Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it seems that autumn is very much upon us and this weekend is our Canadian Thanksgiving! We have even had TWO nights of frost in a row! Wow, how time flies so very quickly! It's already almost a month since I last updated this blog. It's been a busy time. Hockey has started again for our Hockey Boy (ds), and the Canucks are also back on the ice. They won in their home opener last night 6-0 against Calgary - YIPPEE! :-D


In two weeks, I will be taking a road trip down to Washington State to pick up TWO livestock guardian dogs that I have adopted through Petfinder.com. They are Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees crosses. Their names are Sue & Baby Girl. They are currently being fostered in Lacey, WA., about 3 hours from here. My friend, Robin, is going to come with me to pick them up - it should be a fun day - can't wait! Hopefully the border agents are having a good day that day. I will post a photo when I can get one. Sue is 3 years old and Baby Girl is only 9 months, in fact, she is going in TODAY to be spayed. Hopefully everything goes well and she makes a quick recovery. Both of the girls are currently practicing livestock guardianship in their foster home. We are hopeful that they are good with waterfowl and poultry. Their foster mom is going to try them out with a chicken next week.

Here is a photo of Sue (left) and Baby Girl:

Our resident bear has been around looking for apples and berries. I found some bear scat about 40 feet from our house last Saturday morning. Apparently he/she is stocking up before hibernation time?? I hope I never run into this bear in the dark - pretty scary stuff! At least with the dogs coming, their barks will help to keep coyotes and other unsavoury creatures at bay. Of course, this is the whole purpose behind having Livestock Guardian Dogs, or LGD's.


So, to all my Canadian readers, Happy Thanksgiving! We have MUCH to be thankful for in this country!

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

A Great SAINTS Day

We went to an open house today for S.A.I.N.T.S. (Senior Animals In Need Today Society) in Mission. What an awesome place and a bunch of awesome people who run it. I got to meet Carol, the lady who spearheads the organization - what a wonderful person she is! It was so nice finally meeting a lot of the animals whom I had only seen on the website and the blog. I wish I could adopt them all, but as we in rescue know, there is only so much you can do. I already have more parrots than I would ideally like, but that's because I've fostered them and then can't give them up (go figure!!).

Anyways, I did just want to thank Carol and everyone at SAINTS for doing what they do. Your hard work sure showed today - the place is looking very spiffy. I just LOVE the cozy dog and cat rooms with the fireplaces - seems like a great place to curl up with a warm furry body on a cold day! What an awesome place for some of these animals to live out the rest of their days. It's very obvious that they are so loved! I enjoyed meeting each and every one of them! My favourites there (although don't tell the rest of the animals) were Cole, Gwen the GSD, and Stripe the Tortie cat. Cute, cute, cute! As I said, I'd adopt each and every one if I were able to.

So, thanks Carol and all the Volunteers at SAINTS. Your labour of love is wonderful!

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

Talk About Cute!

So, here are the Guinea keets (chicks) that I picked up this morning. Aren't they C-U-T-E???? :-D They are three weeks old and still under a heat lamp in the barn, so I'm checking on them every couple of hours. We just brought them home a short while ago and they have been eating and drinking, so that is good! Wow, I've forgotten what it's like to have chicks around!! :-)

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

Feathers, Feathers Everywhere!

It's that time of year again...... My favourite time of year - autumn! It's also the molting season in some of the bird worlds. The birds here are ALL molting! I pick up feathers in the morning. I pick up feathers in the afternoon and I pick up feathers in the evening! They are absolutely coming out all the time - everywhere!

I keep "feather bouquets" in little vases around the house. Some feathers are just too beautiful to throw away. The ones I like most are the long tail feathers from the Quakers or the Cockatiels and the beautiful RED (and NOT so long!!) tail feathers from my African Grey, Abby.

The feathers I am mostly picking up right now are the shorter, downy-type of feathers. The birds go through a molt of about a month or two while the old feathers come out an new ones come in to replace them. They don't all come out at once, although it seems like it. The molt in most birds occurs usually in the early to mid fall unless of course, you're Lucy, who seems to be in a perennial molt - poor girl!

Below is a photo of Maya, my first Quaker. We've had her for 3 1/2 years now and she is almost 5. They live to be 35 to 40, so she has many, many years ahead! She is a sweetie-pie and I call her my "Little Green Monkey"!

Speaking of feathers, we are expecting 3 new additions to our feathered flock tomorrow morning (the OUTSIDE feathered flock, that is). I have purchased 3 Guinea keets. We have one Guinea hen, Blue, who we have had for 6 years. Unfortunately, we lost her sister, Stripe, to a coyote in July. It was very sad, especially given that we have had her and Blue for so many years. Since Stripe left us, Blue has been going around searching for her. I feel so sorry for her. I have posted ads on Craigslist and on the Buy & Sell to no avail - until yesterday. There was an ad on the Buy & Sell for Guinea keets (keets are chicks). I called the fellow today and he is meeting me tomorrow morning with the chicks! So nice of him to meet me half-way, too! He's driving almost right by our freeway exit, and so I will meet him there with a cage for them. Can't wait!

Here is a photo of a Guinea fowl....they are not the most attractive birds, but they are fun to have around and they eat ticks and other nasty insects. BTW, this is not one of my photos, but one I got off the web.

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

Money

This is a photo of "Money". She is a purebred German Shepherd Dog (GSD). She is young at two years old. She has been living with us for the past month and is a joy to have around.

A very special man named Ralph has loaned us "Money" (sounds funny, doesn't it!!?) because of the problems we were having with predators.

Money is a great dog. She is protection trained and I wouldn't hesitate to walk her at night and feel safe. She's very protective but loving too. We will miss Money around here. I am so very thankful to Ralph for loaning her to us - how very thoughtful of him, and generous, too!

Thanks for keeping us safe for this past month, Money! We love you and will miss you!

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

Lucas

Now, isn't this fellow just the cutest?

This is Lucas, our Jack Russell Terrier. Lucas is 5 years old and a great dog to have around - he's fairly laid back - for a Jack Russell! He's my little cuddle-bug - as sweet as they come!

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

An Urgent Message To All Dog Lovers

Please visit this site to see why you need to be careful about the type of collar your dog wears.

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

Life With Phoebe

Phoebe is a relatively new addition to our family. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we rescued her from Vancouver Animal Services. She was slated to be euthanized along with "The Boys", after they had been at VAS for one month and they could not be placed with their usual farm placements. I'm so very thankful that we were notified or .... well, I don't want to think about it.

So, this is Phoebe...

She is such a beautiful bird, isn't she? She has the most gorgeous eyes! Although she's not really that social, she is coming around. She goes running when DS does chores in the morning so she can get breakfast with all the others (the chickens and Quaker-la, our duck and all the tons of wild ducks we call the "Freeloaders"). She loves her breakfast and seems to be thriving on what she's getting to eat. She will eat chicken/duck pellets along with whatever parrot food is left over from the night before. She also has a special mix that I keep in the kitchen for when she's hanging out at the back door. Phoebe sleeps in a tree at night. I wish I could get her into the barn, but alas, she will have nothing to do with that. I've tried. We were at least getting her up on the roof at night, but with the torrential rains we've had the past few days, she's now in a tree each night, which at least has some shelter.

Life on the farm is a constant battle. You're battling mother nature herself. We have coyotes that come, we have raccoons, skunks, possums, eagles, hawks and even the odd mink who has escaped from one of the local mink farms. Now, these guys are nasty and kill only for sport. One morning I lost 31 chickens to a mink in 30 minutes. It was gut-wrenching! We had to have the mink killed (the neighbour was able to help me out there) as once they find out where your stock is, they'll be back. And NASTY! Did I mention that mink are NASTY?? And STINKY! This one mink kept lunging at me (glad I had my gum boots on), and screaming as if I were in HIS territory killing HIS chickens! SHEESH!! I usually have issue with killing anything - yes, even SPIDERS! I will usually catch them in a cup and put them outside. The minks, however, I have no problem with, although I've not been the one to do the dirty deed yet. There have been TWO and I hope we never have any more visit us.

So, back to Phoebe. She is so beautiful! Today she is standing outside of DH's office door. She sees me when I work in the kitchen. I can't imagine not having Phoebe around, and she's only been with us since the 5th of July. She's even laid two eggs! I was scared that a predator had got her, as we hadn't seen her for a couple of days. When one of the kids saw her climb out from under a Rhododendron bush, they inspected and found two eggs. She never went back to the nest.

Ironically, we are waiting for another Pea hen to join us here. There is a lady who I have been in contact with locally who has had a pea hen cruising their neighbourhood for seven years! The area is increasingly busy and some of the neighbours are concerned that this bird might get hit by a car at some point. So, we are waiting for the other pea hen, whom we have already named "Penelope", to join us here on the farm. I think that Phoebe and Penelope the pea hens will enjoy having another of their species to hang out with.

I do need to get serious about some sort of shelter for them for the winter. I'm hoping that DH can construct a simple roof with perhaps four legs so they can "hang out" underneath it during the day. Who knows, they just may realize that the barn is a great place after all. The barn also has a great overhang that is 6 feet square, so they would be protected from the elements during the day. I just know I won't be able to handle seeing Phoebe hanging out on the porch drenched when it's freezing outside. Now it's very mild, but in winter - well, that's another story.

I do have a photo of Penelope. The sweet lady who contacted me about her sent it to me. Here is Penelope...

Isn't she beautiful? I do hope that Phoebe and Penelope will be good friends and get along well and enjoy each other. We shall see.

The names I've chosen for these two girls are "old" names and "regal" names. Old meaning they were used in the olden times not meaning old people have these names. I just think they suit these gorgeous birds. Well, I'm the one who has to live with the names, so I guess it doesn't matter, does it - LOL!

So, that's Phoebe's story. I hope she's with us for a long, long time and that Penelope comes soon and is also here for a very long time!

~ Audrey ~
"It isn't a coincidence that birds and angels have wings"

A Myriad of Mentions

I just got off the phone with a reporter from the "Coquitlam Now" newspaper. I am a volunteer with a web-based organization called http://www.911parrotalert.com/ and we try to get information together and out in order to assist in reuniting lost/found birds with their rightful owners. Last weekend, a fellow in Port Moody had his Blue & Gold Macaw stolen and I was part of a series of events that helped in getting the bird and owner reunited. I made a disclaimer to the reporter before I said anything. I have been mis-quoted twice before by the press and I was none too impressed, so he said that he would try his best to get it right! :-) Unfortunately, many birds are never found once they get out into the elements - perhaps they are taken by birds of prey or those nasty crows beat them up or even the Stellars' jays pick on them. Sometimes people find them and make them "their own". How someone could do that is beyond me, but it happens.

I am also a volunteer with a lower-mainland organization called Greyhaven Exotic Bird Society (http://www.greyhaven.bc.ca/). This group is composed of an awesome group of Directors and an equally awesome bunch of volunteers who work to take in companion birds of all types who can no longer be kept by their owner for various reasons. We work to try to find wonderful homes for most of these birds. Some need a little work on their social skills, or have medical issues, etc. The goal of Greyhaven is to place birds into loving homes where they are well-loved and understood and given the very best of care possible. I help to do home checks out here in the Valley on occasion. We no longer have a sanctuary, but are actively seeking one. The property where we were located previously is being developed. If you know of anyone who has a place where we could house up to 100 birds of various descriptions, please let us know. :-D

~ Audrey ~

Changes

I was blogging over at HomesteadBlogger.com, but really didn't feel like I fit in, so I've moved here. Seasons of our lives, I suppose.

A brief introduction....

I live on a small acreage in British Columbia. There are myself, DH (darling hubby), and DS (darling son) and DD (darling daughter). My father also lives with us on a separate dwelling on the property. We have a myriad of animals in our care and life and God giveth and taketh away continually. Many of our animals are rescues, some are not. No matter how we come to have the animals in our lives, we are charged with caring for them the very best way we know how. If we don't know how to do it, it is our responsibility to find out.

Currently, we have (inside the house):

• The cutest little Jack Russell Terrier, Lucas
• A big, grey neutered male cat, Thomas
• Two cockatiels, Cheek & Cassie, both females
• A Congo African Grey parrot, Abby
• A Timneh African Grey parrot, Theodore
• An adorable Quaker parakeet, Maya (adorable only to me, might I add - she bites everyone else - LOL)
• An aggressive pair of Quakers, Bella & Bobby, who are just SO cute!!
• A long-term foster Quaker, Lucy. Her mom and dad are half a world away for another year and a half.
• Oh, and I almost forgot - a Betta fish named "Brinerose".

So, those are the critters who live INSIDE with us.

The outside babies include the following:

• Forrest, our slightly handicapped full-sized rooster
• "The Boys" - a trio of bantam roosters who we rescued from Vancouver Animal Control on the day they were to be euthanized. They "think" they are full-sized roosters, but are only bantams! :-)


• Phoebe - a beautiful Pea hen who was at Vancouver Animal Control with "The Boys" and was scheduled to suffer the same fate. She is a gentle beauty.


• Blue, the lone Guinea hen. She's been here on the farm for about 6 years. She came as a day-old chick along with her sister, Stripe. Sadly, Stripe was taken by a coyote in July. :-(


• 13 red layer hens


• Quacker-La - our plump Rouen/Muscovy cross duck who has been here on the farm for what seems like forever - probably 7 years.


• Three alpine goats, Smokey, Dini and Toby

So, that's a bit of an intro. I'm hoping to be able to post photos soon.

Have a great day!

~ Audrey ~