Johan has had birds, more particularly budgies, for most of his life and breeds Show budgies not only for the enjoyment but also for competition. Over the years he has had a few budgies that are considered genetically abnormal, they are known as feather dusters. This is when the feathers do not stop growing....they just grow and grow and grow. The life span of a feather duster budgie is very short as the body does not receive enough protein for growth, due to the fact that most protein is used in the growth of the feathers. Although they eat more voraciously than other budgies they remain thin and eventually will die from malnutrition.
Because we have so many budgies and they are bred all year round there is no particular bond or attachment made to them, but the larger parrots that we have are obviously more special...and especially so if we hand rear them. At the moment I have four ring-necks and an African Grey (mentioned in a previous blog) that I am hand rearing and in just a few weeks they have grown. We had chicks, a pigeon, the ring-necks and African Grey all born around about the same time , yet their growth period differs immensely and I have only just realized this recently, having noticed and by making a mental note.
The pigeon today, already fully grown
The Ring-Necks almost fully feathered
the African Grey still has many months of growing to do
I miss our sheep and still find it hard to understand why people do things like steal an entire flock of sheep from others. We had some lovely ones over the years, some more special than others. Matty was a twin to Jessie and his mother dis-owned him for a reason only known to her so we hand-reared him. He was delightful and seemed to regard himself as more human than sheep and definitely thought he was a cut above the rest. lol Then there was Lacey....too beautiful for words. When she was born she had trouble getting up on her legs and drinking from her mother who kept nosing her and trying to get her up. The result was, her brain was under developed causing her to have a cerebral palsy like manner. She wasn't very strong and wobbled a lot on her legs but she was the friendliest of all our sheep. Her personality was one of a passive nature and whenever she saw us she would bounce along like a spring to get to us. Moses was the first lamb we ever had. He was a cross merino/dorper and had masses of wool every year. He grew into the biggest ram we have ever seen and everyone wanted to use him as a stud.
Lacey newborn
We supplemented her feeds for the first few days
Matty...a real house sheep
friends with Smokey
Finally outside but still separated from the other sheep
Moses on the left as a lamb
Moses on the left as an adult
We no longer have our pigs either, having sold the last of them earlier this year. Pig farming is very expensive if you want to feed them properly. Pigs shouldn't be fed on scraps though many do that and the fodder, to buy is costly. We had many piglets over the years though, some of which we also hand reared. Piglets when born are the tiniest of creatures, much smaller than lambs, yet they grow into huge animals. Pigs are highly intelligent and very friendly. They will nuzzle you affectionately with their noses but because they are so big and strong, it can actually be quite painful and you may be left with a bruise. Lucky was definitely the smallest of all piglets and strangely he was the only one ever born to his mother. She nurtured him well and he grew into a massive pig of more than 100 kg.
Lucky
Lucky with his mother on the left
Socks...Granny's favourite that she fed every day whilst visiting
No better way to drink than flat on your belly...
Matthew and Jess feeding a litter of 6...
some of the same litter when grown enjoying a spray...
More than a handful for Jess...
Looking back over the years we have had many moments of love and joy...these above just some of them and I am sure there will be many more to come....
You know what immediately came to mind? You could start a petting farm.... :-)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a brilliant idea Jennie...I will try sell that idea to Johan,
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