Okay Gals,

You are all very knowledgable about theses animals. Wow! I will be printing out these posts to reread and make my notes. I just bought book of North America birds so I can look up what I see. It's has good pictures and shows where the mostly live.

I've always loved nature but more landscapes and the culture that goes with it. We love the Great Lakes, history of early settlers, lighthouses, ships, ship wrecks, glaciers, rocks. Now to learn about the animals.

I keep seeing what I think are cranes with their legs long and behind them as they fly but maybe they are herons...must ask them to land so I can observe!

I now have some activities to fill some time. You people are GREAT!

Please keep sharing the pictures. I process those the easiest and LOVE being able to share and to be shared with.

Winic1 I love your pics. The degus are adorable. Do they get along with the cats? I've never seen one before today.

After my injury I became determined to have chickens. Buf Orpington's. At least 2. My family looked at me like I had a brain injury! Someday I will have my chickens.

Jace

one of my sweet girls

I have chickens, just 2 laying hens now, black sex links. We down sized dramatically since my injury.

Also 2 goats and 2 dogs.

Starr

Wish u could have seen my face as I read this. . Oh please post pics if you can. Eggs daily? Do you worry about predators? How about their personalities?

My vet, wonderful woman, lives on a farm. She takes the chicks that the kids hatch in classrooms every year. When I'm ready she will give me buf Orpington's. I don't know where my fascination came from. Maybe it was dormant in my brain.

Have you ever heard of fainting goats? My pup in the above picture came from a family that loves animals. They have mini cows, mini horses, and fainting goats.

Sheep herders would keep fainting goats so when predators came around the goat would faint when it got scared and the sheep would get away. Sad for the goat. They do startle and faint easily.

Jace

Hi redoslingberg and everyone,

Just had to share with you what happened on my last day in Neuro Rehab on Thursday, 5/22. I was finishing up a cardio workout on the Nustep ( kind of a seated machine that works upper and lower body together), when out of nowhere the bird feeder they have outside the rehab gym was a flurry of wings when the small chickadees and red shouldered black birds suddenly flew away.

Next thing you know, a great big hawk landed on the fence behind the bird feeder, and sat there for at least 3-4 minutes, while everyone got pictures of it on their phones. A beautiful bird. I was told they got a woodpecker on that very same spot the next day.

That was a monumental treat!! I love to watch birds now, and especially the beautiful little hummingbirds we used to get at work. We had hummingbird feeders that stuck to the windows, and they would get so close, it was almost like you could touch them. Used to bring smiles to the patients, and frequent return visits to the gym, even when they weren't actually there for an appointment.

Take care, M-i-m

Hi Jace,

So why do we say someone's a "chicken" when they are afraid? Maybe we should say you're a "goat"!! But, poor goats!!

Jace,
I'll try to remember to get some pics later when I go out and post them.

We get eggs almost daily, especially this time of year when the days are long. Their laying is tied to daylight hours. So in the winter when its darker, they lay less.

We do worry about predators. They have a very secure coop that they get locked up into at night and during the day I turn them out into a fenced area for them to forage for bugs, grass and worms. The fence deters many predators, but not all. I've had hawks swoop in and take a hen before, but the fence keeps out the coyotes, foxes and stray dogs.

They do have personalities for sure. One of my current hens is super friendly, almost annoyingly friendly if you are busy doing something. She will peck at you until you pay attention to her. The other is a bit more stand offish, but both will eat treats out of your hand, no problem!

I have heard of fainting goats and while this is probably not the place to get into a big debate about it, I don't find it funny to laugh at a genetic condition /disorder or to breed for it. I personally find it sad and irresponsible and one of the many ignorant things that we as a society do to our animal friends.

While breeders and supporters of fainting goats or myotonic goats insist this condition is painless, I can't imagine that actually falling over and hitting the ground is. And since goats are a prey animal and this happens when they are startled and they remain conscious when they fall, I would also imagine that they must feel pretty vulnerable and exposed every time it happens, even if there is no actual danger, since they can not use their normal defense of running away.

I just imagine what that would be like in human terms, you're walking along a dark street at night, you hear a noise and get startled, all your muscles tense and you fall over and you can't move but you are entirely conscious and all you can do is lie there and wait for whatever scared you to come and get you. To me, that's what happens in horror movies... but if you're a goat, it gets put on youtube and millions of people laugh about it.

Oh and by the way, myotonia congenita does happen in people too, not nearly as funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llmgLi_cJjA

Sorry to say as much as I did about fainting goats, but its something I feel strongly about and I think people should be aware there's more to it than they might realize.

Please don't think I'm picking on you or anything though. I just love goats and wish they got the respect they deserve.

Starr

If ever I get a chicken, it will be one of these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fluf...w=1067&bih=713

I learned about this type of chicken from our member here, Kitty.
Her Vet has a tech who has a chicken like this...here is her
heartwarming video:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/new...d-pup-chicken/

Starr

Thanks for the information. They make the goats like this? The only knowledge I have is from the farm I was at. They were adorable and did not faint while we were there even when the barn cats jumped out of no where and frightened me.

I'm always open to others perspectives. Thanks for your view. Are they still used like that today? I never thought of it your way.

I can see me with my chickens sitting outside and one on my lap. We had a pigeon that had broken its wing where my father worked. Her brought it home so it could heal and he never left.

We had him for 10 years or so. One day as I walked past the back door I caught out of the corner of my eye a hawk eating him. It was too late. Very upsetting.

I'm headed to watch degus and chicken videos soon.

Jace

Oh my, when the video started and I heard that chicken my heart danced! Beautiful, great story. Thanks for putting that link up. I'm going to share it. At my support group on of the therapy dogs his back legs didn't work and he had a wheel chair. A little dark chihuahua.

I have looked at these guys online!

So curious how their feathers feel. Even the feet are adorable!

Jace

I went onto the patio to wave my hands, finished painting them, and all is calm except for frogs and crickets.

Then I thought about how cute the little birds must be all snuggled in theirs nests...and then I wondered.

Do you think they ever get insomnia? Sleep a bit late...