Bird Brain… Not such an insult!

Gregory Peck has learnt a game… or he’s taught me one…

I placed a fir cone on a shelf for him. The shelf is at an end of the cage with a door in it. The shelf splits the door opening, so with the door open, you can either reach in to the shelf, or the floor.

Anyway, I opened the door, placed the cone on the shelf to encourage him to investigate.

He walked under the edge of the shelf, reached up and grabbed the fir cone and placed it on the cage floor, just under the shelf.

I opened the end door, he stood back so I could get the cone. I reached under the shelf, took the cone & placed it on the shelf again.

Once more, he hopped forward, reached up & took the cone, placing it nearer the middle of the cage floor.

I opened the door, reached under the shelf, took the cone & placed it back on the shelf. Again, Gregory hopped over, reached up and took the cone to the middle of the cage this time.

I went to get the cone again, but as Gregory had put it further inside, I had to duck down and reach in under the shelf…

…and with a flurry of wings he flew/leapt onto the shelf (shown no signs of that before) and hopped to the open door!

I stood up and blocked his way from escaping, but he just sat there… watching… then turned around and hopped down to the cone & flicked it.

Yeah, not likely Gregory! I know your plan!

I thought he was learning to play a game, but he was already one step ahead and playing me!

I tell you, these birds are astounding! I knew they were clever, but this is a step above learning to do something for reward by repetitive training! This is thinking things through, observing, testing…

Damn smart bird!

Once he’s healthy & got his feathers back, we’ll see if he wants to fly. A bit undecided, as he’s an old chap we think, and we may have rescued him on his last wild legs. Old, & with a prior respiratory infection, stiff wings, and a mostly bald head, it’s unlikely he’d survive winter in the wild.

Further checks over him show medium sized jaw teeth marks on his back, across his wings and chest, as if he has been caught & held by a dog. He’s a lucky crow.

We may end up making a large outdoor aviary for him. Protected freedom.

V8 Leaves the party

It’s been a hard May for us, losing Crispy and Turbo… but then we rescued some new girls and the flock increased to 12…

… for 24 hours.

V8, healthy yesterday, has been taken by egg peritonitis.

This, from PoultryKeeper.com

Egg Peritonitis is when the peritoneum (the lining of the abdomen) becomes inflamed due to an infection from bacteria. Peritonitis can occur after prolapse or when yolk goes into the abdominal cavity, instead of going down the oviduct and out in the normal way.

The yolk should go into the ‘ovarian pocket’ (the space surrounding the ovary). This often occurs after some viral diseases like Infective Bronchitis where the disease damages the reproductive tract. A ruptured intestine can also cause this problem.

Diagnosis and Treatment.

Sometimes a ‘Penguin Stance’ can indicate an egg bound hen or peritonitis but more often than not they don’t show this and may just be swollen around the abdomen and it is often hard to diagnose this problem whilst the bird is alive. The bird can have a blue comb, and diarrhoea but no book seems to believe these are conclusive and can also indicate many other problems. A post mortem on birds will show an inflamed abdomen and there will be a very putrid smell with yolk. Some birds have been treated with antibiotics and had the fluid drawn off but the chances of success are slim and you can often have a big bill at the end of this. It is usually better to have the bird put to sleep.

All a man made problem – It’s the trouble with how they’ve been bred into egg machines. If the already dodgy internals go wrong, the blockage is often quick & serious, as they have no recovery time before the next egg follows on. Okay, it’s a bit more complicated then that, but you get the picture.

Chris was saying the other day how all other birds lay seasonally (otherwise you’d forever see ducklings at a pond etc). Chickens have been manipulated to lay daily. That’s like running a car engine on the red-line…. all of the time.

Some battery farms artificially control the light so instead of a 24hr day, the hens have an 18hr day (e.g).

This year has been pretty crap for the girls. You get used to it because, well, it’s how they are. They are so characterful & individual though, it’s obvious when one goes.

Best we can do is give them a happy retirement!

Any day spent in freedom, is a better day for these girls.

Turbo Chicken has lag

Turbo the ex-battery hen has always been skinny. This meant a recent case of sour crop really knocked her out. I managed to empty her crop (I hope to never smell anything like that again) and she seemed to pick up a bit. Hopefully a nights sleep would help her.

Next morning she was found on her side, unable to move. I mixed up some sugar water and slowly during the day she picked up some energy.

She’s eaten some solid food now, but she’s still weak.

Best still, she pooped…. which means she has stuff passing through her crop again…. YAY!… but boy did that also stink!

She’ll go one of two ways, but she’s comfortable & has enjoyed two years of freedom since we rescued her from battery farm hell.

Bird eat Bird

Spice, our lady cat, caught a sparrow.

It happens now and then – there are loads of them around and a cat could easily catch several just by running open mouthed down the garden… so no real shock there.

Last time she caught one I grabbed her, opened her jaw & the sparrow fell out and flew off before it hit the ground… (she can be evil and gentle…).

This time it was obvious the sparrow was done for, as Spice ran off before I could do anything. That’s nature for you… but…

…the sparrow was dropped as the four hens of the apocalypse sped down the garden, causing Spice to bolt.

The next thing I saw made me look twice… and keep looking in disbelief, as Chicken 11 grabbed the sparrow, then the four hens played tug of war, chase and catch with the sparrow, before taking it in turn to pick the carcass clean.

These are spoilt, well fed hens – but I’ve said it before about them – if there is something that can be eaten, regardless of if they are hungry, then they’ll eat it.

They are Omnipovores… Where ever there is something that can be eaten, then there you will find a hen…

I’ll never look at those dozy, daft, feathery, chirpy, psychopathic raptors the same way again…

A Peaceful Walk

I went out for a gentle potter on my Nordic Poles today. I have noticed a problem with these autumn/winter walks…..leaves.

The bottom of the pole is fitted with a special metal tip. This allows it to dig into loose gravel and dirt, but isn’t so great on paved areas and roads. There are attachments for the pole tips to fix this though – curved rubber boots. These quieten the tap tap tap of the pole and give better grip. They work quite well on unmade roads and firm packed dirt too.

Due to my route I generally use the rubber boots, as they are better suited for most of the distance – but now the leaves are on the ground the boots have a tendency to slip (not great for a bad back).

So, I’ve had to go out with just the spikes. This is okay now I’ve got to grips with using the spikes on Tarmac, but not ideal. Luckily LEKI have bought out a new innovation that should solve this problem. I’ll be getting some of these new feet and will review them for the blog.

As for the walk today, it was taken at a much reduced pace as I had slept awkwardly. I’m still glad that Nordic Walking is allowing me to at least get away from laying on my back all day, but I am getting a bit depressed about my reduced abilities. I want to take my exercise up a notch, but I just can’t right now.