'm generally not a fan of Stuff and my rule for buying things (well, aside from things like toilet brushes) is that it has to be something that will make me smile every time I look at or use but I do enjoy finding them when they appear in my life! Hence my too cool chook doorholder - solid metal, heavy and get this - she's an op shop score - $3!
Laurent also spent some of his birthday money on this really funkliscious dinosaur which he cannot be parted from for love or money. In the grand traditions of 3 year old logic I'm informed it's name is "Brontosaurus Rex", aka Rexie. Well... I suppose it fits with the toy croc named Gator right? LOL
And because this is turning out rather La-centric... it occured to me that some of the La-isms I posted on the joys of "chatterbox children" on AB the other day might also be appropriate to blog. I'm sure they'll be amusing when he's, oh, around twenty...
When I came back in the afternoon from the seminar, I snapped these pictures of the little artist hard at work.
The artist ponders... A bit more here? A loopy squiggle missing there?
Inspiration hits."Ohhh!"
Success! (And a manic grin!)
Baby related I've also arranged to book into the back-up hospital (Warrigul) though have yet to speak to the OB there. Hopefully shouldn't be too much worry, given how cruisey the whole mood of this pregnancy has been so far. I was e-mailing my MW this morning and it got me to reflecting how utterly different this pregnancy has been to La's. Nothing is a drama, everything will get taken care of, everything is lovely-happy-good atm. It's amazing what not feeling like something the cat dragged in and not having to contend with a doctor who got his degree from Acme will do for one! Most days, despite the obvious reminder (I have certainly popped and plenty of little taps and kicks and hiccups) and having seen bubs on the ultrasound I just don't really FEEL pregnant odd as that sounds!
Meanwhile the weather is slowly turning to summer and the rhododendrons are putting on a show. I've had to slow on the major progress in the garden for a little while but the existing plants are making up for it now that they're happy enough to bloom and covered in a carpet of flowers! The pics are from a few days ago but La and I ended up spending the day puttering and planting today after I realized we were a few weeks overdue for someones vax and couldn't go to the obedience sign up like I'd thought. Doh! (Meantime the ratbag ate ANOTHER freaking collar!)
Meanwhile I've sold several chooks, which leaves me at my breeding groups and broodies waiting for eggs to hatch. Candling looks promising for most. Little Lucky the lone duckling has been joined by three little Aylesbury duckling buddies
Before long they'll be joined by Wyandotte chicks, Old English Game bantams, another Aylesbury all of which candled as looking nice last night. Possibly goslings! Baby birdies are lovely little creatures, they help curb the cluck-factor over puppies atm (and I do realize a baby puppy anytime soon is probably rather insane alas... *sigh* very sad as Cami will probably be flying out before long...) as La and I love our soft, warm, cheeping little "chicky babies".
The sheep are officially Yarn On The Hoof! LOL
Despite having lower rain than we should things are quite lush at the moment and increasingly (and welcomely!) warm golden days for the chooks to putter around searching for tasty bug between naps
For La this means he's able to run his ever-abundant energy off. Unfortunately he instantly recharges - when I nicknamed him Bunny I should have specified NOT the Energizer bunny! He's hunting for clover flowers and other such treasures here.
This also leads me into other treasures we've found lately. I'm generally not a fan of Stuff and my rule for buying things (well, aside from things like toilet brushes) is that it has to be something that will make me smile every time I look at or use but I do enjoy finding them when they appear in my life! Hence my too cool chook doorholder - solid metal, heavy and get this - she's an op shop score - $3!
Laurent also spent some of his birthday money on this really funkliscious dinosaur which he cannot be parted from for love or money. In the grand traditions of 3 year old logic I'm informed it's name is "Brontosaurus Rex", aka Rexie. Well... I suppose it fits with the toy croc named Gator right? LOL
And because this is turning out rather La-centric... it occured to me that some of the La-isms I posted on the joys of "chatterbox children" on AB the other day might also be appropriate to blog. I'm sure they'll be amusing when he's, oh, around twenty...
- The other night La was sound asleep... had been for four hours. Well and truly ZONKED, limp and snoring. I crawl in bed, he rolls over, snuggles into me and says, "Mum? Where's race car gone?" Even asleep he doesn't stop.......
- I've lost track of the random strangers who've been stuck in waiting rooms, trains, at a picnic or near us whom he's decided are new playmates who after being subjected to his enthusiastic and LOUD non-stop verbal barrage have asked in tones of fascinated horror, "does he ever stop?" or "how much red cordial and candy have you given him?!?" because he won't stop moving or chattering at hyperspeed. (Answer btw is he's had NONE... the idea of La on a sugar/cordial induced high sends chills up my spine...)
- I told him to shush at the dogs training class as he was making all sorts of weird screechy noises and cracking himself up doing so in this big echoy building. "BUT MUM! I LIIIKKKKEEEE TO MAKE NOISE!!!" Hn. Y' don't say... I never would have guessed!
- "Mum, what are you DOING?"
"I'm making a cup of tea."
"WHY?"
"Because I'm thirsty."
"Why???"
"Because our bodies need drinks to stay healthy."
"But WHY?"
"Because that's how bodies work."
"Mum, what are you DOING???"
"I'm drinking the tea La - what does it look like?" (Ever so slightly exasperated!)
"But WHY??????????"
"Because I didn't make it to stare at."
"Why?"
"Because that wouldn't make any sense."
"WHY???????"
....fastforward through fifty thousand whys to this afternoon...
"Mum? Are you getting my chicken noodles soup?" (noodles is not a typo - that's how he says it)
"Yes La."
"Why?"He's the Elephants Child poem incarnate I swear...
Saturday, November 01, 2008
In the middle of the week we had a little surprise the only egg from a clutch that had candled clear/non-developing I thought MIGHT be fertile and developing well ended up hatching.
Then on Saturday, Miss Cami was entered in her first show - the Victorian Australian Shepherd Club specialty show under US senior breeder judge Sheila Polk. For her first show and not having experience under her belt she did decently - she placed 3rd in her class - with a few more miles on her to smooth out her habit of stickybeaking I think she'll do nicely. I could so tell that I spent early pregnancy 'resting' though... eek, so out of shape! I spent the rest of the day after running around the ring admiring Kate's new baby who was only 3 days old and just too precious, sitting and chatting! (C'mon, admit it, half the fun of a show is just in the chatting!) The judge did make a nice comment on Cami in her critique but I only heard part of it so will wait until I've got the exact words so I don't misquote. I forgot to take pictures at the show, so we took ones after while she was still clean and groomed! LOL Ignore the goofy looking person in the picture... was very tired by that point!
Sunday was the sports day - herding, obedience and agility. None of my guys entered but no way was I going to miss it! I took Veri and Cami along for the ride... Veri tickled me pink by doing very well all day long - probably the best she's done yet, just happy to be with me, rolling around for bellyrubs and cuddles and demonstrating she has figured out the whole people=give attention/approach/watch=reinforcement game. LOL If they didn't notice her when she came up, sat and watched them, she was fine with 'helping' them notice she was doing "Something Verity Should Get Reinforced For" by hopping up, nudging hands or waving a paw to get their attention. I'll have to watch she doesn't actually turn it into something obnoxious but I do get so much enjoyment out of seeing her be her happy little self more and more in public! :-)
Got back to find out we had another nice surprise, itty bitty Aylesbury has hatched out!
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