Bird Pics

I know it's been a while since I've posted photos of the birds, and you all must all be suffering horribly from withdrawals! Well, shudder and vomit no more*, the bird photos have returned.

* That's my best guess at what is involved with withdrawals - shaking and puking. Yay? Nay?

Clara

Rosa

Polly Wolly Doodle

Blossom

Tinkerbell

Which, if any, of these photos do you think are worthy of turning into a painting? Please help me decide!

Scenes from the barnyard...

Spring is in the air... and so is avian testosterone, apparently. About a week ago, Mallow the duck suddenly decided that he could take on Chuck Norris the rooster. This has proved to be problematic, resulting in a bloodied duck who can't seem to figure out that a duck picking a fight with a rooster is like bringing a spoon to a knife fight. So poor Mallow has been in confinement for about a week. Every day we let him out to see if he can behave, but he heads straight for Chuck with a narrow-eyed determination, so we have to put him right back in to keep him safe. Here, you can see him shooting eye-daggers at Chuck as he swaggers by the pen -


Silly duck. Next in line - chicken butts! What is it about chicken butts that holds me so entranced? It's one of life's great mysteries.


And here we have lovely, lovely Tinkerbell soaking up the sunshine on this rare, warm day.


And finally, goofy Blossom...


Hope you are all enjoying your day!

February Jewelry For Charity Recap and March Kick-Off

I'm thrilled to report that February was my best sales month yet, which makes me extra happy because it means I get to send a whopping $630.00 to help the amazing creatures at Animal Place! Thanks to everyone who patronized my bead shop and my jewelry shop during the month of February - your purchases really do add up to help animals.


And continuing on a similar theme for the month of March, my featured charity is United Poultry Concerns, a wonderful group dedicated to promoting compassion towards domestic fowl. As you can probably tell if you've read my blog much before, chickens, turkeys, and ducks are some of my favorite animals. They have brought a lot of joy to our lives in the year since we've added them to our family.

It saddens me greatly to know that in the US alone, nine billion chickens are raised and killed for food each year - that's 90% of all land animals killed for food in this country. Nine billion! That's mind-boggling. These creatures are not inanimate objects - far from it! Each of our birds has her own personality, complete with likes and dislikes. They feel pain, and they know joy and sadness. If you eat chicken (or even eggs), you are essentially paying someone to imprison, torture, and kill these unique and lovely animals simply to please your own taste buds.

I have great respect for groups like UPC, whose members work tirelessly to educate people about the value of these birds' lives. I hope one day to be able to add on to my own little poultry haven so that I can rescue even more of these wonderful beings. In the meantime, please join me this month in supporting UPC by either donating directly or by making a purchase from my bead shop or my jewelry shop. As always, thank you for caring!

Duck Pic of the Day

Polly Wolly Doodle

Stormy Skies

I have been waiting for a couple of days for a break in the weather so I could photograph some new beads and jewelry (to be posted soon) - it's been so dark and dreary outside, which makes photography tough. Anyways, I finally saw a bit of sun peeking through the clouds today, so I was able to take my pictures. I froze my butt off out there - we're having a major cold spell here, at least by California standards - and by the time I was finished with my pictures, the sky was looking more and more ominous...


And within a few minutes of finishing my photo shoot, it began to hail. HARD. Carlos had fun watching the ice come down.


The chickens and turkeys were all huddled up against our front door under the porch overhang, but the ducks didn't seem bothered at all - in fact, they had a nice little swim.


The chickens enjoyed eating the little bits of hail after the downpour ended.

Duck Pics of the Day

Today's featured animal is... { drum roll please }
Polly Wolly Doodle!

Polly is a funny guy. He's very gawky - he reminds me of the duck from the movie, Babe.

He has the softest feathers (although we don't get to enjoy petting them too often, since he doesn't really like to be held), and they always look so pristine.

Polly had a rough time when we first brought him home - our original two ducks were very mean to him. But now he's totally part of the pack.

Duck Pic of the Day

Mallow!

Duck Pic of the Day

I'm always posting pictures of the chickens; today I thought I should share the love with the ducks too! The two that look alike in the front are Shannon and Dean, the one in back on the left is Mallow and the white one on the right is Polly Wolly Doodle.

A Not-So-Subtle Hint

If I'm indoors around 4:30 in the afternoon, this is the sight that often greets me through my front door windows...


I guess it's their way of saying "FEED US NOW PLEASE." (Sorry for the sub-par photo; it was tough to capture from inside looking out into the late afternoon glare; in case you can't tell, that's three of four ducks on the left and three of five chickens on the right begging for their dinner. If they are feeling particularly demanding, they might start pecking the window glass.)

Happy Fourth of July! Carlos and I have a very mellow (aka boring) day ahead... Matt has to work and all of my family seems to have gone out of town for the holiday weekend. So I guess it's just Carlos and me at home with a neurotic dog hiding under the bed (Otis is afraid of fireworks).

Our Feathered Family Continues to Grow

I think I already mentioned that we got a third duck a week or two ago, who Carlos named Polly Wolly Doodle. Well, he's been having a bit of a hard time since the original two ducks (Shannon and Dean) wanted to pick on him all the time. Today we took a chance and adopted a fourth duck in hopes that he and Polly would bond, and so far, so good!


The new duck's name is Mallow (he's on the right in the above photo), and he spent most of the day in the pen with Polly today; then in the evening we let all four ducks be together, and they got along better than any other day since Polly has been here. What a relief! I'm still keeping the two pairs separate when I can't supervise, but today felt like a definite step forward.

Oh, and here's a cute picture I took of Chuck Norris yesterday ogling the object of his desire (the crackers, not Matt's crotch) -

Animal Update

Just wanted to post some pics of our little sweetie girls -




They are doing really well. I just found a second cage on Craigslist and am working on getting it cleaned up and re-painted; then I'll set it up next to the other one, with some kind of hatch they can climb through to get from one cage to the other. I thought it would be fun for them to have more space for climbing and playing.

Also, we got a third duck last weekend. No naming contest necessary this time; Carlos has named him Polly Wolly Doodle. Isn't he cute?


He's kind of freaked out still (I remember our other ducks were freaked out for the first few weeks too), and unfortunately, our first two ducks are being kind of mean to him, so we can't leave them together unsupervised. I guess it can sometimes take a while (weeks to months, not just days) for them to adjust to each other, so in the meantime Matt just put up a little temporary barrier inside their pen so they can each have some space of their own. They take turns coming out into the big yard, and we're letting them be together for very short periods, under heavy supervision... I guess it's mating season, and since we don't have any girl ducks, the boys are all trying to mate with each other. The old ducks are being pretty rough on the poor new guy. Hopefully their hormones will calm down soon. Little monsters.

Daily Dose of Ducks & Chickens

We have had quite a bit of poultry drama lately! First, poor Dean the duck has a really nasty eye infection. That's him in the front - I'm not sure how well you can tell with a photo of this size, but his eye is really messed up.

We went to the vet on Tuesday and got some ointment to put on his eyes three times a day (only one is messed up right now; hopefully it stays that way). Dean has been surprisingly good about being caught and medicated; what a sweet boy. The vet said that it could be an infection he caught from the chickens, and that it would be a good idea to house them separately. I had already been considering this, since the ducks and the chickens fight occasionally, and I want them to feel safe and relaxed when they are penned up for the night... so we are going to add on to our poultry compound, with a separate enclosure for the ducks to stay in at night. I just hope his eye gets better; there's still a chance the eye might not make it. Matt was making jokes about tiny eye patches - I feel too sorry for the poor little guy to joke much, but it does make for a pretty silly mental image.

On to the chickens... Not to be outdone by those silly little ducks, Greta the chicken (aka No Toes) has decided to add some stress and confusion to our lives as well. This is the fifth day in a row that she has disappeared all day, and she even spent one full night out as well. I guess that means she has a nest somewhere. Our yard is totally fenced, but part is open lawn and part is pretty heavily wooded... I guess she went into the woods somewhere and made a nest.

The 'don't breed or buy while homeless animals die' philosophy is near and dear to my heart, and I really don't care to have a bunch of baby chicks because (a) I don't want to have to find homes for them; I'm too particular and probably nobody would be good enough so we'd end up having to keep them all, (b) we don't have room for that many more chickens, and (c) even if we did, I feel like we should use that space for already-existing birds, not bring new ones into the world.

That being said, I feel surprisingly guilty and conflicted about trying to keep Greta from incubating her eggs (by penning her up at night) - she is such a loner, and she doesn't seem bonded to any of the other chickens. When they all head out for the day in their little pack, she just goes off by herself and does her own thing. The other three hens have lived together for a long time, and maybe they see Greta as an interloper, or maybe they shun her because of her lack of toes, or maybe she's just an independent gal. Whatever the reason, she seems lonely and isolated, and I have this perception that she's determined to sit on her nest come hell or high water because she wants to build her own little family. And that's sweet. And sad.

I know it's the right thing to do to keep her in at night, both for her own safety and to prevent unwanted chickie babies, but it makes me feel like a big meanie head. Of course, if she just refuses to come back again, like she did the other night, then I suppose it's out of our hands... I wonder how much time the eggs can spend not being sat on and still incubate?

Pics from the homestead :-)

Pictures from this morning...

There's something about boys and dirt... I turn my back for one second (okay, maybe one minute) and find Carlos wallowing in our soon-to-be vegetable beds.



And I must say - I love my ducks - they are the cutest!!! They aren't as skittish as they were before, and it's fun to see their little ducky personalities coming out. I hope they like the chickens we will be bringing home in a few days!

{quack}

{waddle waddle}

{in a hurry - see those blurry feet?}